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Dave Edwards, Part of Dallas Cowboys’ ‘Doomsday Defense,’ Dies at 76

Dave Edwards in 1975.Credit...Associated Press

Dave Edwards, a linebacker who helped lead the Dallas Cowboys to three Super Bowls and was part of the so-called Doomsday Defense in a 13-year career with the team, died on Monday at his home in Lake Whitney, Tex., about 80 miles southwest of Dallas. He was 76.

His death was confirmed by his brother, Timothy. Dave Edwards had been scheduled to have surgery on Thursday for a heart arrhythmia that was recently discovered, his brother said.

Edwards played for the Cowboys from 1963 through the 1975 season. Known for his speed and aggressiveness, he was considered a key component of the team’s defense and was frequently listed among the linebackers with the most interceptions, according to the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, which inducted him in 1998.

During his years with the Cowboys, the team won Super Bowl VI in 1972, in which Dallas beat Miami, 24-3, at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans. He played in two other Super Bowls — in 1971, when Dallas lost to the Baltimore Colts, 16-13, at the Orange Bowl in Miami, and in 1976, when the Cowboys were defeated by the Pittsburgh Steelers, 21-17, again at the Orange Bowl.

Edwards spent his entire N.F.L. career with Dallas, playing in 181 games, and had 13 career interceptions and 17 fumble recoveries. He missed only one game, his brother said.

At Auburn University, Edwards was an outstanding two-way player, as a receiver on offense and at end on defense. He played during the 1959, 1960 and 1961 seasons and was considered among the premier defensive players in the Southeastern Conference.

David Monroe Edwards was born on Dec. 14, 1939, in Abbeville, Ala., to Warren and Millie Edwards. Timothy Edwards recalled that his brother had been a standout basketball and football player in high school and that his skills had extended to chain-saw carvings.

“He could carve a bear out of a log,” Timothy Edwards said.

After retiring from football, Edwards owned several businesses, including one that sold land-clearing equipment, and operated a bar and restaurant, his brother said.

In addition to his brother, survivors include two sons, Chris and Mike; and three sisters, Jane Price, Susan MacDonald, and Gloria Courtemanche.

Charlie Waters, a safety for the Cowboys during the 1970s, told The Los Angeles Times in 2014 that superstition had played a role in Edwards’s game, particularly in a 1975 divisional playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings in which Roger Staubach, the Cowboys’ quarterback, heaved a 50-yard desperation pass to Drew Pearson for a winning touchdown with 24 seconds left. The play popularized the term “Hail Mary pass.”

As the seconds wound down, Edwards had the defensive players on the sideline walk in the direction that the Cowboys’ offense was moving.

“It was like a stream of defensive players walking along the sidelines,” Waters said. “Dave was probably chanting some sort of mystical chant. But we all glanced over there when it happened, and we thought it was us — we thought that was why it worked!”

A correction was made on 
Dec. 8, 2016

An earlier version of this obituary misstated how long Edwards played for the Dallas Cowboys. It was 13 years, not 12.

How we handle corrections

Doris Burke contributed research.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section B, Page 13 of the New York edition with the headline: Dave Edwards, 76, of ‘Doomsday Defense’. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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