Sam Dana, who was the oldest living former NFL player and once played football alongside Lou Gehrig at Columbia College, died Monday. He was 104.

A fledgling halfback who had also played for St. John’s College, he broke into the then fledgling NFL in 1926 with the Hartford Blues. He played one game with the Blues and then played a full season in 1928 with the New York (football) Yankees, finishing with three catches for 66 yards and one touchdown.

The Yankees folded before the next season and Dana moved on to raise a family and eventually work as a special agent for the IRS before retiring in 1969.

Dana only recently became known as the NFL’s oldest living player after there was confusion regarding his name.

He played under the name Sam “Smoke” Salemi before changing it to Dana in 1945. And for many years, NFL historians thought he had died after another former Brooklyn-born player named Salemi died in 1969.

It wasn’t until March 2002 that his son, Bob Dana, informed the Pro Football Hall of Fame, informing that his father was still alive and living in Buffalo.

“I didn’t even know I was missing,” Sam Dana said with a smile while visiting the Bills training camp in 2003. “I’m glad they found me.”

Dana quickly became a minor celebrity after that. He was invited to attend ceremonies at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Bills practices, and he regularly spoke to children about his playing days, Bob Dana said. Pro Football Hall of Fame announced that it was still trying to figure out who is the oldest remaining NFL player.

Dana played college football at Columbia, St. John’s and Canisius into the early 1920s.

It was at Columbia where Dana played alongside Gehrig, a fullback before he elected to pursue a career in baseball. As a member of the football Yankees, Dana also once caught a pass from Harry Stuhldreher, a member of Notre Dame’s celebrated “Four Horsemen.”

Turns out, Gehrig died owing Dana $1, which Gehrig had borrowed and then quickly lost playing dice, Bob Dana said. “Dad often said, ‘I wished I asked for the buck back and asked him for an autograph. It might really be worth something,” Bob Dana said, with a big laugh.

“I don’t say that in my day (the players) were any better,” Dana had said in 2003. “But of course, nowadays, they do get paid a lot more than we did.” He said he made $100 a game for the Yankees.

“I played the old game. I loved it,” Dana said. “But I wasn’t such a big shot like Red Grange and people like that, you know.”