John Fitzgerald, the Dallas Cowboys’ starting center for most of the 1970s, died Tuesday morning.

Thursday would have been the two-time Super Bowl champion’s 78th birthday.

Fitzgerald played in 137 games (109 starts) with Dallas from 1971-80 after being drafted in the fourth round in 1970 out of Boston College.

He was a member of the Cowboys’ first two championship teams in Super Bowls VI and XII.

Fitzgerald was the center when head coach Tom Landry popularized the shotgun formation with Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach.

–Field Level Media