Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Dolphin anchored dominant O-line
Center’s death is latest in recent months of teammates involved in perfect season
In his first season as a Miami Dolphin in 1970, center Jim Langer set a modest but appropriate goal for himself each practice: Do well enough not to get chewed out by coaches.
He did well enough over time to anchor the dominating offensive line of the Dolphins’ Super Bowl teams in the early 1970s and to be voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on his first ballot.
Langer died on Thursday of a sudden heart problem in a hospital at Coon Rapids, Minnesota, near his home, his wife, Linda told the Associated Press. He was 71.
Langer becomes the latest of the Perfect Season Dolphins to die in recent months. Nick Buoniconti, a Hall of Fame linebacker, died in July. Bob Kuechenberg, who lined up beside Langer at guard for a decade, died in January.
Langer was a football discovery not just by the Dolphins but to himself. He considered him a better baseball player than linebacker at South Dakota State when he accepted an invitation to the Cleveland Browns training camp for fun in 1970.
He did well enough that the Browns promised to keep him on their taxi squad — that era’s version of the current practice squad — when he cleared waivers.
Dolphins offensive line coach Monte Clark had just retired from the Browns, though, and heard former teammates raving about
Langer’s talent. Clark had the Dolphins grab him off waivers. After two years as a reserve, Langer started his first game in 1972 against future Hall of Fame defensive tackle Curley Culp in Kansas City.
“I don’t know if I’m good enough for this,” Langer remembered thinking.
Langer, however, soon realized he could more than hold his own.
He helped the Dolphins have a dominating ground game that led the league in rushing and total offense in 1972 and allowed quarterback Bob Griese to pass only seven times in the 1973 Super Bowl victory.
Langer and Kuechenberg weren’t just linemates, but kindred souls in many regards. For instance, they were among the first Dolphins to lift weights. It was doing weight work one day in the middle of the 1972 season they realized they hadn’t lost a game.
“OK, we know we’ve got to lose a game, right?” Kuechenberg said.
“Right, we’ve got to,” Langer said.
“Which one are we going to lose?” Kuechenberg siad.
They went down the schedule.
That’s when they realized they could go undefeated, a feat that took those 17-0 not just to a championship but into the history books.
Langer was traded closer to his home in Minnesota as a favor as his career drew to a close. In all, Langer played 10 seasons with the Dolphins and two with the Vikings. He was one of four Dolphins to be elected to the Hall of Fame on his first ballot.
Greatness didn’t come without a cost. Langer, after football, had to sit in the car with his legs out the open door after drives of any length so his knees would feel well enough to walk.
“No regrets, I’d do it again the same way,” he once said. “I’d do everything just the way it happened.”
“No regrets, I’d do it again the same way. I’d do everything just the way it happened.” Jim Langer