They started play as an expansion team in 1961, and within a decade, the Minnesota Vikings were among the NFL’s elite---and most popular---franchises. From the formative years under Norm Van Brocklin to the Super Bowl squads of Bud Grant, to the ups and downs under Jerry Burns and Dennis Green, Minnesota’s football team has had its share of dramatic triumphs and heart-wrenching defeats. Through it all, the fans have come out in droves to cheer on the Vikes, whether in the cold winter air at Metropolitan Stadium or the hyper-loud surroundings of the Metrodome.
Lavishly illustrated and featuring all the key moments, stats, and people behind the stories, Minnesota Vikings: The Complete Illustrated History is the ultimate celebration of an iconic football franchise. It honors the great squads and all the legends and colorful characters who have donned the purple and gold, including Fran Tarkenton, the “Purple People Eaters,” Chuck Foreman, Ahmad Rashad, Randall McDaniel, John Randle, Cris Carter, Anthony Carter, Robert Smith, Randy Moss, and more. Written by one the state’s most revered sports columnists, this is a book that no Vikings fan should be without.
Follow the Minnesota Vikings from the team’s beginnings in the 1960s through its four Super Bowl appearances in the 1970s to its present status as an elite football franchise. Here are the eyebrow-raising performances, colorful characters, legendary players, and historic moments that have made the men in purple and gold some of the most beloved sports heroes in American football history. Fully illustrated and featuring all the details of the stories and people behind this iconic franchise, this volume is one that no Vikings fan should be without.
This heart-warming and inspirational look at the Minnesota Vikings shows what the organization has meant to the fans and community over the past four decades. The book encompasses the positives and great moments of a storied and historic franchise that has held a major place in the hearts of Minnesota and surrounding region admirers since its inaugural season in 1961. The fans, the players, the coaches, the history, the owners, the front office, the new ownership, the new coaches, the charities, the Hall of Famers, the Ring of Honor, the names behind the scenes, the great games of the past, and the faces of the franchise, as told from a fan perspective, make up the heart and soul of A Tradition of Purple: An Inside Look at the Minnesota Vikings.
Fran Tarkenton was perhaps the most exciting and dynamic football player who has ever played the game. Filled with never-before-heard stories and dozens of personal photographs, Every Day Is Game Day is the entertaining and uplifting memoir of the legendary sports figure and business entrepreneur. From the alleys of Washington, D.C., to Athens, Georgia, the NFL, and beyond, Tarkenton takes the reader inside the huddles of his world, both on and off the field. He shares his highest of highs--those glory years in purple, business triumphs, and the deep and abiding love of family and friends. He also reveals his lowest of lows, including the day of the infamous Cowboys' "Hail Mary" pass that spelled playoff defeat for the greatest Vikings team ever and compounded with a personal tragedy to make it the worst day of his life.
This is not just the story of an incredible athlete, but also a portrait of a genuine and inspirational leader who has touched the hearts and souls of so many who have crossed his path.
Relive fifty years of glory and defeat as a Minnesota Vikings football fan
The Minnesota Vikings are one of pro football’s most successful franchises, with seventeen divisional championships, twenty-five postseason berths, and four Super Bowl appearances to their name. Yet as any Minnesotan can attest to, life as a Vikings fan can be a maddening affair—while the Vikings were the first team to appear in four Super Bowls, they were also the first to lose four Super Bowls.
Armand Peterson’s The Vikings Reader is the fascinating, yard-by-yard chronicle of fifty years of Vikings football from the perspective of the sportswriters and other commentators who were there as the stories unfolded. Through a wide range of regional articles, national columns, and book excerpts—all framed by Peterson’s own insightful narrative—this impressionistic history invites readers to relive such defining moments as:
• Fran Tarkenton’s four touchdowns as the Vikings beat the Chicago Bears in their first game on September 17, 1961 • the inspirational “40 for 60” team of 1969 and the Vikings’ first Super Bowl appearance • the dominance of the 1970s, the vaunted “Purple People Eaters” defense, and three more crushing Super Bowl defeats • the 1998 Vikings’ NFL scoring record, led by Cunningham, Carter, Moss, and Smith • roller-skating cheerleaders, the “Last Great Tailgate Party” at Met Stadium, ownership controversies, and Adrian Peterson’s single-game rushing record • classic reportage from Jim Klobuchar, Sid Hartman, Frank Deford, Patrick Reusse, Peter King, Jim Murray, and many others
From the early days of Fran Tarkenton to the rushing records of Adrian Peterson, from the bleachers of Met Stadium to the locker rooms of the Metrodome, The Vikings Reader revels in the plays that have brought generations of purple and gold fans to their feet—or left them groaning in their seats—and brings Vikings football to life for fans everywhere.
All the action, all the personalities of the first 35 years of Minnesota Vikings football have been collected in "Purple Hearts and Golden Memories". This spectacular book is the most complete history of Vikings football ever compiled. From their early days in the NFL, through the dynasty under Bud Grant and the Purple People Eaters, to your favorite teams of today, you'll relive all the excitement that 35 years of Minnesota football has created.
Matt Blair was a linebacker for the Minnesota Vikings for 12 seasons from 1974-1985. Blair was selected out of Iowa State University by the Vikings in the second round of the 1974 NFL Draft with the 51st overall selection.
Blair established himself as one of the top linebackers in the NFC during the prime of his career, earning Pro Bowl honors for 6 consecutive seasons (1977-'82). In addition, Blair was selected All-Pro in 1980, All-NFC in 1978 & 2nd Team All-NFC in 1977, 1979 & 1981.
Blair appeared in two Super Bowls with the Vikings, Super Bowl's IX and XI. Blair's punt block in Super Bowl IX led to the Vikings' only points of the game in a 16-6 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Collect his book and learn more about life as a Minnesota Viking
Purple People: The Crazy Culture and Customs of Minnesota Vikings Fans, the Best Fans in the NFL
Purple People covers everything that makes Vikings fans the best fans in all of sports. You ll hear about the tailgating parties where Benchwarmer Bob drank beers with the fans, and how the fans had a season-ending pig roast and the players showed up. It will examine how the move indoors and the loss of tailgating took away the fans identity, but how they themselves led a resurgence in team spirit and came back better than ever. Purple People features interviews with famous Vikings players, commentary from people inside the organization, and profiles on great Vikings fans, including every official Fan of the Year. This book tells the story of the great and glorious Purple Pride nation. From fan clubs in sunny Los Angeles to lifelong season-ticket holders in Duluth, from partiers to priests, from guys to gals, from Norm Van Brocklin and Metropolitan Stadium to Brad Childress at the Metrodome, Purple People covers everything that makes Vikings fans the best fans in all of sports. Any fan will laugh to read the stories, and love coming to understand the great and glorious community of fans they belong to. Purple People ... for anyone who bleeds purple.
This memoir is standard football fare, with the addition of material about Rashad\'s post-gridiron career on TV and his marriage to Bill Cosby\'s co-star Phylicia Rashad. With assistance from Tennis magazine contributing editor Bodo, Rashad demonstrates his expert knowledge of football and shows why he is one of the better analysts on the tube, but the writing in these passages is ponderous. The book is far more readable when the authors talk about Rashad\'s childhood, the mysterious skin disease that afflicted him and supposedly made him a more sensitive human being, and his pro career with St. Louis, Seattle (briefly), Buffalo and especially Minnesota. There are interesting observations about coaches Lou Saban and Bud Grant and players like Fran Tarkenton and, with measured candor, Rashad opines about racism in America and in sports.
The Minnesota Vikings have lost the Super Bowl four times in four attempts. In the hours immediately after their 32-14 loss to Oakland in Pasadena on January 9, 1977, Klobuchar writes, the Vikings became the objects of vaudevillian comedy across the country and the cause of agonized depression across the plains of Minnesota." This book has 213 pages and is illustrated.
Sid Hartman has been at the center of Minnesota sports for more than sixty years. From his relationship with notorious local gangster Kid Cann Blumenfeld to his controversial role as de facto general manager of the Minneapolis Lakers to the battles for a new Twins stadium, Sid gives the inside scoop on hundreds of events and legendary figures in this fascinating exposé.
Originally published in 1997, this updated edition of Sid Hartman’s personal memoir includes a new epilogue with his reflections on the past ten years in Minnesota sports, including the good (the resurgent Twins and championships for Gopher hockey), the bad (Kirby Puckett’s death), and the ugly (the Vikings’ loss in the 1998 NFC conference finals and the Gopher basketball scandal). Join Sid as he reveals behind-the-scenes insight into such legendary characters as Bud Grant and Bob Knight, George Mikan and Kirby Puckett, Billy Martin and Randy Moss, and many, many more. You’ll enjoy the outrageous stories, and learn some Minnesota sports history in the process.
Sid Hartman, the dean of Twin Cities sports journalists, is one of the most visible, most listened-to, and most read characters in the Upper Midwest. His first column appeared in the Minneapolis Daily Times in September 1945, and he has been a sports announcer at WCCO Radio since 1955. In that time, he has covered virtually every significant sports event and personality in Minnesota. He is the author of Sid Hartman’s Great Minnesota Sports Moments.
Patrick Reusse first began working with Sid forty years ago as Sid’s copy boy at the Minneapolis Tribune. After a twenty-year stint as Sid’s competitor at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, he rejoined the Star Tribune sports department in 1988 as Sid’s colleague.
Tough Enough To Be Vikings: Minnesota's Purple Pride from A To Z - is the history of the NFL's Minnesota Vikings franchise. The hardcover book provides information on every season and every player with the Vikings, beginning in 1961 and continuing through the 1998 season. There is also a records section, and more than 100 black-and-white photographs placed throughout the book.
Updated with fun and interesting facts through the end of the 2008 football season, Vikingology Trivia Challenge: Minnesota Vikings Football offers Vikings fans the opportunity to relive the Vikings\' greatest moments, including:
• Championships • Awards and Honors • Conference Championships • Team Records • Player Records • Traditions • Key Player Stats • Coaching Records • Stadium Facts • Key Rivalries • And Much More
Each of the book’s 210 MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS set up in game format allows players to give informed answers even for the book’s more ambitious questions. In addition, most answers include in-depth supportive background offering the book\'s players even greater knowledge about correct responses.
Here are two sample questions:
• Who was the Vikings head coach their first season? • How many decades has Minnesota won at least 85 games?
The book also includes the publisher’s unique COOL FACTS placed at the end of each of the first four sections. Cool Facts allow the book’s researcher more freedom to highlight and expand on particularly interesting or thought-provoking facts about the team and its history.
Two SCORE SHEETS located at the end of the book permit players to record their answers as they play, to calculate their scores for each of the book’s five sections as well as their final overall score, and to determine winners for multi-player situations. Free downloadable score sheets are also available from the publisher’s Web site.
Heart-Pounding, Jaw-Dropping, and Gut-Wrenching Moments from Minnesota Vikings History (Hardcover)
The name "Vikings" is fitting for a football team from a northern state, and the Minnesota football club, like the Vikings of old, has its own legends and history--and not all of it is glorious.
From Bud Grant to Mike Tice, from Fran Tarkenton to Daunte Culpepper, and from Cris Carter to Randy Moss, the Minnesota Vikings have always seemed to be a fascinating mix of good, bad, and ugly.
Their stories are collected in this book that purple-blooded Vikings fans everywhere will be sure to enjoy.
