Bill Stribling, 78, Caught Tom Landry’s Only Pro Pass
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Majure Blanks “Bill” Stribling Sr., a former NFL player who caught the only touchdown pass Tom Landry threw as a professional football player, died in Rogers, Ark., on Monday He was 78.
Stribling played six seasons in the NFL, three for the New York Giants (1951–53) and three for the Philadelphia Eagles (1954–57). He caught 114 passes for 1,573 yards and 14 touchdowns in his NFL career. He also played with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League in 1960.
Stribling caught a 70-yard TD pass from Landry, the Hall of Fame coach with the Dallas Cowboys, in the Giants’ 63–7 loss at Pittsburgh on Nov. 30, 1952.
Stribling played college football at the University of Mississippi, and was later inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. Friend Ben Rowell called Stribling, an Ole Miss graduate, a “rebel who loved the Razorbacks.” “He was my best friend, a tremendous athlete and, most of all, a good Christian,” Mr. Rowell said. In 1984, Stribling started Stribling Packaging & Display.
