Duane Thomas, Super Bowl champ and former Cowboys star, dead at 77

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Duane Thomas, a former NFL running back who won a Super Bowl title with the Dallas Cowboys, has died. He was 77.

The Cowboys confirmed Thomas’ death to Pro Football Talk and the Dallas Morning News.

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Duane Thomas, #33 of the Dallas Cowboys, carries the ball against the San Francisco 49ers during the NFC NFL Conference Championship football game on January 2, 1972, at Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas. (Focus on Sport/Getty Images)

"The Great Duane Thomas passed away yesterday. He was a great Cowboy. On his come back he was one of my roommates in Thousand Oaks. Lots of laughs and moments. RIP DUANE THOMAS," the running back’s former teammate, Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson, wrote on Facebook.

Thomas only played four years in the NFL. He was a first-round draft pick of the Cowboys in the 1970 draft out of West Texas A&M.

He started his rookie season with 803 rushing yards and five touchdowns and helped guide the team to Super Bowl V against the Baltimore Colts, in which Dallas fell just short.

Thomas was considered to be the running back of the future for the Cowboys. But a contract dispute and a war of words with head coach Tom Landry led to a trade in 1971. Initially traded to the New England Patriots, then-NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle voided the deal.

Dallas Cowboys running back Duane Thomas, #33, runs with the ball but is tackled from behind by the Indianapolis Colts' linebacker Ted Hendricks. (Focus on Sport via Getty Images)

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Thomas returned to Cowboys and took a vow of silence. In that second year,