Former Cowboys defensive end Willie Townes died Saturday, according to Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News.
Townes, 74, had a recent heart attack and later was discovered to have pancreatic cancer. He was under hospice care at his Dallas-area home.
Townes is best known for his sack of Bart Starr in the Ice Bowl, forcing a fumble in a game that decided the 1967 NFL championship. George Andrie scored on the 7-yard fumble return, though the Packers won 21-17.
“He came home from the Ice Bowl and his hands were still frozen,” Sandra Clark, Townes’ ex-wife, told Horn. “Then the skin began peeling off. They hurt him for the rest of his life. But Willie had a high threshold for pain.”
Townes played five seasons, four with the Cowboys and one with the Saints, including the 1969 season he missed with an injury.