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JOHN LAGRONE - INDUCTEE #42

hall of fame fast fact:

In 1988 John LaGrone who played in the Canadian Football League for eight years, was inducted into the Edmonton Eskimos Wall of Honor.

John LaGrone

190-pound John LaGrone was the best high school defensive player in Texas Panhandle history and voted the top high school defensive player of the last half of the 20th century.

LaGrone was a two-time all-state terror in the trenches, leading the Bulldogs to the 1962 state title game.

He went on to similar success at SMU, earning all-Southwest Conference honors three times, and was named an All-American twice in the mid-1960s. In 1966, when SMU won the SWC title and went to the Cotton Bowl, LaGrone was a consensus All American. In 1995, he was named by Texas Football Magazine as SMU’s all-time top defensive player, and he was second-team on the all-time Southwest Conference team.

LaGrone went to Canada for eight strong seasons in the Canadian Football League. He was named All-CFL for two years and MVP lineman in 1969.

A graduate of the Baylor law school, LaGrone has been the 316th District Court judge in Hutchinson County in his hometown of Borger since 1991.