Lilly, Bob

Bob Lilly, in full Robert Lewis Lilly, (born July 26, 1939, Olney, Texas, U.S.), American gridiron football player who is considered one of the greatest defensive linemen in National Football League (NFL) history. As the anchor of the Dallas Cowboys’ “Doomsday Defense,” he helped the team win its first Super Bowl title (1972).

Lilly was raised in rural Texas and moved with his family to Oregon shortly before his senior year of high school. He was named all-state in both football and basketball in his one year in the Pacific Northwest, and he earned an athletic scholarship to Texas Christian University (TCU). He was a consensus All-American in his senior season at TCU, and he became the first college draft choice in Cowboys history when the team selected him with the 13th overall pick of the 1961 draft.

Originally a defensive end, Lilly moved to defensive tackle during his third season, and he flourished as an interior lineman. He was named All-Pro in each season from 1964 to 1969 as the Cowboys—a winless expansion team in the year before Lilly’s arrival—developed into one of the most formidable teams in the NFL. Lilly and the Cowboys played in six league or conference (after the NFL merged with the American Football League in 1970) championship games in the eight-year period from 1966 through 1973. He helped the Cowboys reach their first Super Bowl (a loss to the Baltimore Colts) in 1971 and a second berth in the game the following year, when Lilly and the Doomsday Defense held the Miami Dolphins to just a field goal in Dallas’s 24–3 win. Lilly retired in 1975.

The durable Lilly missed just one game over the course of his 14-year NFL career, a remarkable achievement for someone who played two of football’s most grueling positions. After his retirement from football, he embarked on a successful career as a photographer. Lilly was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980.