An unsung hero of the Dallas Cowboys' late-1970s dynasty was lost on Jan. 29 with the death of running back Scott Laidlaw. He was 72.
Part of the famed Dirty Dozen draft class of 1975, Laidlaw was selected by the Cowboys in the 14th round and went on to become one of only nine prospects in franchise history to be drafted in the 10th round or later yet play at least five seasons with the team. During that stretch, the Cowboys made the playoffs each year and appeared in three Super Bowls, winning the Lombardi Trophy in 1977.
"Being part of the Dirty Dozen was probably one of the best things I've had in my athletic career and maybe just plain in my life," Laidlaw said during an interview last spring for the Deep Blue documentary Dirty Dozen. "We were focused as a team, not individuals, and it was just a good experience."
Laidlaw arrived in Dallas after three standout seasons at Stanford. A native of Hawthorne, California, he led the Cardinal in rushing during his final two years and left campus ranked fourth in school history with 1,543 rushing yards.
"Stanford guy. So what does that mean? He's probably smart," the Voice of the Cowboys Brad Sham said. "He was a tailback who didn't have breakaway speed, but he wasn't ever going to run in the wrong hole."
Laidlaw, though, was also a key part of Stanford's passing attack, a skill he used to his advantage in the pros.
"The Cowboys playbook was very similar to my college playbook at Stanford, so that was pretty easy for me – the same way of calling plays, same everything," Laidlaw said. "That was actually an advantage for me over guys that came in from the Wishbone or other deals. They had to learn the system."
"He had great hands," said left tackle Pat Donovan, who was a teammate of Laidlaw's at Stanford and with the Cowboys. "He was one of the few backs at the time who really knew how to swing out of the backfield. … I mean, he was really an effective back."
Indeed, Laidlaw opened his second pro campaign with 104 rushing yards on 19 carries and another 66 receiving yards off seven catches in a 27-7 victory over Philadelphia. He went on to finish that 1976 season ranked second on the team in yards from scrimmage (749) and was also third in touchdowns (4).
"I was the third-down back," Laidlaw said. "I was sent in for a lot of pass-receiving situations is mostly what it was, and I had fun with it. It eventually got me into playing a lot, so I was up for that."
"I don't remember, frankly, in the 1970s how they put their special teams together because most teams did not have a full-time special teams coach back then," Sham said. "But if he was playing under the systems that teams use now, Scott Laidlaw would have been a great special teams player."
Although largely a backup during his career, having started 15 of the 67 games he played in Dallas, Laidlaw stepped into the limelight in 1978. With Robert Newhouse injured, Laidlaw racked up 404 yards from scrimmage and seven touchdowns over the final six games of the regular season, which included four starts.
"Well, 1978, I guess I can say it was my year," Laidlaw said. "Newhouse got hurt, and so I had to play. And I wanted to play. … I had some good luck. I had some good players that were playing with me, and we were good. We were on a roll."
Against rival Washington on Thanksgiving Day of that year, Laidlaw ran for a career-high 122 yards in the 37-10 victory, marking 1978 as the only season in Cowboys record books during which three different players have run for at least 100 yards in a game. He then got the start in Dallas' first two playoff wins, earning two rushing touchdowns against the Falcons in the divisional round and a receiving score versus the Rams in the NFC Championship Game.
After that effort, Laidlaw would spend one more season with Dallas, appearing in all 16 games with four starts despite battling a number of injuries. He would then wrap up his NFL career by playing seven games with the Giants in 1980 before retiring.
Said Laidlaw, "Since I was no longer with the Cowboys, it was basically, Okay, I'm just going to retire. I'm done."
Laidlaw still ranks 21st among Cowboys running backs in career receiving yards (652), owning the second-fewest starts among that group, and is 23rd all-time in yards from scrimmage for team rushers (1,636).
"People even today are still sending me requests for autographs and playing cards," Laidlaw said prior to his passing. "It was 50 years ago that I was a rookie, and I'm still getting requests for my autograph. That's pretty amazing."
