Father Of Cowboys Head Coach Passes Away
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - The father of Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett, Jim Garrett, passed away Friday night at the age of 87, the Dallas Cowboys said in a news release.
Garrett spent the majority of his NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys scouting department.
His wife, Jane, and his eight children were by his side when he passed.
The Cowboys said, "Garrett was a part of four Dallas Super Bowl teams, including three Super Bowl championships (1992, 1993 and 1995). As a college scout for the club, he wrote the original scouting report on Troy Aikman, who Dallas selected with the first overall pick in the 1989 NFL Draft."
Funeral arrangements are pending.
The Cowboys provided the following biography of Jim Garrett:
Jim Garrett originally joined the Dallas Cowboys in 1968 as a scout and spent 36 of the next 38 years coaching or scouting in the NFL, including his last 17 years as the Cowboys northeast area scout.
Garrett was an assistant coach with the N.Y. Giants (1969-1973), New Orleans Saints (1976-77) and Cleveland Browns (1978-84). He also coached collegiately at the Coast Guard Academy (1958) and Lehigh (1959) before serving as the head coach for Susquehanna University (1960-65). Garrett also spent one season as the head coach for the Houston Texans of the World Football League (1974). Through the mid-1970s, Garrett was the head coach at Millburn High School in New Jersey before becoming the head coach at Colombia University (1985).
An All-Conference fullback at Utah State, Garrett played for Philadelphia (1954), the British Colombia Lions (1955), N.Y. Giants (1956) and Ottawa RoughRiders (1957). Following his rookie season in the NFL, he went to spring training with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
A Rutherford, N.J. native (6/19/30), Garrett attended Rutherford High School where he was a member of the rst induction group of the school's Hall of Fame in 1996. In 2001 Susquehanna University named their sports complex James W. Garrett Sports Complex in his honor.
He is succeeded by his wife, Jane, his eight children - Jim, Jane, Jennifer, Janine, Jill, John, Jason and Judd - 28 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
