Best Dallas Cowboys player to wear No. 60 played final six seasons after being shot

Welcome back to our series covering the best Dallas Cowboys players to wear every jersey number from No. 0 to No. 99.

With the single digits, teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s now all in the books, we're ready to press forward with the next batch, and we've certainly got an intriguing entry to kick things off here at No. 60.

Now, we'll be real with you from the get-go. This particular number doesn't carry any sort of great overall history, although the Cowboys themselves and fans of America's Team are naturally hoping that changes in the near future with Tyler Guyton currently sporting it.

And we'll be honest in saying that we did have to seriously consider him for this slot, which says quite a bit about the lack of lineage.

But while Guyton may end up taking this spot soon, he's not there yet. But before we get to who we did select, let's first run through our usual process of looking at everyone who's donned the digit for Dallas over the years.

Jackie Burkett, LB
Lee Roy Caffey, LB
Davon Coleman, DT
Buzz Guy, G
Tyler Guyton, OT
Dean Hamel, DT
Joe Bob Isbell, G
Derek Kennard, OL
Gene Killian, G
Steve Kiner, LB
Kevin Kowalski, C
John Nix, DT
Ben Noll, G
J'Vonne Parker, DT
Tom Randall, G
Don Smerek, DL

The most decorated player on the list is Pro Bowl and All-Pro linebacker Lee Roy Caffey, who was a member of three of the first six Super Bowl winners.

But as he spent the majority of his 10-year career with the Green Bay Packers, who twice beat Dallas in the NFL Championship Game en route to taking the first two editions of what was then called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game, and played just the one season with the Cowboys in their first title-winning campaign in 1971, he's obviously not the call here.

We looked at a couple of other offensive linemen in Joe Bob Isbell, who spent four seasons with the team in the early years from 1962 to 1965, and Derek Kennard, who started Super Bowl 30 at center despite having a separted shoulder.

In the end, though, the call here was a defensive lineman, Don Smerek.

Don Smerek played the final six seasons of his career with the Dallas Cowboys after being shot in the chest

An All-Big Sky selection at the University of Nevada in 1979, Smerek went unselected in the 1980 NFL Draft before signing with Dallas as an undrafted free agent.

A defensive end by nature, the 6-foot-7, 255-pounder saw his first professional campaign get completely wiped after suffering some fractured ribs during training camp.

Upon his return in 1981, he moved to defensive tackle but appeared in just a pair of regular-season games before again landing on injured reserve, this time with a knee injury. But the worst was actually yet to come.

Roughly a month after that knee injury occurred, he got into a heated argument with another man in the parking lot of a Dallas restaurant over a traffic-related issue, and that argument ultimately concluded with Smerek being shot in the chest.

Remarkably, less than a year later, he was back on the football field, and after appearing in seven of the Cowboys' nine regular-season games during the strike-shortened 1982 campaign, he made his first career start in the team's second playoff game that year, tallying 10 tackles and a sack in a 37-26 win over the Packers, also getting a start in the NFC Championship Game against the team now known as the Washington Commanders, which resulted in a 31-17 loss.

Smerek never became a regular starter, serving in that capacity just four more times over the remainder of his career, which came to a close after he was waived just ahead of the 1988 season, but he was a solid contributor when called upon, especially in pass-rush situations, and tallied 14.5 sacks in 69 regular-season appearances for the Cowboys.

Other Dallas Cowboys jersey honorees

This list will be updated daily until all 100 entries are complete, so please be sure to check back in with The Landry Hat for updates.

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Don Smerek played the final six seasons of his career with the Dallas Cowboys after being shot in the chest

Other Dallas Cowboys jersey honorees

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