For a Cowboys Star With Dementia, Time Is Running Out

Rayfield Wright, 68, a Hall of Famer, said he was too proud to discuss his deteriorating mental health until now. “You’re supposed to be tough and invincible,” he said. Brandon Thibodeaux for The New York Times

By JULIET MACUR
JAN. 26, 2014

WILLOW PARK, Tex. — The Hall of Famer Rayfield Wright’s increasingly imperfect memory retains an indelible image of his first N.F.L. start.

It was November 1969. The Dallas Cowboys against the Los Angeles Rams. Wright, a Cowboys offensive tackle, lined up opposite Deacon Jones, the Rams’ feared defensive end.

“Hey, boy,” Jones growled. “Do your mama know you’re out here?”

“What does my mama have anything to do with this?” Wright recalled thinking, losing his concentration just long enough for the ball to be snapped and for Jones to slap his dinner-plate-size right hand violently against Wright’s helmet. He hit him so hard that it sent Wright tumbling backward.

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