Rick Sanger '96
Football, men's track and field
A finalist for the 1995 Gagliardi Award as the Division III football player of the year, Sanger was a two-time all-America linebacker for the Dutch. He helped lead Central to a 38-4 record over four seasons with three NCAA playoff berths as well as Iowa Conference titles in 1994 and 1995. Sanger racked up 373 career tackles, including 129 in 1994. His 24 tackles against Loras on Oct. 15, 1994 tied the school single-game record. He received the Lankelma Award as Central’s outstanding underclassman in 1994 and the Heerema-Schilder Award as team MVP in 1995. He also served as a 1995 team co-captain.
In track and field he was a three-time conference discus champ and four-time league placewinner in the event. He also placed fifth and seventh in 1995 and 1996, respectively, in the shot put.
Following graduation Sanger earned a master’s degree at Iowa State University and is an information technology specialist, working for Alliance Technologies in Des Moines since 1996. He’s director of partner product support.er was tabbed as the team’s most valuable field event performer in 1996 and was a team co-captain that year.spectively, in the conference shot put.
Sanger is one of four brothers who were football and track and field standouts at Central and his oldest brother, Kevin, was inducted into the hall of honor in 2011. They’re the second set of hall of honor siblings at Central, preceded by Rich (2011) and Mark (2013) Kacmarynski.
2014 Athletics Hall of Honor inductees: Rick Sanger '96, Megan Clayberg, Jeff Schneekloth '86.
