American Football Database
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Jim Dunaway
No. 78     
Defensive Tackle
Personal information
Date of birth: (1941-09-03) September 3, 1941 (age 83)
Place of birth: Columbia, Mississippi
High School: Columbia (MS)
Career information
College: Mississippi
NFL Draft: 1963 / Round: 1 / Pick: 3
AFL Draft: 1963 / Round: 2 / Pick: 9
Debuted in 1963 for the Buffalo Bills
Career history
*AFL Buffalo Bills (1963–1969)
Career highlights and awards
*4× AFL Allstar (1965, 1966, 1967, 1968)
Stats at pro-football-reference.com
Stats at DatabaseFootball.com

James Kenneth Dunaway (born September 3, 1941) was an American football player. A defensive tackle, he played college football at the University of Mississippi, and played professionally in the American Football League for the Buffalo Bills, as part of a defensive line that held opposing runners without a rushing touchdown for a pro football record seventeen consecutive games in the 1964 and 1965 AFL seasons.

Murder Charge and Aftermath[]

In 1998, Dunaway's ex-wife, Nonniel Dunaway was found dead in a half-empty swimming pool. An autopsy revealed that she had a fractured skull and was unconscious when she was placed in the water by her assailant where she drowned. Prior to this event, Nonniel had won a divorce judgment which gave her more than 800 acres (3.2 km2) of property that the couple owned, $1800 a month in alimony and half of Dunaway's NFL pension. They had been divorced since 1995 and Dunaway was planning to appeal.

Dunaway was charged with her murder but a grand jury chose not to indict Dunaway of the charges. In response, his children filed a wrongful death lawsuit, alleging that Dunaway was responsible for their mother's death. In 2002, Dunaway was found liable and ordered to pay $579,000 to his children.

Ironically, Dunaway had been a teammate for three seasons of star running back O.J. Simpson, who was similarly found responsible for his ex-wife's death after being acquitted of her murder in a controversial trial in 1995.

See also[]

[1] Article about the suit.

[2] Article about the civil suit

[3] Article about his arrest.

[4] - Comedy site names Dunaway a member of the "All-Criminal Team"

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