Wakefield Hall of Fame
David A. Lapham
David Lapham was
a three year letterman and captain in both basketball and football and a 4 year
letterman and captain in track. As a
6’3”, 255 pound tackle, his skills helped the Wakefield
football teams of the late sixties. No
doubt he aided in the protection of quarterback Jack Roberto in his single season passing record
which stood for 36 years and provided some extra push for junior John Rafferty HOF in 1969. Former Wakefield
coach Whip Halliday hailed Mr. Lapham
as ‘one of the top lineman to come out of Wakefield High.’ In addition to being an All-Middlesex League
selection he was also named an Agganis All-Star and All-Scholastic in football.
After high school Mr. Lapham
chose to attend The Newhouse
School at Syracuse University, one of the
best schools of communication in the world whose alma mater comprise some of
the most widely recognized commentators and include his classmate Bob Costas. David was a
captain and a three time letter winner. In 1973 he received the Joseph Alexander award
given to a Syracuse player for
excellence in football, scholarship and 
citizenship. He was further honored in 1973 by being
selected to play in the East-West Shrine Game, The North-South game, The Senior
Bowl and the Hula Bowl.
In the 1974 NFL draft, Dave Lapham was selected 61st overall in the third
round by the Cincinnati Bengals. He went on to play all five offensive line
positions in the10 seasons in the NFL (from 1974-83.) In the 1981-82 season
the Bengals won the AFC
Central Division and the AFC
Championship. Cincinnati
then advanced to Super Bowl XVI where they lost to the San
Francisco 49ers despite gaining 356 total offensive
yards to the 49ers 275. In 1984, David
signed a ten-year personal services agreement with billionaire Donald Trump,
the majority owner of the New Jersey Generals of the short-lived United States
Football League. On that Generals team
were rookie Doug Flutie and Hershall
Walker. Mr. Lapham called it “a business decision for
my family.”
David Lapham has used his college education to
the max. He has been the radio color
commentator for over 22 years for the Cincinnati
Bengals and is a guest in Boston
on local radio shows whenever there is a Bengals-Patriots
game. He is also a reporter/analyst for
an NBC affiliate station in Cincinnati, an analyst for Big 12 college games on TV’s Fox Sports
Net, has worked the radio broadcast ot the NFL Europe
League’s World Bowl game and has in the past broadcast NFL games for NBC and
Fox.
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