Jim Dunaway
No. 78 | |
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Position: | Defensive tackle |
Personal information | |
Born: | Columbia, Mississippi, U.S. | September 3, 1941
Died: | May 12, 2018 Columbia, Mississippi, U.S. | (aged 76)
Height: | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) |
Weight: | 277 lb (126 kg) |
Career information | |
High school: | Columbia (MS) |
College: | Ole Miss |
NFL draft: | 1963 / round: 1 / pick: 3 |
AFL draft: | 1963 / round: 2 / pick: 9 |
Career history | |
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Career highlights and awards | |
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Stats at Pro Football Reference |
James Kenneth Dunaway (September 3, 1941 – May 12, 2018) was an American professional football player. A defensive tackle, he played college football at the University of Mississippi, and played in the American Football League (AFL) for the Buffalo Bills, as part of a defensive line that held opposing runners without a rushing touchdown for a pro football record seventeen consecutive games in the 1964 and 1965 AFL seasons.[1]
Murder charge and aftermath
[edit]On July 27, 1998, Dunaway's ex-wife, Nonniel Dunaway, was found dead in a half-empty swimming pool.[2] An autopsy revealed that she had a fractured skull and was unconscious when she was placed in the water by her assailant where she drowned. Prior to this event, she had won a divorce judgment which gave her more than 800 acres (3.2 km2) of property that the couple owned, $1,800 a month in alimony and half of Dunaway's NFL pension. They had been divorced since 1995 and Dunaway was planning to appeal.
Dunaway was charged with her murder but a grand jury chose not to indict Dunaway of the charges.[3] In response, his children filed a wrongful death lawsuit, alleging that Dunaway was responsible for their mother's death.[4] In 2002, Dunaway was found liable and ordered to pay $579,000 to his children.[5]
Coincidentally, Dunaway had been a teammate for three seasons of star running back O. J. Simpson, who was similarly found responsible for his ex-wife's death after being acquitted of her murder in a controversial trial in 1995.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Celebration of Life Service to be Held for Ole Miss Great Jim Dunaway".
- ^ "Ex-Dolphin Charged With Murder". www.cbsnews.com.
- ^ "PLUS: IN THE NEWS; Dunaway Charged In Ex-Wife's Death". The New York Times. Associated Press. July 31, 1998.
- ^ BabyTate. "Jim Dunaway, the True Notorious Big". Bleacher Report.
- ^ Teitelbaum, Ben (June 21, 2013). "Football, Crime, and Allegations Against Aaron Hernandez". The Daily Beast – via www.thedailybeast.com.
- 1941 births
- 2018 deaths
- People from Columbia, Mississippi
- All-American college football players
- American football defensive tackles
- Buffalo Bills players
- Miami Dolphins players
- Jacksonville Sharks (WFL) players
- Jacksonville Express players
- American Football League All-Star players
- Ole Miss Rebels football players
- American Football League players
- Players of American football from Mississippi
- American football defensive lineman, 1940s birth stubs