Van Galder was born in Racine, Wisconsin on May 26, 1944.[2] Although drafted in 1966 by the Cardinals he spent most of his first 3 seasons on their taxi squad, only being briefly activated but not playing in 1967.[3] His first NFL action came on opening day of 1972 when he started at quarterback for the Cardinals and led them to a 10–3 victory over the Baltimore Colts.[3][4] He started 4 more games for the Cardinals that season but the Cardinals did not win any of them; he missed several games with a concussion suffered in game 3, and he ended the season with a 34.5 quarterback rating on 79 passes (with 7 interceptions).[5][2]
He was waived by the Cardinals and picked up by the Cincinnati Bengals before the 1973 season to replace the injured Virgil Carter as Ken Anderson's backup.[6][3][7] The Bengals released him after an opening game loss in which Van Galder did not play and replaced him with Mike Ernst.[8] He was signed in October by the New York Jets to back up 3rd string quarterback Bill Demory after their top two quarterbacks, Joe Namath and Al Woodall, were hurt.[9] The Jets released him after two games in which Van Galder did not play.[10]
In 1973, Van Galder became a sportscaster in St. Louis for KMOV, where he spent 13 years.[11]