David Merle Dalby (October 19, 1950 – August 30, 2002) was an
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
center
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
*Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...
; he played fourteen seasons in the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
(NFL), all with the
Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders.
Early years
Dalby was a star linemen at center and defensive end, who led his high school football team, the
La Serna Lancers of
Whittier, California
Whittier () is a city in Southern California in Los Angeles County, part of the Gateway Cities. The city had 87,306 residents as of the 2020 United States census, an increase of 1,975 from the 2010 census figure. Whittier was incorporated in ...
, to the California Scholastic Federation AAA football championship in 1967. An all-around athlete in high school, Dalby also played
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
and
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
at La Serna and graduated in 1968.
Dalby played
college football nearby at the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...
(
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
), where he became part of their All-Century team as center, and is a member of the UCLA Hall of Fame.
Raiders
Dalby was the 100th overall pick of the
1972 NFL Draft
The 1972 NFL draft was held February 1–2, 1972, at the Essex House in New York City, New York. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Buffalo Bills selected defensive end Walt Patulski.
Player selections
Round one
Round two
...
, selected in the
fourth round
Fourth or the fourth may refer to:
* the ordinal form of the number 4
* ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971
* Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision
* Fourth (music), a musical interval
* ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...
by the
Oakland Raiders. He played fourteen seasons in the NFL, all with the Raiders (
1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...
–
1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...
) and did not miss a single game.
In his fourth year in
1975
It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe.
Events
January
* January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...
, Dalby replaced
hall of famer
A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...
Jim Otto
James Edwin Otto (born January 5, 1938) is an American former professional football player who played as a center for the Oakland Raiders of the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons. He played colle ...
as the
starting center, who retired after the
previous season. He became only the second starting center in franchise history, as Otto had been the starter since the team's inception in
1960
It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism.
Events
January
* Jan ...
. For the next decade, Dalby was a part of sterling offensive lines which culminated in three Raider
Super Bowl victories (
XI,
XV,
XVIII). During that 1975–1985 window, the Raiders reached the playoffs eight times (1975–1977, 1980, 1982–1985).
During his eleven seasons as a starter, Dalby played next to hall of famer
Gene Upshaw
Eugene Thurman Upshaw Jr. (August 15, 1945 – August 20, 2008), also known as "Uptown Gene" and "Highway 63", was an American professional football player for the Oakland Raiders of the American Football League (AFL) and later the National Foot ...
,
Curt Marsh, and
Charley Hannah at left guard with
George Buehler
George Siegrist Buehler, Jr. (born August 10, 1947) is a former American football offensive lineman in the American Football League and the National Football League.
High school career
Buehler played for Whittier High School and was the CIF So ...
and
Mickey Marvin at right guard. He was selected to the
Pro Bowl
The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players.
The format has changed thro ...
once, after the
1977
Events January
* January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
* January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...
season. After his retirement, he was replaced as the starting center in
1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
**Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal enter ...
by
Don Mosebar.
Death
Dalby died in a car accident on August 30, 2002 at 51, when his van hit a tree.
References
External links
*
Raider starters
1950 births
2002 deaths
American Conference Pro Bowl players
American football centers
Los Angeles Raiders players
Oakland Raiders players
People from Alexandria, Minnesota
Players of American football from Minnesota
Road incident deaths in California
UCLA Bruins football players
Ed Block Courage Award recipients
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