George Andrie, Pillar of Cowboys’ Doomsday Defense, Dies at 78

George Andrie, a Pro Bowl end on the Dallas Cowboys’ Doomsday Defense who was remembered for scoring an unlikely touchdown in the 1967 N.F.L. championship game in frigid Green Bay, Wis., in what became known as the Ice Bowl, died on Tuesday at his home in Woodway, Tex. He was 78.

His death was confirmed by the Cowboys, who said he was found to have dementia in 2014.

Andrie, who was 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds, played right end for the Cowboys from 1962 to 1972. He was named a first-team All-Pro in 1969, the last of five consecutive seasons in which he was chosen for the Pro Bowl.

He led the Cowboys in sacks from 1964 through 1967 and had a team-high and career-high 18½ in 1966.

In addition to Andrie, the 1967 version of the Doomsday Defense included a front four with the future Hall of Famer Bob Lilly at right tackle, Willie Townes at left end and Jethro Pugh at left tackle. The unit was known for stifling an opponent’s running game.

Andrie’s biggest moment came when the Cowboys met the Packers in Green Bay for the N.F.L. title on Dec. 31, 1967. The winner would move on to face the American Football League champion in Super Bowl II.

At game time at Lambeau Field, the temperature was about 15 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, with winds of about 12 miles an hour. The conditions never got much better.

Late in the second quarter, Packers quarterback Bart Starr fumbled when he was hit by Townes near the Green Bay goal line. Andrie scooped up the football on the Green Bay 7 and ran it into the end zone.

The Doomsday Defense sacked Starr eight times, but the Packers won, 21-17, when Starr sneaked for a touchdown from the Cowboys’ 1-yard line with 13 seconds left in the game. Green Bay went on to defeat the Oakland Raiders, 33-14, in the Super Bowl.

When the Cowboys faced the 49ers for the 1971 National Football Conference title, San Francisco quarterback John Brodie, having called a screen play deep in his territory, did not spot a looming Andrie and threw the football right at him. Andrie ran it back to the 2-yard line, where Brodie tackled him. The Cowboys scored two plays later on their way to a 14-3 victory.

George Joseph Andrie was born on April 20, 1940, in Grand Rapids, Mich., and played football at Marquette University in Milwaukee. The school dropped football after the 1960 season, but he remained there and obtained a degree in 1962.

After Andrie’s football career ended, he founded a marketing company based in Waco, Tex., that sells custom products to promote brand names.

Andrie is survived by his wife, Mary Lou (Lorscheider) Andrie; three sons, George, Michael and Joseph; four daughters, Margaret Ratliff, Deborah Daniels, Mary Brooks and Christina Sisk; two brothers, Stanley and James; two sisters, Irene Andrie and Elizabeth Dochod; 14 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

Reflecting on the Ice Bowl in an interview with The New York Times in 1996, Andrie recalled that nobody knew how much clothing to wear that day.

“I wore a light insulated T-shirt and regular jersey,” he said. “I was raised in that weather; I went to Marquette University. But we had a lot of Southern guys who were concerned about how to keep warm. We were distracted.”

A few days after the game, four Dallas players were found to have incurred frostbite. Andrie was one of them, having been affected in three fingers with what the Cowboys’ physician, Dr. Melvin Knight, likened to second-degree burns caused by a fire. He required treatment with circulatory drugs and antiseptic ointment for about three weeks.

The Cowboys had waited until the sixth round of the 1962 N.F.L. draft to select Andrie. Upon his death, Gil Brandt, the former Dallas president of player personnel who built many a winning team, recalled that his patience had been rewarded.

“George,” he said on Twitter, “was one of my greatest finds.”