John Niland (American football)

John Niland

No. 76, 74
Position:	Guard
Personal information
Born:	(1944-02-29) February 29, 1944 Quincy, Massachusetts, U.S.
Height:	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight:	245 lb (111 kg)
Career information
High school:	Amityville (Amityville, New York)
College:	Iowa
NFL draft:	1966: 1st round, 5th pick
AFL draft:	1966: 13th round, 166th pick
Career history
Dallas Cowboys (1966–1974) Philadelphia Eagles (1975–1976)
Career highlights and awards
Super Bowl champion (VI) 3× First-team All-Pro (1969, 1971, 1972) 6× Pro Bowl (1968–1973) First-team All-American (1965) Second-team All-American (1964) First-team All-Big Ten (1965) Second-team All-Big Ten (1964)
Career NFL statistics
Games played: 138 Games started: 126 Stats at Pro Football Reference

John Hugh Niland (born February 29, 1944) is an American former professional football player who was an offensive guard in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles. He was a six-time Pro Bowler and a three-time All-Pro. He played college football for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

In 2021, the Professional Football Researchers Association named Niland to the PFRA Hall of Very Good Class of 2021.

Early life

Niland was born on February 29, 1944, in Quincy, Massachusetts. He was placed for adoption when he was two years old. Niland was raised by his adopted family in Amityville, Suffolk County, Long Island, living in the black community (although the family was white). His father was an unemployed alcoholic, his mother made minimum wage, and he began working at age nine for 50 cents and pizza. He went through a period of stealing hub cabs for extra money. Niland found out he was adopted when applying for a drivers license at 16 years old.

He attended Amityville Memorial High School, where he was an All-State fullback as a senior. He graduated in 1962. During his playing days with the Cowboys, he would send money to the school to serve as scholarship funds for two student athletes to help financially toward college.

Niland was inducted into the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame on Long Island in the Football Category with the Class of 1997.

College football

He accepted a football scholarship from the University of Iowa, where he started out as a fullback, before being converted into an offensive tackle and becoming a starter at right tackle as a sophomore. He was moved to offensive guard as a junior.

Niland was a first team All-American selection his senior year (1965), as well as being selected All-Big 10. He was a second-team All-American selection in 1964 by the Newspaper Enterprise Association, and second team All-Big 10 that year as well. After his senior year, he played in the East West Shrine game, the Chicago Allstar game (where he was unsuccessful in blocking against Green Bay Packer Hall of fame defensive tackle Henry Jordan), and the Hula Bowl. He won these honors, even though his Iowa teams had losing records of 3–6 in 1964, and 1–9 in 1965.

In 1989, he was named to the Iowa All-time Football Team. In 2006, he was inducted into the University of Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame.

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

Niland was selected in the first round (fifth overall) of the 1966 NFL draft by the Dallas Cowboys, becoming the first offensive lineman in franchise history to be drafted in the first round. He was also selected by the Oakland Raiders in the thirteenth round (116th overall) of the 1966 AFL Draft.

As a rookie, Niland started four games at offensive tackle in place of an injured Jim Boeke. In 1967, his emergence as the starting left guard, allowed the team to move Tony Liscio to left tackle.

Niland was the starter at left guard from 1966 to 1974. One of the top offensive linemen of his era, he excelled as a pulling guard.

Practicing against All-Pro Cowboys defensive tackle Bob Lilly (a future hall of famer), beginning in his rookie year, helped Niland become a Pro Bowler and solidified an offensive line that won two NFC Championship Games and one Super Bowl. Learning to block against Lilly made Niland more confident in his own blocking ability. Lilly also taught Niland how to watch his opponents' foot and leg movements, and educated him on the minor and major points of the physical beating taken in games.

He was nicknamed Johnny Nightlife by his teammates, because of his thirst for the nightlife, something that would undermine him later in life.

As a rookie, Niland started in the 1966 NFL Championship Game, though contemporaneous reporting says Boeke played left tackle in the Championship game that year (not Niland), committing an offsides penalty that was important in the game's outcome. Niland later started in the 1967 NFL Championship Game, famously known as the "Ice Bowl", both championship games being Cowboy losses to the Green Bay Packers. In 1967, Niland played next to left tackle Tony Liscio and opposite right defensive tackle Lionel Aldridge and right defensive tackle Jordan of the Packers (whom Niland had faced only two years earlier in the Chicago All-Star game).

The Cowboys eventually won the NFC Championship Game during the 1970-71 NFL playoffs against the San Francisco 49ers, due in large part to Duane Thomas's 143 yards on the ground, but lost in Super Bowl V to the Baltimore Colts. However, in the following year, they again defeated the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game of the 1971-72 NFL playoffs and then beat the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VI.

In the latter game, Niland, and Liscio overwhelmed Bob Heinz and Bill Stanfill, respectively, leading Duane Thomas and others to a whopping 252 yards on the ground. The Cowboys used a slip-wedge blocking scheme to neutralize Miami middle linebacker Nick Buoniconti, based on Vince Lombardi's offense from the Packers championship days, chiefly executed to success by Niland and Cowboys center Dave Manders.

Along with Rayfield Wright, Nate Newton, Larry Allen, Tyron Smith and Zack Martin, Niland is one of only six offensive lineman in team history with at least six Pro Bowl selections. He was selected to six consecutive Pro Bowls from 1968 to 1973 and was a three-time All-Pro selection, while only missing two games in his nine seasons with the Cowboys.

Niland is a member of the Cowboys All-Time Team.

Philadelphia Eagles

On September 14, 1975, he was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for a third round draft choice (#62-Tony Hill).

In 1975, he started 13 games at left guard after missing the season opener with a hamstring injury. The next year, he tore ligaments in his left knee during a training camp practice and was placed on the injured reserve list.

Personal life

Niland served military duty at Fort Hood.

While still playing for the Cowboys, Niland was: involved with a land-development company, a bank vice president, a television and radio personality, a spokesman for Pepsi Cola, and a regular banquet speaker. His offseason income came to equal the salary paid by the Cowboys.

He served 11 months in federal prison camp in 1988-89 after being found guilty of submitting a false financial statement to obtain a loan. He had been introduced to cocaine and a fast lifestyle in 1972, and the use of amphetamines was regularly around him. Just a year earlier (1971), he spoke in a New York Times interview on the benefits of training rules and behavioral restrictions on players; even stating that any teenage boy's interest being directed towards sports could help in leading them away from drug use. Added to the pressure to perform at a high level for the Cowboys, his personal and financial life diverted in a negative direction, and by the 1980s Niland faced indictments on criminal charges and filed for bankruptcy.

After his release, Niland put that life behind him, and focused on his Christian faith. He worked as vice president of sales for the Arrow Magnolia Chemical Company. He later worked for a concrete company.

External links

• John Niland's Official Website (archive)