Pettis Norman, a former Cowboys tight end and civil rights activist, passed away at the age of 86. He helped Dallas to their first Super Bowl appearance in January of 1971.
Pettis Norman, a former Cowboys tight end and civil rights activist, has died at the age of 86. The Cowboys announced his death in a statement on Monday night.
Norman was originally drafted by the Dallas Texans in the 1962 AFL Draft but chose to sign with the Cowboys, where he’d play nearly a decade from 1962-1970. In his final season, Norman helped lead the franchise to their first Super Bowl appearance in January of 1971. In nine years with the Cowboys and three with the San Diego Chargers, Norman started 122 games, finishing with career totals of 183 receptions, 2,492 yards, and 15 touchdowns.
During his playing career, Norman was also extremely active in fighting for civil rights and equality. In an interview with The Dallas Morning News in 2021, Norman said he addressed the issue of segregation with his superiors, which “percolated beneath the surface of the Dallas Cowboys franchise”
“First, I went to [general manager] Tex [Schramm] to discuss it. ‘It’s really time we change it,’ I told him. ‘We are a team. We cannot separate by color. It sends the wrong message to us and the community.’”
Norman’s efforts helped push the front office to change their stance on segregation, and it unsurprisingly had its challenges when the team played games in segregated cities. In 1968, Norman was requested by President Lyndon Johnson to come to Washington, D.C., in an effort to help calm public unrest following Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination.
Following his playing career, Norman enjoyed success in the world of business with ventures that tapped into real estate, wholesale fuel distribution, fleet maintenance, and more. Norman also founded The Dallas Together Forum, which comprised Fortune 500 CEOs in an effort to address economic hardships experienced by minorities and women.