Penn State mourns passing of All-American, Super Bowl champion

On Sunday evening, Penn State football mourned the passing of one of its former team captains and All-Americans. Standout offensive lineman and longtime NFL veteran Tom Rafferty died on Friday at the age of 70, according to a release from the program.

We mourn the loss of former PSU standout & First-Team All-American, Tom Rafferty. Our hearts go out to his family & friends. pic.twitter.com/i2a8lWo2TZ

— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) June 9, 2025

A native of Fayetteville, New York, Rafferty lettered for the Nittany Lions between 1973 and 1975. During that time, Penn State went a combined 31-5 with three consecutive top-10 finishes. The 1973 squad went 12-0 with an Orange Bowl win over LSU, the third undefeated season of Joe Paterno’s career. The following year, the Nittany Lions went 10-2, including a victory in the Cotton Bowl over Baylor.

Rafferty was a team captain during his final season in Happy Valley, earning first-team All-American honors from The Football News and the Football Writers Association of America. He was then selected in the fourth round of the 1976 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys.

The former Nittany Lion would spend his entire professional career in Dallas, playing 14 seasons for the Cowboys at guard and center. His 182 starts are still the fourth most in franchise history. He started in a pair of Super Bowls, including the Cowboys’ victorious Super Bowl XII appearance during the 1977 season.

“He was a shining example of being a great, trusted teammate and champion, always approaching the game and his role by doing the right thing,” the Cowboys said in a statement.

Rafferty retired from the NFL in 1989. He spent the last 17 years battling transverse myelitis, a disorder that affects the central nervous system.

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