RIP Legend Joe Kapp

[Bowhunting Viking]

I just saw that Vikings legend Joe Kapp passed away yesterday. What a man!!! And SO many memories.

[40for60]

I saw that this morning as well. Another Viking legend gone too soon. I think it was the 1969 NFL Championship game when he flattened the Cleveland linebacker on a run. And he would jump over tacklers. He was the toughest QB I have ever seen.

I'm not sure he could be a starting QB in todays NFL. His passes always looked like wounded ducks. But he had leadership skills like no other. It's really too bad they didn't work out a contract for him after the Super Bowl season. If he had played a few more years with the Vikes I'm pretty sure they would have won a SB.

RIP Joe.

[J. Kapp 11]

Most on here will never be able to appreciate just how great a football player Joe Kapp was. He was a throwback, a guy who would do anything to help his team win. He would come up to the line of scrimmage, look at all the D-linemen, and yell at them about how he was gonna run them over. And then he would do it. His overall record wasn't great, 24-23-1. He didn't throw for a high completion percentage, and he threw more interceptions than touchdowns. But for one season in 1969, few Vikings have had the impact this man had. Nobody was tougher.

This is a great loss.

[Maelstrom88]

He was before my time but I respect what he did for this franchise. Hopefully they can wear a patch to honor him this year.

[VikingLord]

My favorite story from the book "Purple Hearts and Golden Memories - 35 Years with the Minnesota Vikings" (page 88 for those of you who own the book):

They loved him, a little bit for what he did but mostly for what he was. "He was a piece of work," John Beasley, the right end, said. "He was big and loud and fearless, old Chicano Joe. I'll never forget him coming back to the motel the week we played in the Runner-up Bowl in Miami. He rolled in about two or three hours after curfew, beating on my door. He looked like he had run into a school of sharks. His shirt was ripped off and his pants were mangled. I asked what happened. He said, 'somebody on the highway called me a goddamned Mexican.' He figured that was explanation enough for the way he looked, and I guess it was. I'd hate to see what happened to the guys he ran into."

RIP Joe Kapp.

[VikingsVictorious]

The only QB to ever lead the Vikings to the NFL Championship.

[makila]

He was before my time but I respect what he did for this franchise. Hopefully they can wear a patch to honor him this year.

Same here. Just not old enough (I am in my early 40s). And everyone older than me in my family is/was 49er or Raider fans. I do remember my grandfather talking about memories of his time at Cal. He relocated his family from Duluth to South Bay in the mid 1950s.

I fully appreciate everything I've read about his playing days. Pretty incredible he is the only qb to lead teams to play in; rose bowl, Grey cup, and super bowl.

[StanM]

I went into the Navy in 1969 and didn’t see very many Vikings games from 69-73. There was only broadcast TV back then. The Vikings got into the Super Bowl and would be on TV and the CPO I worked for at NAS Corpus Christi had a color TV and invited me over to watch the game. My two memories that stand out are getting to watch Joe Kapp and Hank Stram pacing the sideline running his mouth the whole game.

[fiestavike]

Most on here will never be able to appreciate just how great a football player Joe Kapp was. He was a throwback, a guy who would do anything to help his team win. He would come up to the line of scrimmage, look at all the D-linemen, and yell at them about how he was gonna run them over. And then he would do it. His overall record wasn't great, 24-23-1. He didn't throw for a high completion percentage, and he threw more interceptions than touchdowns. But for one season in 1969, few Vikings have had the impact this man had. Nobody was tougher.

This is a great loss.

He was an awesome player back when the game had depth of character and texture, ugliness and courage. There was a time when the game consisted of more than a two dimensional festival of athleticism and virtuosity. Joe Kapp is an icon for that era of football.

Joe Kapp might not have been able to play in the modern era, but very few (if any) of the Modern era QB's could have played when Kapp played. His achievement is the more impressive. Rest in peace Joe Kapp. You played when the game was great.

[Pondering Her Percy]

Man a couple Vikings greats gone in the last few months! RIP to a legend

[J. Kapp 11]

For those who don't know my Joe Kapp stories ... or why he's my screen name ...

I saw my first Vikings game, live or otherwise, in 1969 at old Metropolitan Stadium. My dad somehow managed to get tickets to the game, so we drove up from Des Moines, Iowa. The Vikings hosted Johnny Unitas and the Baltimore Colts, who had just appeared in Super Bowl III and lost to the Jets. A very formidable opponent. The Vikings destroyed the Colts 52-14, and Joe Kapp threw a league-record 7 touchdown passes. I was 9 years old at the time and immediately became the self-proclaimed biggest Vikings fan AND Joe Kapp fan in the world. And in my child mind, I thought every game would be like that. Boy, was I wrong. But Joe Kapp was my hero from that day forward. The Vikings won the NFL Championship that year and lost in Super Bowl IV to the Chiefs.

Fast forward 50 years. My wife and I were in Minneapolis for a game, and we were staying at the Hyatt near Mall of America. Very nice hotel. The morning of the game, we were eating breakfast, and we saw a bus out the window. Pretty soon, somebody who looked a lot like John Randle walked out toward the bus. Then other Vikings greats. Sure enough, it was a bunch of old Vikings. We didn't know it, but the Vikings were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the championship team ... and they put up all the players at that hotel!

After breakfast, we walked out to put our bags in our car. Right next to our car was another bus. And next to that bus was a tall, gray-haired man wearing a Vikings number 11 jersey. It was Joe Kapp ... and he was standing there all by himself! I was awestruck, like an 11-year-old girl at a Boys to Men concert. I couldn't even speak. Guys, I was a sports journalist. I've met dozens of pro athletes. But I could barely move. Here he was. Joe Kapp. My idol. My hero.

I said to my wife, "Honey, that's Joe Kapp! What should I do?"

"Introduce yourself," she said.

"I can't do that. He's JOE KAPP!" As if he were a god that I couldn't approach or I'd die a fiery death.

She just rolled her eyes and said, "Oh for god's sake, come on." She took me by the hand and walked right up to him. "This is my husband Bob," she said, "and you are his hero. He'd like to meet you."

Joe shook my hand. He couldn't have been nicer. He was 83 and in the early stages of dementia by that time, but he was so great. I told him about my first game, and how he was my hero because he threw those 7 touchdown passes against the Colts.

"I did?" he asked, and honestly couldn't seem to remember. "Well, I must've been a selfish sonofabitch, huh?" And he laughed a big belly laugh.

I was so awestruck that it didn't even dawn on me to get a selfie or an autograph. Maybe it's for the best. Those memories will never fade for me.

Later on at US Bank Stadium, the players were processing in. Joe, who barely knew where he was, walked in holding the arm of Ed White, his right guard. It was Ed protecting his quarterback, just like in the old days.

Anyway, hopefully that explains some of my fondness for the man.

[Tark]

Don't remember ever seeing his hands on the laces of the ball.....

[StanM]

Most on here will never be able to appreciate just how great a football player Joe Kapp was. He was a throwback, a guy who would do anything to help his team win. He would come up to the line of scrimmage, look at all the D-linemen, and yell at them about how he was gonna run them over. And then he would do it. His overall record wasn't great, 24-23-1. He didn't throw for a high completion percentage, and he threw more interceptions than touchdowns. But for one season in 1969, few Vikings have had the impact this man had. Nobody was tougher.

This is a great loss.

He was an awesome player back when the game had depth of character and texture, ugliness and courage. There was a time when the game consisted of more than a two dimensional festival of athleticism and virtuosity. Joe Kapp is an icon for that era of football.

Joe Kapp might not have been able to play in the modern era, but very few (if any) of the Modern era QB's could have played when Kapp played. His achievement is the more impressive. Rest in peace Joe Kapp. You played when the game was great.

Reading your comments and thinking back to my young adulthood watching the QB’s of that era. Kapp may or may not have had success in the modern era but Cousins would have been good back in those days of mammoth OL and straight drop back. He’s durable and most QB’s stayed in the pocket.

[CharVike]

He was an awesome player back when the game had depth of character and texture, ugliness and courage. There was a time when the game consisted of more than a two dimensional festival of athleticism and virtuosity. Joe Kapp is an icon for that era of football.

Joe Kapp might not have been able to play in the modern era, but very few (if any) of the Modern era QB's could have played when Kapp played. His achievement is the more impressive. Rest in peace Joe Kapp. You played when the game was great.

Reading your comments and thinking back to my young adulthood watching the QB’s of that era. Kapp may or may not have had success in the modern era but Cousins would have been good back in those days of mammoth OL and straight drop back. He’s durable and most QB’s stayed in the pocket.

Some good comments on here about Kapp. I never saw him play and didn't start following until 1970 season the year he went to Boston. The modern area of QBs is overblown. Kapp could play today. He was bigger than Case who took us to the Champ Game. His arm was just as good also. Kapp might have been better today with WRs running free. Back then CBs could play football. He was a tremendous athlete without modern nutrition. Plus he could take a hit which all QBs did back then. Good to hear Ed White's name again and glad he helped Joe.