Dallas Cowboys Friday Flashback: Calvin Hill
Before he was known as “Grant’s dad,” the Dallas Cowboys had Calvin Hill rushing the football for them as he was a one of the team’s many greats on offense.
Beginning his career with a boom by being named the 1969 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, Calvin Hill played 12 years in the NFL, with six of those being with the Cowboys, leaving a mark with the franchise that stood on its own for many years.
Hill played a total of 73 games with the Cowboys from 1969-74, earning four Pro Bowl selections, one first-team All-Pro honor by the Associated Press, and in four of his seasons with the Cowboys Hill was a Top 10 rusher, including ’69 where he was second in the NFL with 942 yards.
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During his Rookie of the Year season, Hill, who played collegially at Yale, had three games of 100-plus yards rushing with 138 verses the New Orleans Saints later followed with 109 yards against the same Saints. His top total was 150 yards against the Washington Redskins, a game where he also scored two touchdowns.
Hill’s rookie running back class was recently ranked fifth all-time by Chad Reuter of NFL.com, with the writer having the following to say about Hill in the Class of ’69, that also included O.J. Simpson and Mercury Morris, as Simpson eventually reached the Hall of Fame, and Morris was a member of the undefeated Miami Dolphins of ’72:
"“Hill was also an important part of the Cowboys’ surge to the top of the league in the early 1970s.”"
By the way that rookie season Hill even threw two touchdown passes and was 3-for-3 with his passes. He later threw a third career touchdown pass in ’72.
While wearing No. 35 Hill did earn two 1,000-yard seasons in ’72 and ’73 with his greatest rushing season being the ’73 campaign where the one-time Super Bowl champion had 1,142 yards on 273 carries with six touchdowns. Hill scored eight rushing touchdowns in a season twice, and during the ’71-72 seasons he caught three touchdowns each.
The first 1,000-yard rushing season for Hill was in ’72, as he finished with 1,036 yards and six touchdowns.
The six-year Cowboys career for Hill spanned 73 games in the regular season, while he also played in eight playoff games with the franchise, including ’71 when the Cowboys won the Super Bowl over the Miami Dolphins, 24-3. In that game Hill rushed for 25 yards on seven carries, plus caught one pass for 12 yards.
Hill ranks fourth all-time on the Cowboys rushing yardage list with a total of 5,009 yards, trailing only Emmitt Smith, Tony Dorsett and Don Perkins. He’s fifth in rushing touchdowns with 55.
Following his career with the Cowboys, Hill played two seasons with the Redskins and four more with the Browns before retiring at the conclusion of the ’81 season, totaling 156 regular season games and 10 playoff games.
It is important to remember the history of the Cowboys besides those enshrined the “Ring of Honor,” and the Hall of Fame. If not for players like Hill, the Cowboys franchise wouldn’t have had the success the franchise built during the 70s, as he was a member of the teams that struggled to win the “big game” for years, but the hard work paid off eventually with him being a member of the Cowboys first Super Bowl champion team.
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Hill, who is 69 years old, was a pioneer of sorts for the Cowboys in a way as he was one of the first great running backs in franchise history with Dorsett and Smith following in his foot steps and eventually those two reaching the Hall of Fame.