Westfield State athletics is saddened to learn of the recent passing of Roger Leclerc, who served as the head football coach at Westfield State for the Owls inaugural season as a varsity team in 1982.
The Patch newspaper featured a nice tribute to Leclerc, who won an NFL Championship with the Chicago Bears in 1963. LeClerc was a 15th round draft pick out of Trinity College in 1959 and played professionally with the Bears from 1960-66 before finishing his career with the Denver Broncos.
Leclerc played both linebacker and kicker for the Bears, before moving to primarily kicking after being supplanted by Hall of Fame linebacker Dick Butkus. Leclerc still ranks among the Bears all-time leaders in kicking and scoring, and briefly held the NFL record for longest field goal with a 56-yarder.
At Westfield State, Leclerc served as the head coach of the program for the 1982 season, the first year as a varsity program, with Owls winning their inaugural game, 19-14 over Curry College.
The Owls finished with a 2-7 overall record that season. Leclerc, a teacher at Agawam High School, stayed with the Westfield State program for several more seasons as an assistant to head coach Howard Murphy.
Current Westfield State professor Karl Leiker served as an assistant coach alongside Leclerc.
"It's been a while since I had seen or spoken to him, but Roger was a prince among guys," said Leiker. "He was very good with the kickers and with the defense and the defensive line. He was very intelligent, liked math, and knew football forwards and backwards. He was a really great guy and I'm sorry to learn that he has passed."
Retired Westfield State athletic director Ken Magarian also fondly remembered Leclerc.
"Big Roger," said Magarian. "He was a great guy. I got to know him and his wife pretty well as I did some substitute teaching at Agawam."
Services have not yet been announced. Leclerc's Obituary is posted on MassLive.