Doug Eggers, South Dakota football star, will have to wait a year for his latest hall of fame induction
WAGNER, S.D. (BVM) — Doug Eggers has lived a full life. Graduating from Wagner High School in the late 1940s, he’d attend South Dakota State to play football. With the Jackrabbits, Eggers lettered three years in a row and was a team captain during his final season when he earned North Central All- Conference honors.
He would have headed to the NFL after graduating college in 1952, but was drafted into the Army following his college graduation. This actually led to his NFL career because while at Fort Belvoir in Virginia he played on the post football team. The coach of that team was future NFL Hall of Fame coach and executive, Al Davis.
Davis was able to arrange tryouts for Eggers with NFL teams and that led to him signing a contract with the Baltimore Colts in 1954. He played for the Colts for four seasons before finishing his professional career in Chicago with the Cardinals. This was back in the days when players still had to work in the offseason to make ends meet.
Since finishing his football career, he has gone on to own the Chesapeake Supply and Equipment Company. Eggers has also been inducted into the South Dakota State University Hall of Fame and the Wagner Community School Hall of Fame.
He would have been inducted into the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame last April, unfortunately the 2020 inductee will have to wait a little longer for his third hall of fame induction. Due to COVID-19, the ceremony was canceled and the 2020 inductees will be celebrated next year at the 2021 ceremony.
