Before Da Coach, Mike Ditka won two Super Bowls with Dallas

Mike Ditka, whose family announced his death Friday at age 86, helped Dallas win its first two Super Bowls before becoming the head coach Chicago would know as "Da Coach." His Cowboys years included a touchdown in Super Bowl VI and nine seasons on Tom Landry's staff.

Ditka's most familiar images belong to Chicago, where he starred as a tight end and later coached the 1985 Bears to a championship. Dallas has its own place in that career: he played for the Cowboys from 1969 through 1972, then remained with the organization as an assistant from 1973 through 1981.

The NFL offered its condolences Friday. The Pro Football Hall of Fame also confirmed the family's announcement.

A touchdown in Dallas' first Super Bowl victory

Ditka arrived in Dallas after two seasons with Philadelphia. According to the Hall of Fame's career record, his strongest Cowboys receiving season came in 1971, when he caught 30 passes for 360 yards. Dallas reached the Super Bowl for the second consecutive season, having lost to Baltimore the previous year.

On January 16, 1972, the Cowboys beat Miami 24-3 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans. Roger Staubach found Ditka for a 7-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, completing the scoring in the franchise's first Super Bowl victory. Ditka's contribution gave him a championship with Dallas after the NFL title he had won as a Bears player in 1963.

The win followed years of postseason frustration. In the Cowboys' retrospective on that championship, Staubach remembered the pressure of reaching the game with a team still seeking its first title. Ditka's late touchdown belongs to the afternoon when Landry's Cowboys finally finished that job.

The NFL's archival recap below revisits the January 1972 game. It was published in 2016.

Nine seasons beside Landry

Retirement after the 1972 season kept Ditka in Dallas. The Cowboys' historical coaching roster lists him with receivers and tight ends in 1973–74, followed by assignments combining special teams with tight ends or receivers through 1981. He learned coaching inside the same organization where he had finished playing.

That stretch included another championship: Dallas defeated Denver 27-10 in Super Bowl XII on January 15, 1978. Ditka earned that ring as an assistant, six years after scoring in the Cowboys' first Super Bowl win.

Chicago hired him as head coach in 1982. His eventual championship there added a third Super Bowl victory in a different role, following his Dallas successes as a player and assistant. The Cowboys portion of his career occupied 13 consecutive seasons, spanning two jobs and both of Landry's Super Bowl titles.