Robert Shaw (American football)

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Shaw attended Joseph Wheeler High School and played varsity football for three years, receiving All-American, state football lineman of the year and All-state honors in his senior season of 1975. He also practiced basketball and swimming.

He went on to play college football at Tennessee University, where he was a three-year starter at center, and earned second-team All-SEC honors in 1977 and 1978. Future Dallas Cowboys special teams coach Joe Avezzano, was his offensive coordinator.

As a senior, he was named one of the co-captains and received the team's Mickey O’Brien award. He also started in the East–West Shrine Game and the Senior Bowl.

Shaw was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the first round (27th overall) of the 1979 NFL draft.{{Cite web |title=1979 NFL Draft Listing |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/1979/draft.htm |access-date=2024-03-17 |website=Pro-Football-Reference.com |language=en}} This was only the second time the Cowboys used a first round pick on an offensive lineman. The first time was in the 1966 NFL draft when the team selected John Niland.{{Cite web |title=Dallas Cowboys All-Time Draft History |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/dal/draft.htm |access-date=2024-03-17 |website=Pro-Football-Reference.com |language=en}}

As a rookie in 1980, he started the season as a backup to John Fitzgerald at center and played mainly on special teams. After Fitzgerald injured his knee in the first half against the Washington Redskins, Shaw finished the game and played well enough to be named the starter for the next game against the Houston Oilers in Thanksgiving, while Fitzgerald recovered. He went on to become the starting center for the last five regular season games and three contests in the playoffs where he excelled.

Two games into his third season in 1981, he sprained his right knee against the Saint Louis Cardinals. He returned after sitting out three weeks, only to injure the same knee in the sixth game of the season against the San Francisco 49ers.{{cite web| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19811013&id=rkpSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GnsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6490,5135928 | title=Cowboys Injuries | access-date=April 30, 2017}} He prepared and trained for a come back over 20 months, but was never able to pass the team's physical and subsequently retired.{{cite web| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1356&dat=19830708&id=BTExAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PAYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1698,3526527 | title=Cowboys' Shaw Retires | access-date=April 30, 2017}}

Shaw was expected to anchor the Cowboys offensive line for 1980s, but his ongoing injuries and their effects brought an end to his promising career.{{cite web| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=861&dat=19850430&id=iVtTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TIUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1780,7425263 | title=Cowboys Need Immediate Help | access-date=April 30, 2017}} He played in just 33 games over a 3-year career with the Cowboys. After Shaw's injury, Tom Rafferty was moved from guard and was named the starting center.

After the end of his football career, he went back to college and earned a degree in architectural design and management. He became a vice president, working directly under Bob Breunig in the SBC development company. In the late-1980s and early 1990s, he became President of Memphis Real Estate and Columbus Realty Holdings. Along with business partner Roger Staubach, his company helped begin the transformation of a blighted area west of the North Central Expressway and north of the Woodall-Rogers Freeway into what is now known as Uptown Dallas. The first apartment community, positioned between State and Thomas streets, would be the first of many developed using a tax increment financing program with the City of Dallas. Shaw was named to the Dallas Business Journal's "Top 40 Under 40". His real estate development prowess has continued, and - in 2014 - it was announced that Shaw and Staubach would work with restaurateur Phil Romano to develop an apartment community in Trinity Groves, a project expected to cost in excess of $100 million.{{Cite web |last=Carlisle |first=Candace |date=April 23, 2014 |title=Roger Staubach, Robert Shaw team up on $100M Trinity Groves project |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2014/04/23/roger-staubach-robert-shaw-team-up-on-100m-trinity.html |access-date=2024-03-17 |website=www.bizjournals.com}} In 2017, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones announced that the Shaw/Staubach team would enter into a joint venture to build a 17-story luxury high rise at The Star in Frisco,{{Cite web|url=http://www.capstonecommercial.com/single-post/2017/05/19/Dallas-Cowboys-Jerry-Jones-Sr-brings-in-Staubach-Shaw-for-assist-with-17-story-tower|title=Capstone Commercial|website=Capstone Commercial|date=May 19, 2017 |language=en|access-date=April 17, 2018}} a mere walking distance from the Dallas Cowboys' world headquarters.

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• [https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/dallas-cowboys/cowboysheadlines/2013/05/01/shaw-cowboys-center-of-80s-saw-career-slip-away-on-1-play Shaw, Cowboys' center of '80s, saw career slip away on 1 play]

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Category:Living people

Category:1956 births

Category:Players of American football from Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Category:American football centers

Category:Tennessee Volunteers football players

Category:Dallas Cowboys players