James Michael LeClair (October 30, 1950 – November 4, 2019) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player and coach. He played professionally as a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

for 12 seasons, from 1972 to 1983, in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) with the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

and two seasons, from 1984 to 1985, in the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

(USFL) with the

New Jersey Generals The New Jersey Generals were a franchise of the United States Football League (USFL) established in 1982 to begin play in the spring and summer of 1983. The team played three seasons from 1983 to 1985, winning 31 regular season games and losing ...

. LeClair played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

University of Minnesota Crookston The University of Minnesota Crookston (UMN Crookston) is a public college in Crookston, Minnesota. One of five campuses in the University of Minnesota system, UMN Crookston had a fall 2022 enrollment of 1,489 undergraduate students. Students come ...

and the

University of North Dakota The University of North Dakota (also known as UND or North Dakota) is a public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of ...

. He served as the head football coach at

Mayville State University Mayville State University (MSU or MaSU) is a public university in Mayville, North Dakota. It is part of the North Dakota University System. History Founded as a normal school by provision of the North Dakota Constitution in 1889, Mayville Stat ...

Mayville, North Dakota Mayville is a city in Traill County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 1,854 at the 2020 census. which makes Mayville the largest community in Traill County. Mayville was founded in 1881. The city's name remembers May Arnold, the f ...

from 1986 to 1988. LeClair was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

as a player in 1999.

Early life

LeClair attended

South St. Paul High School South St. Paul Secondary (also known as South St. Paul High School) is a public high school in South St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is part of the South St. Paul Public Schools district, and is an International Baccalaureate World School ...

in South St. Paul, Minnesota, where he was a standout football player and wrestler for the Packers from 1966 to 1968.

College career

LeClair enrolled at the

where he played football and wrestled for the Trojans from 1968 to 1970. He was named MCCC

Minnesota College Athletic Conference Minnesota College Athletic Conference (MCAC) - formerly the Minnesota Community College Conference - is a junior college collegiate athletic conference in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) and they compete primarily at the N ...

All-Conference and

NJCAA The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...

All-Region in football and ranked first in Minnesota and fourth in the nation in wrestling during the 1970-1971 season. He also captained both teams. He led the 1968 football team to a 6- 2 record that was at one time ranked nationally. They won the Northern Conference Title of the Minnesota Junior College League. He was named to the NCJAA All-Region and All Minnesota football teams. LeClair was also an outstanding wrestler during his two years at UMC. He finished his final year at UMC with a record of 25-2 in the 190-pound division. In addition to being captain of the wrestling team, he finished his final season ranked fourth in the nation, first in the state and outstanding wrestler in three tourneys. LeClair then played college football for two years at the

, where as a senior, he was named Little All-American in 1971 as he recorded 187 tackles, three interceptions, four fumble recoveries fumbles, and 11 forced fumbles for the Fighting Sioux. He was also a two-time All-North Central Conference honoree and he was named the league's most valuable defensive lineman in 1971. He earned a bachelor's degree in education in 1971.

Professional career

LeClair was selected in the third round (54th overall) of the 1972 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals. He spent the next three years mainly as a starter on

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

and as a backup linebacker. He became a starter on defense in 1975 and remained so for the rest of his career (nine seasons through 1983). He was named to the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

in 1976. In 1981, he was a starting linebacker on the Bengals team which won the AFC Championship Game dubbed " The Freezer Bowl", the coldest game in NFL history, won by the Bengals over the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

, 27–7. He then played in Super Bowl XVI, which the Bengals lost to the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

, 26–21. The 1983 season was the last of his 12-year NFL career, which included 10 interceptions and 10 fumble recoveries. After leaving the NFL, LeClair played for two seasons with the

of the

USFL The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

Honors

LeClair was elected to the

in 1999. LeClair was inducted to the

Hall of Fame in 1975. LeClair is a member of the University of Minnesota, Crookston Hall of Fame inaugural class of 1999. He was inducted into the University of North Dakota Athletic Hall of Fame in 1985, and he was one of two inaugural inductees into the South St. Paul High School Hall of Fame in 2007. On June 21, 2014 at the Jamestown Civic Center, Jim LeClair was inducted into the North Dakota Sports Hall of Fame.

Coaching and political careers

After his NFL career, LeClair became the head coach of the

football team from 1986 to 1988. He later became the mayor of

. He also operated an insurance agency in Mayville.

Personal life

In addition to his football career, LeClair was a member of the

United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a Military reserve force, reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed F ...

from 1972 to 1977. LeClair and his wife, Elizabeth (Betty), had three children, Kelli, Jamie and Andrew. LeClair died on November 4, 2019, in Mayville.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leclair, Jim 1950 births 2019 deaths American football linebackers Cincinnati Bengals players Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles football players North Dakota Fighting Hawks football players New Jersey Generals players Mayville State Comets football coaches Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles wrestlers American Conference Pro Bowl players College Football Hall of Fame inductees People from Traill County, North Dakota Politicians from Saint Paul, Minnesota Sportspeople from Saint Paul, Minnesota Coaches of American football from Minnesota Players of American football from Saint Paul, Minnesota Military personnel from Minnesota Players of American football from Minnesota Businesspeople from North Dakota Mayors of places in North Dakota 20th-century American businesspeople University of Minnesota Crookston alumni