Jack Donaldson, the Bengals offensive backfield coach, signed a report with his nickname J.D. and wondered about his strength. Assistant director of player personnel Doug Hafner didn’t think he had a great senior year.
But his three strengths Hafner emphasized, “size, potential, and intelligence,” flourished in those four all-star games Lapham played. Even back then, it was unprecedented, but Lapham has always been grateful for the advice from legendary Syracuse coach Ben Schwartzwalder who counseled him to play in all the all-star games he was invited.
Lapham may have been Schwartzwalder’s last captain, but the old World War II paratrooper led Lapham to the next step. Unprecedented today, but ultimate yesterday.
“We never went to a bowl when I was at Syracuse, and he told me, ‘Son, you deserve it if you want to do it and you’re healthy,'” Lapham says. “He told me, ‘It can’t hurt you. You’ll be playing against really good talent. Just take every practice seriously.’ It was a blast. It was the best decision I had made up to that point. A four-game, five-week journey.”
Lapham went through it like some sort of breveted major from the Civil War. He played for the Blue in Montgomery, for the East in San Francisco at the Shrine Game, for the East again in the Hula Bowl in Hawaii, before winding up again in Alabama at the Senior Bowl playing for the North.
Honolulu wasn’t exactly a vacation. Michigan coach Bo Schembechler put the East through grueling double sessions with all sorts of hitting. Lapham turned to Michigan defensive tackle Dave Gallagher, who would go in the second round, and said, “So this is how it is at Michigan.” Gallagher said, “Pretty much. But I never thought he’d do this at an all-star game in Hawaii.”
The last stop, the Senior Bowl, was played on Jan. 12, just 17 days before the NFL Draft on the B.G. calendar. Before Goodell.
Like today, it was the biggest all-star game when it came to attention. NFL…
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