John Wilbur

Who was John Wilbur?

John Leonard Wilbur was a professional American football offensive lineman for the National Football League and the World Football League.

Refusing football scholarships from University of Southern California and University of California-Los Angeles, he went to Stanford in 1961 intending to study law with an Eagle Scout scholarship. The team was mediocre until Stanford hired two new coaches, future NFL coaches Bill Walsh and Dick Vermeil. Wilbur graduated with a degree in History from Stanford University, and later went on to receive a business degree from the University of California, Los Angeles while playing for the Dallas Cowboys.

In 1965 he was drafted as a free agent to the Dallas Cowboys, at the time coached by Tom Landry. On the Cowboys, blocking for Don Meredith and playing next to Peter Gent, Wilbur was an anti-hero, outspoken against the "racists elements" on the team and in the area. Part of the "Wild Rebel Bunch" contingency of the Cowboys, Wilbur infamously organized a group of Cowboys to be security guards at the Texas International Pop Festival.