Jim Langer, a 2009 selection by the SDSU Alumni Association to its list of Distinguished Alumni and a 1987 selection to the National Football League Hall of Fame, died Aug. 29, 2019. The 1970 graduate died at a Coon Rapids, Minnesota, hospital at age 71 as a result of a sudden heart-related problem.
A two-sport athlete at SDSU, he left more records in the school’s baseball annals than he did in the football record book. Playing outfield and pitcher, he was a second-team All-America outfielder in the college division in his junior year. He led the team in hitting, field and pitching as the Jacks won a share of the North Central Conference title.
In fall 1969, the 6-foor-2, 240-pound Langer was selected as an All-NCC linebacker and honorable mention All-America while also playing tackle and guard on offense.
A Little Falls, Minnesota, native who grew up in Royalton, Minnesota, Langer entered the NFL with no fanfare. Undrafted, he signed as a free agent with the Cleveland Browns in spring 1970. They released him with final cuts, but Langer was signed to the Miami Dolphins’ taxi squad and was able to play on special teams in the final six games of the 1970 season. He spent the 1971 season as a backup and then switched to center in 1972.
He won the center job in training camp and started 109 consecutive games until suffering a season-ending knee injury with seven games left in the 1979 season. Wanting to be closer to home, he asked to be traded to the Minnesota Vikings in 1980. As a Viking, he played 22 of his 151 games and made one of his 110 starts.
He was a six-time Pro Bowl selection and, most notably, snapped the ball on every down in 1972 for 17-0 Miami Dolphins, the only team to ever complete an NFL season undefeated.
After his first-ballot selection into the NFL Hall of Fame, he was tabbed for the South Dakota Hall of Fame (1988), the Jackrabbit Hall of Fame (1988) and the Dolphin Honor Roll (1990).
Langer spent his entire post-NFL career in his home state of Minnesota and was living in Ramsey at the time of his death. His SDSU lineage continued through sons Tracy, Craig and Russ and grandson, Cole, a Jackrabbits’ defensive lineman.
