Former Broncos, Falcons coach Dan Reeves dead at 77

Dan Reeves, who played in two Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys and later coached Denver and Atlanta to the NFL’s title game, has died, his family said Saturday. He was 77.

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Reeves died of complications from dementia, his family said.

He spent 38 years in the league, winning Super Bowl VI as a player with Dallas and later as an assistant to head coach Tom Landry, ESPN reported.

As a coach, Reeves led the Broncos to three Super Bowls and coached the Falcons to their first Super Bowl, but lost each time. As a player, assistant coach and head coach, Reeves appeared in nine Super Bowls, The Denver Post reported.

Reeves was inducted to the Broncos’ Ring of Fame in 2014 and last coached in the NFL in 2003 with Atlanta, according to the newspaper. He won five AFC West titles with the Broncos and is second in team history in regular-season wins behind Mike Shanahan (138).

From 1981 until 1992, Reeves had only one losing season with the Broncos — 2-7 in the strike-shortened 1982 season. The Broncos had seven years of at least 10 wins over Reeves’ watch and quarterback John Elway arrived in 1983 to lead six trips to the playoffs.

Reeves’ Broncos lost the Super Bowl to the New York Giants (1986), Washington (1987) and San Francisco (1989). He led the Falcons to the Super Bowl during the 1998 season, but Atlanta’s “Dirty Birds” lost to his former team in John Elway’s final game, the Post reported.

As a player, Reeves played eight years for Dallas (1965-72), rushing 535 times for 1,990 yards and 25 touchdowns. He was an assistant with the Cowboys from 1974 to 1980 before he was hired at Denver.

Reeves was born in Rome, Georgia, and attended high school in southwest Georgia at Americus High School, according to WSB-TV. He went to college at the University of South Carolina, where he played quarterback from 1962 to 1964.

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