James Milton Eidson (born May 10, 1954) is a former

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 with ...

Offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

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) for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Unive ...

Early years

Eidson attended Morgan County High School (now Hartselle), where he practiced football, golf,

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

and the discus throw. In football, he was a two-way player at tackle. He accepted a football scholarship from

. He was a

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the la ...

, but was demoted from starter to the scout team as a sophomore. In 1974, he was converted into an

offensive tackle Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

when head coach Bob Tyler installed the veer offense. He started 22 consecutive games at right tackle, receiving honorable-mention All-SEC honors in 1975. In 2009, he was inducted into the Morgan County Hall of Fame.

Professional career

Eidson was selected by the

in the second round (55th overall) of the

1976 NFL Draft The 1976 National Football League draft was an annual player selection meeting held April 8–9, 1976, at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, New York. The draft lasted 17 rounds, with the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks m ...

, with the intention of switching him to offensive guard. As a rookie, he was a backup guard and center, playing in 9 games and was a part of the

Super Bowl XII Super Bowl XII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the ...

championship team. In

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 Democratic R ...

, he suffered a jammed neck during a training camp blocking drill against defensive end Ed "Too Tall" Jones and experienced temporary paralysis. In the preseason, he also had a knee injury against the Houston Oilers that placed him on the injured reserve list. In

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

, he suffered a second sprained neck injury in preseason and was diagnosed with a spinal cord condition, which forced him into early retirement.

Personal life

Eidson married Jana Beth Scoggins in 1979 and they have three children: Taylor, Grant, and Savannah. Eidson went on to earn his MBA from Southern Methodist University's

Cox School of Business The Edwin L. Cox School of Business is an American business school, part of Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas. The SMU Cox School of Business is headquartered in four buildings on SMU's 210-acre main campus five miles north ...

and was elected to Beta Gamma Sigma honor society. He became the president of Precedent Equities LLC, a real estate company in Dallas, Texas.

References

External links

Eidson's path took him to Super Bowl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eidson, Jim 1954 births Living people People from Hartselle, Alabama Players of American football from Alabama American football offensive guards Mississippi State Bulldogs football players Dallas Cowboys players