Dan Reeves, who won a Super Bowl as a player with the Dallas Cowboys but was best known for a long coaching career highlighted by four more appearances in the title game with the Denver Broncos and the Atlanta Falcons, all losses, died Saturday at age 77.
A statement released by his family through former Falcons media relations director Aaron Salkin said Reeves died of complications from dementia. The statement said he died “peacefully and surrounded by his loving family at his home in Atlanta.”
Reeves was a versatile running back who played a key role in the Cowboys becoming an NFL powerhouse in the 1960s under Tom Landry, but his own coaching career—stretching over three teams and 23 seasons—is where he truly left his mark on the league.
Including a stint with the New York Giants, Reeves totaled 190 coaching victories—the ninth-most in NFL history. But he was never able to win the biggest game of all, going 0-4 in the Super Bowl, each of them blowout losses. Reeves, Marv Levy, and Bud Grant are the only coaches to lose four times in the Super Bowl.
