Two-time Super Bowl champion Howard Twilley, a member of the Miami Dolphins’ undefeated 1972 team, has died at 81.
The National Football Foundation announced his passing on Friday, but did not provide a cause of death. The Texas native died on Wednesday.
Before landing in Miami, the wide receiver played at Tulsa. In 1965, he was named a unanimous All-American and the Heisman Trophy runner-up after averaging 13.4 receptions per game, which the NFF said remains an FBS record.
“Howard Twilley was one of the greatest receivers in college football history with an uncanny ability to get open and change the course of a game,” said Archie Manning, NFF chairman. “He simply redefined what it meant to be a dominant receiver, and his performance at Tulsa during the 1965 season remains one of the greatest in our sport’s history.”
Both the AFL’s Dolphins and the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings selected him in the late rounds of their 1966 drafts, and he wound up in Miami.
He spent 11 seasons with the Dolphins, winning back-to-back Super Bowl championships after the 1972 and 1973 seasons. In 120 career games (82 starts) in the regular season, he caught 212 passes for 3,064 yards and 23 touchdowns.
He started all three playoff games in 1972, making four receptions for 61 yards and a score.
“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Howard Twilley, a founding player for the Dolphins in 1966,” the team said in a statement Friday. “His touchdown in Super Bowl VII helped the Dolphins cap the NFL’s only perfect season and his contributions to the organization will be forever remembered.”
Post-retirement, Twilley owned a chain of sporting goods stores and worked for an investment firm.
–Field Level Media
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