Vern Wayne Den Herder (born November 28, 1948) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

for 12 seasons with the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played in three

Super Bowls The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

for the Dolphins. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the Central College Dutch. In 1996, he was selected to the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...

Early life

Den Herder attended high school in Sioux Center, Iowa. There was no

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

his first two years but he was a star in his junior and

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

seasons. He was a star in

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and added football his last two years.

College career

Den Herder chose Central College in Pella, Iowa, because of its reputation for education in sciences and its affiliation with the

Reformed Church in America The Reformed Church in America (RCA) is a mainline Reformed Protestant denomination in Canada and the United States. It has about 82,865 members. From its beginning in 1628 until 1819, it was the North American branch of the Dutch Reformed ...

. He was graduated

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

with a major in

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

. At in height, he was the starting center on Central's basketball team for four years and set the school scoring record. He played

in football. CBS anchorman Harry Smith was a teammate. Den Herder made All-Iowa Conference in 1968, 1969, and 1970. In 1970, his senior season, he was

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

, Iowa Conference

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

, and was named

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

, college division, by the NAIA, the Football Coaches Association, and the

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. Furthermore, he was coached by the late Ron Schipper, himself a

r, at Central Iowa.

Professional career

As the NFL did not officially maintain

sack A sack usually refers to a rectangular-shaped bag. Sack may also refer to: Bags * Flour sack * Gunny sack * Hacky sack, sport * Money sack * Paper sack * Sleeping bag * Stuff sack * Knapsack Other uses * Bed, a slang term * Sack (band), ...

records until 1982, he unofficially led the Dolphins in sacks in 1972 with 10; Den Herder also unofficially led the team in 1975 with a career high 11 sacks. He was named All-AFC in 1972. In October 1973, he unofficially tied Bill Stanfill for most sacks in a single game with 5, as Stanfill had recently surpassed the previous total just two weeks earlier. Also, he unofficially led the Dolphins in sacks during the 1978 and 1979 seasons with 9. His unofficial total of 64 sacks ranks fourth on the Dolphins sack list. In addition to his five-sack game in 1973, Den Herder recorded two four-sack games (September 22, 1974, at Buffalo Bills) and (November 11, 1979, vs. Baltimore Colts). He was voted by the NEA as the Dolphins MVP in 1979. Coach

Don Shula Donald Francis Shula ( ; January 4, 1930 – May 4, 2020) was an American professional American football, football player, coach and executive who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) from 1963 to 1995. He played seven s ...

called him "one of the most dependable players I've ever coached."

Retirement and post-football career

Seeing that the game had evolved toward more passing-oriented strategies that were not attuned to his run-stopping ability, Den Herder originally decided to retire in 1981, returning to his hometown to work in a cattle feeding operation. However, Coach Shula asked him to return to the game for one more season after the Dolphins roster had thinned due to injuries. He ended his career after playing in

Super Bowl XVII Super Bowl XVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Miami Dolphins and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Washington Redskins to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

. After retiring from football for the second time, Den Herder returned to Sioux Center, Iowa and became a farmer, now specializing in corn and soybeans.Greg Cote
Greg Cote: White House invite a last stamp of approval for '72 Miami Dolphins
''Miami Herald'', August 19, 2013, accessed August 19, 2013. He is married and the father of two children. Due to a harvest, he was unable to join the rest of the 1972 Perfect Season Dolphins at a ceremony in their honor, hosted by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Den Herder, Vern 1948 births American football defensive linemen College Football Hall of Fame inductees Living people Miami Dolphins players Reformed Church in America members People from Le Mars, Iowa Central Dutch football players Central Dutch men's basketball players People from Sioux Center, Iowa American men's basketball players Centers (basketball) 20th-century American sportsmen