Saturday, June 11, 2011

Godfrey Myles is Dead


Former Cowboys reserve linebacker Godfrey Myles died on Thursday after suffering a massive heart attack a day before. He was on life support for a time in Florida, where he suffered the attack. He was 42 years old.

Myles played as linebacker in the mid-90s American football team Dallas Cowboys who won three Super Bowls in four years.

He was selected by the Cowboys in the third round of the 1991 NFL draft after being named All-SEC in his senior year at the University of Florida, where he was teammates with Emmitt Smith. It took a while for Myles to make his way up the depth chart, but he had his best year in the 1995 season, when Dallas beat Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XXX. Myles started 11 games that season, posting a career high in tackles with 75, intercepting a pass, forcing a fumble, and recovering two fumbles. He recorded his first and only NFL post-season sack during a 30-11 Divisional Playoff round win over the Philadelphia Eagles in January of 1996.

Sadly, Myles tore the anterior cruciate ligaments in both knees during his Cowboys career - the first of those injuries came in Super Bowl XXVII when he was celebrating a touchdown, according to the Dallas Morning News.

Though many former players have injuries at the root of their early passings (especially head trauma), it is not known at this time whether on-field injuries contributed to Myles' death. In March of this year, he was charged in connection with a $2.5 million mortgage fraud in Wellington, Florida.

- Source