John Fitzgerald, who snapped the football for the Dallas Cowboys through 12 seasons and two Super Bowl championships, has died at age 77.
Fitzgerald died on April 14, 2026, according to a Cowboys announcement made that morning. He would have turned 78 two days later. Neither the Cowboys organization nor Fitzgerald’s family released a cause of death.
A Southbridge, Massachusetts native, Fitzgerald played fullback and threw the shot put at Southbridge High School before accepting a scholarship to Boston College. There he lined up on both sides of the ball, playing offensive guard and defensive tackle through three varsity seasons. His college career earned him a spot in Boston College’s Varsity Club Athletic Hall of Fame in 1982, the year after he hung up his cleats.
Dallas drafted the 6-foot-5, 255-pound lineman in the fourth round of the 1970 NFL Draft at 101st overall. His rookie season was spent on the taxi squad, where the team experimented with him on defense before converting him to the offensive line.
As a backup guard, Fitzgerald earned his first championship ring during Super Bowl VI, when Dallas crushed the Miami Dolphins 24-3 in January 1972. He moved to center the following season and became the starter in 1973, holding that position for the rest of his career.
Head coach Tom Landry’s decision to reintroduce the shotgun formation in 1975 became a turning point for the Cowboys’ offense. Fitzgerald’s precision snapping the ball over distance to quarterback Roger Staubach made the shotgun viable again after it had largely disappeared from the NFL. That technical skill became the foundation for an offensive system that propelled Dallas to the top of the league.
Between 1973 and 1980, Dallas ranked among the NFL’s top 10 offenses in total yards each year, with five seasons in the top three. Fitzgerald anchored those attacks from the center position, directing blocking schemes and delivering flawless snaps in both conventional and shotgun sets.
The offensive line he played on from 1979 to 1980 earned a memorable nickname that Fitzgerald himself created: “Four Irishmen and a Scott.” The moniker referred to Fitzgerald, Pat Donovan at left tackle, Tom Rafferty at right guard, Jim Cooper at right tackle, and Herb Scott at left guard.
Running back Tony Dorsett credited left guard Herb Scott with playing a major role in his Hall of Fame career. Donovan, a product of the celebrated 1975 “Dirty Dozen” draft class, never missed a game over 9 NFL seasons. And Fitzgerald sat at the center of all of it — both literally and figuratively.
Fitzgerald logged 137 regular-season games with 109 starts and added 19 postseason appearances with 13 starts, a postseason total that ties for 19th in franchise history. His 12 years in Dallas coincided with 11 playoff appearances, nine NFC Championship Games, five Super Bowls, and two Lombardi Trophies. Only in 1974 did the Cowboys miss the postseason during his tenure, and across all 12 seasons, Fitzgerald never played on a losing team—placing him in rare company in professional football history.
No Pro Bowl selections came his way despite the sustained excellence, a common fate for offensive linemen whose contributions often go unrecognized when postseason honors are distributed. Those who played alongside him, however, never questioned his value to the Dallas offense.
Fitzgerald went on injured reserve Aug. 31, 1981, and retired Jan. 11, 1982. Tom Rafferty, his linemate in the “Four Irishmen” front, moved into the center position and carried on. The Cowboys placed Fitzgerald among the franchise’s greatest centers, a lineage that includes Dave Manders, Mark Stepnoski, Andre Gurode, and Travis Frederick.
Fan tributes and condolences poured in across social media following the announcement. Football writer Kevin Gallagher described Fitzgerald as the “trigger man for the Cowboys’ bold 1975 reintroduction of the shotgun formation” — a move that changed the way the game was played and one that started with a center in Dallas who could put the ball exactly where it needed to be.