John Niland

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John Niland
Position (s):
Guard
Jersey numbers:
76, 74
born on February 29, 1944 in Quincy , Massachusetts
Career information
Active : 1966 - 1976
NFL Draft : 1966 / Round: 1 / Pick: 5
College : University of Iowa
Teams
Career statistics
Games     138
as a starter     126
Fumble secured     5
Stats at NFL.com
Stats at pro-football-reference.com
Career highlights and awards

John Hugh Niland (* 29. February 1944 in Quincy , Massachusetts , USA ) is a former American American football poker players. He played as a guard in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles .

youth

Born in Massachusetts John Niland visited Amityville the high school . His parents died early and he was raised by his 50-year-old adoptive mother. In a 1994 newspaper interview, Niland admitted to having been sexually abused as a child . As a child, he had to make a living with child labor. After graduating from high school, he joined the University of Iowa .

Player career

College career

John Niland studied from 1963 to 1966 at the University of Iowa, where he played football for the Iowa Hawkeyes for three years under Head Coach Jerry Burns . He was at times a teammate of the later member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Paul Krause . Niland initially played as a fullback for the Hawkeyes but later switched to the position of guard. Although the Iowa Hawkeyes, who were part of the Big Ten Conference , had little success during the Niland season, he was voted All American in 1964 and 1965 . In addition, he was elected to the Big Ten Conference in 1965. His college honored him several times for his athletic achievements.

Professional career

The sporting achievements of John Niland had also drawn the attention of the scouts of the National Football League and the American Football League (AFL). In 1966, the Oakland Raiders pulled him in the 13th round in 116th place in the AFL Draft. At the same time, the Dallas Cowboys, supervised by Tom Landry , showed an interest in signing John Niland and drew him in the 1st round in 5th place in the NFL draft . Niland joined the cowboys. Landry put him in the offense of the Cowboys as a guard, which gave him the task of protecting quarterback Don Meredith and blocking the way into the opposing end zone for the two running backs Don Perkins and Dan Reeves . The offensive line of the cowboys around Niland and the offensive tackle Ralph Neely , as well as the center Dave Manders should be further strengthened in the next few years with the engagement of Rayfield Wright and John Fitzgerald . She was so important to the success of the Dallas Cowboys.

In 1970, the Niland team won the NFC Championship with a 17:10 win over the San Francisco 49ers . His team failed in Super Bowl V at the Baltimore Colts , which were looked after by Don McCafferty , with 16:13.

In 1971 John Niland won eleven of 14 games with the Cowboys in the regular season and thus moved into the play-offs . After a 14: 3 win over the San Francisco 49ers , his team led by quarterback Roger Staubach in Super Bowl VI against the Miami Dolphins, trained by Don Shula , achieved a 24: 3 victory.

John Niland played with the Cowboys until 1974. In 1975 he joined the Philadelphia Eagles trained by Mike McCormack . The game year was unsuccessful. In preparation for the 1976 season, Niland suffered a serious injury. He was no longer used in the game round and then ended his playing career.

Off the field

John Niland was already known during his playing career for his abuse of alcohol , amphetamines and LSD . Several times he got into physical arguments. His marriage in 1967 suffered from his constant infidelity, which ultimately led to their separation in 1973. In 1973 he walked the streets of Dallas in a drug intoxication . Disoriented, he knocked on the door of a rabbi , whereupon the rabbi called the police . When the police tried to give the hallucinating Niland medical treatment, he got into a physical altercation with them. He suffered an injury and then missed a game of his team. In 1983 he came into conflict with the law again over drug possession. In 1987 he was sentenced by a court to prison for fraud. He spent eleven months in prison . Over the next few years, Niland managed to completely change his life. He found Christianity and married his second wife in 1993, with whom he had two daughters. Today John Niland works in a leading position in the chemical industry.

Honors

John Niland is a member of the National Iowa Varsity Club Athletics Hall of Fame and the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame. He played six times in the Pro Bowl , the final game of the best players of the season and was also voted All Pro six times .

Web links

source

  • Jens Plassmann: NFL - American Football. The game, the stars, the stories (= Rororo 9445 rororo Sport ), Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1995, ISBN 3-499-19445-7
  • Peter Golenbock: Landry's Boys: An Oral History of a Team and an Era , Triumph Books, 2005, ISBN 1-617-49954-4

Individual evidence

  1. College Awards from John Niland ( Memento of the original from December 20, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / old.lostlettermen.com
  2. ^ Annual statistics of the Dallas Cowboys 1970
  3. Statistics NFC final 1970
  4. Statistics Super Bowl V
  5. Annual statistics of the cowboys 1971
  6. Statistics NFC final 1971
  7. Statistics Super Bowl VI
  8. Press report on John Niland's drug offense
  9. ^ John Niland's company