Position: Linebacker
Years: 1970-1971
Place of Birth: St. Paul, MN
Date of Birth: Oct 30, 1950
Date of Death: Nov. 4, 2019
Jersey Number: 54
Height: 6-3
Weight: 245
High School: South St. Paul, MN (South St. Paul HS)
LeClair was a football player and wrestler at South St. Paul High School from 1966 to 1968. He played the same sports at Minnesota Crookston for the next two years before heading to North Dakota for his final two seasons in college.
LeClair had a banner year in 1971, making the Little All-America team picked by the Associated Press and the College Division All-America selected by the American Football Coaches Association. He covered a wide territory at linebacker, and he amassed 187 tackles, three interceptions, four fumble recoveries, 11 forced fumbles, and 20 tackles for loss. North Dakota, won the North Central Conference championship in 1971, and LeClair was named the conference Most Valuable Player.
Selected 54th overall in the third round of the 1972 NFL Draft, LeClair played 12 years in the National Football League with the Cincinnati Bengals from 1972-83 and two years in the U.S. Football League with the New Jersey Generals 1984-85.
After the playing, LeClair was the head football coach at Mayville State from 1986-88. Following his football days, he operated an insurance agency in Mayville, North Dakota, and he served as mayor.
In addition to the College Football Hall of Fame, LeClair was inducted into the North Dakota Sports Hall of Fame (2014), the University of Minnesota-Crookston Hall of Fame (1999), the UND Athletic Hall of Fame (1985) and the South St. Paul High School Hall of Fame (2007), and the Minnesota College Athletic Conference Hall of Fame (1975).
He and his wife, Elizabeth (Betty) had three children, Kelli, Jamie and Andrew.
