Ben Fricke former centre for the Dallas Cowboys, dies at the age of 35 due to colon cancer
The head coach of football and athletic coordinator at Centennial High School, Mark Howard, said that former centre for the Dallas Cowboys, Ben Fricke, has died from cancer at Presbyterian Hospital of Plano, Texas. He was 35 years old.
“Ben passed away [Monday] from colon cancer,” Howard said. “I’ve known Ben for three years and gave him his first high school coaching job. It’s like we’ve had a death in the family. That’s what I told the team.”
Fricke taught business education at the high school in Frisco, Texas, as well as being the offensive line coach and offensive coordinator for the football team for the last three years.
The center from Austin, Texas started for four years for the University of Houston Cougars offense and was an All American centre in 1997. He was drafted by the New York Giants in 1998 and he also played in National Football League Europe in 1999. Fricke
went over to the Cowboys for three seasons and started five games in 2000.
He played in three games during the 1999 season but started in none. Fricke played in nine games total during the 2000 season while starting five, as he also played in seven games for the 2001 season but again started none.
The 6ft, 280 lb centre helped the team to win only one game of the three that he played in during the 1999 season, which was a victory over the Atlanta Falcons. The Cowboys had a 6-6 record that year but still made it to the playoffs, losing in the first
round to the Minnesota Vikings. They played in only 12 games that season because of an uneven number of teams in the NFL, the first time that has happened since 1966.
In the 2000 season, the Cowboys won three games in which Fricke participated in, but only one in which he started, which was a victory over the Washington Redskins. The Cowboys had a 5-11 record that year and did not make it to the playoffs, as with the
other two wins having been against the Arizona Cardinals and Cincinnati Bengals.
In the 2001 season, the team won only one game in which Fricke played in, over the San Francisco 49ers. The team had a 5-11 record and, at two points during the season, lost four games in a row.
Fricke leaves behind a wife and two children.
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