Lynch
KANSAS CITY — Jim Lynch, who had legendary football careers at Lima Central Catholic, Notre Dame and with the Kansas City Chiefs, has died at age 76.
Lynch starred at LCC, where he graduated in 1963 and was third-team Class AA All-Ohio. He went on to become a first-team All-American linebacker and a captain at Notre Dame on the Fighting Irish’s 1966 national champion team.
He chose Notre Dame over Northwestern and Navy after his senior season at LCC. At Notre Dame he also won the Maxwell Award in 1966 as the best player in college football.
Notre Dame went 9-1; 7-2-1 and 9-0-1 in his three varsity seasons in the days when freshmen were not eligible to play. The Fighting Irish were ranked No. 1 in the final AP poll of the 1966 season to claim the national championship.
His older brother Tom was an offensive lineman at Navy and Lynch once said he was drawn to that school but decided Notre Dame “was the best fit for me.”
Like many LCC students of his era, he remembered being influenced by many teachers and coaches, including basketball coach Don Lane and football coach Barney Otten, but said the most prominent influence on him was longtime principal Monsignor E.C. Herr.
“It was he who taught me the virtue of empathy. I know a lot of former students will remember resilience. But for me, it was his compassion for and his passion to help others that I will never forget,” Lynch said in a column written several years ago for The Lima News by John Grindrod.
He was selected in the second round of the 1967 combined AFL and NFL draft by the Kansas City Chiefs and played 151 games for them. He started 142 of those games and finished his career with 17 interceptions and 18 sacks.
The Chiefs were Super Bowl champions in 1970 when they defeated the Minnesota Vikings 23-7.
The Vikings were heavy favorites in that Super Bowl even though both teams had 12-2 records during the regular season.
“Although we were 12-point underdogs, those who really knew football and had followed us all year and watched our defense really weren’t surprised we won convincingly,” Lynch said.
He was part of one of the greatest linebacker groups in pro football history along with Willie Lanier and Bobby Bell for the Chiefs in the 1960s and 1970s.
During his football career, he became a partner in a very successful wholesale food brokerage business in Kansas City.
“Back when I played you really couldn’t afford not to look beyond football, so most guys worked another job in the off season. Pro careers were short and the money really wasn’t what it is today. I suppose now players can’t afford not to make football their 12-month job. But that’s certainly not the way it was in the late 1960s and early 1970s,” Lynch said.
His wife Georgia (Quatman) Lynch is also an LCC graduate. They have three children – daughters Megan and Kara and a son Jake.
