Walt Garrison adds to 2023 football losses, following Dick Butkus and others | KEN WILLIS

Gotta say, hadn’t thought of Walt Garrison in years before learning of his death this past week.

We get those weird jolts every now and then, and though it's a tad too flippant, we often think, “I didn’t even know he was still alive until I saw his obit.”

Smokeless tobacco ads were banned from television in 1986, and that ended Garrison’s steady visits to our living rooms to promote Skoal — “just a pinch between your cheek and gum” became so identified with Walt, you almost expect it to be on his tombstone.

A generation or so ago, country crooner Ed Bruce wrote and recorded “The Last Cowboy Song,” and that one kept looping through the brain last week because, quite frankly, Walt Garrison might truly have been the last cowboy. And though the word is way overused, I mean that quite literally.

MINSHEW MANIA RETURNS Gardner Minshew returns to Jacksonville, after many miles for him and Jags | KEN WILLIS

He was a college star as an Oklahoma State Cowboy, then a steady presence for nine years as a Dallas Cowboy — Super Bowl champ, one Pro Bowl, and one of the early practitioners of the running back as a receiver.

And through it all, an actual cowboy, competing in rodeos, primarily as a cattle rassler. He was 79. Teammates said he was the toughest player they ever knew. So tough, he played a game with a broken collarbone. Honestly, guys miss seasons with that. Played another with a broken leg.

Man's man? Nah. Cowboy's cowboy, is more like it. As another man's man and smokeless pitchman, Earl Campbell, would say about now, "Skoal, brother."

Earlier this year, and then less than two weeks back, we lost the greatest-ever running back (Jim Brown, at 87) and greatest-ever middle linebacker (Dick Butkus, at 80). Losses like those make big news splashes, while others might slip through the cracks — if not for Garrison’s off-field celebrity, largely through those Skoal ads, he might’ve been among the latter.

One of those occasional age-induced attention-deficit detours led to an online data bank of sorts, listing all of the NFL deaths so far in 2023, and my goodness, what an unfortunate roll call. And yes, previously having fallen through the news cracks.

Tim Foley, cornerback and one of those perfect ’72 Dolphins, gone at 75. That team’s primary kick returner, Hubert Ginn, gone at 76.

The “dirtiest man in football,” Cardinals guard Conrad Dobler, died this year at 72 after dealing with a horrendous array of post-football maladies, both physical and mental.

I doubt I’m alone in this, but with each name that popped up, the subconscious mind immediately flashed to the player’s old Topps football card.

John Brockington, big smile, wearing his Green Bay Packers No. 42 uniform, posing with both arms wrapped tightly around a football.

SWIFTIES Taylor Swift ruining your NFL experience? Your Chief complaint will eventually pass

That’s right, John Brockington. Came out of Ohio State a few years too late to enjoy a quality Packers organization, but ran for 1,000-plus yards in each of his first three seasons. He died at 74 on the last day of March.

Otis Taylor, the fabulous Chiefs receiver, died at 80. Longtime (very, very longtime) Jets/Broncos kicker Jim Turner at 82. Eagles defensive lineman Gary Pettigrew at 78. Joe Kapp (El Cid), the tough-as-nails QB who starred in the CFL before quarterbacking the Vikings to Super Bowl IV, died at 85 earlier this year.

In tragic fashion, the great Patriots tight end, Russ Francis, died two weeks ago in the crash of a small plane. His combination of great athleticism, power and pass-catching ability is easily recognizable in today’s world of such tight ends, but in the ’70s he was a forerunner.

Ryan Mallett, an excellent QB at Arkansas before a five-year NFL career as mostly a backup, drowned this summer off the beach in Destin. He was just 35.

Happily, a few dodged the unforeseen and outkicked their actuarial coverage. The great Notre Dame and Bears quarterback Johnny Lujack was 98 when he died in July. The successful coach, Bud Grant, a member of both the Canadian and American football Halls of Fame, died in March at 95.

Right about now, if it hadn’t already, this might be taking on the feel of a real bummer. And yeah, it probably is.

But it’s another NFL Sunday, and while watching, know that some of the dudes on TV will reside in our front-burner consciousness for not only the rest of their careers, but maybe well beyond.

But many others — a Hubert Ginn or John Brockington, perhaps — will only earn your gaze for a relatively brief period of time before moving on with their lives.

And eventually they’re gone, and we may or may not hear the news, so appreciate them while they’re performing and hope that when it’s your turn, someone out there will smile and recall you at your best.

— Reach Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Dick Butkus, then Walt Garrison, as NFL list of 2023 losses grows