'Gentle Giant' Dave Butz, Washington Redskins Legend, Dead at 72: NFL Tracker
He was not on the list.
NOV 4 DAVE BUTZ PASSES Legendary Washington player Dave Butz has passed away at the age of 72.
Butz played for the Washington franchise for 14 years, with a trio of Super Bowl appearances. One of the largest NFL players of his era at 6-8, 300, he missed four games in his entire 16-year career and was selected to the NFL 1980s All-Decade Team and was named one of the 70 Greatest Redskins.
Said Joe Theismann on Twitter: "Lost a dear friend today. Dave Butz. Dave Mark Mosley and I used to ride to games together. A true gentle giant. Rest In Peace my friend.''
Butz started his career with the St. Louis Cardinals, who made him a first-round draft selection in 1973. But he is best known for his time in Washington, where he spent 14 seasons and helped win two Super Bowl titles.
He was also one of the biggest players during his time in the league, standing 6'8" and weighing well over 300 pounds.
Butz made the Pro Bowl in 1983, also earning first-team All-Pro honors that same season after recording a career-high 11.5 sacks. He was selected to the NFL's All-Decade Team of the 1980's and inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2014.
He played in a total of 216 games during his 16-year career, starting 180 games in Washington.
He played college football for the Purdue Boilermakers.
Butz was born in Lafayette, Alabama on June 23, 1950 and soon moved with his family to Illinois. He played high school football at Maine South High School in Park Ridge, Illinois, where he was two-time high school All-American. He also played basketball and was the Illinois High School discus champion, setting a state record. He was the nephew of Earl Butz, a Purdue University professor who later served as United States Secretary of Agriculture.
Butz played college football at Purdue University, where he was a 1972 finalist for the Lombardi Award. He was a first-team All-Big Ten member and played in both the East-West Shrine Game and Senior Bowl, where he was named the Defensive MVP.
Butz was named to the Purdue Boilermakers' Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame in 2004. He was later also named to Purdue's All Time Football team and was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2014.
Butz was drafted in the first round (fifth overall) of the 1973 NFL Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals, where he would play for two seasons. In 1975, Butz was granted free agency due to a mistake in his contract that he had signed as a rookie in 1973. Redskins coach George Allen quickly signed him, but the NFL ruled that the Redskins had to compensate the Cardinals with two first-round draft picks (1977 & 1978) and a second-round pick (1979).
Butz then played for the Washington Redskins for 14 years, where he had three Super Bowl appearances. He ranks third in franchise history in sacks (59.5). He was a one-time Pro Bowler in 1983 in a season in which he got eleven sacks, a career-best. He only missed four games in his entire 16-year career. Butz was among the largest players in the NFL when he played standing 6'8" and routinely weighing around 300 pounds.
At the victory parade following the Redskins win in Super Bowl XXII, Butz famously shouted to the crowd, "We came, we saw, we kicked their butz."
In October 1987, Butz famously checked himself out of the hospital to play in the Redskins' game against the New York Jets. Despite having dropped from 313 to 287 pounds due to the illness and feeling dizzy in the second half, Butz made a game-saving sack of Ken O'Brien to stop a Jets' drive late in the game and was awarded the game ball. After the game, he checked himself back into the hospital where he remained until the following Wednesday.
Butz announced his retirement as an active player at age 38 on May 18, 1989. utz moved to Belleville, Illinois early in his NFL career and continued to reside in the area for the remainder of his life with his wife, Candyce; the couple had three children. He also had a home in Fairfax, Virginia.
In the early 2000s, Butz served as a board member for the National Rifle Association.
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