It’s been five months since Hurricane Ian devastated Florida. Two weeks ago the roof on Rick Spielman’s home was finally replaced.
The former general manager of Minnesota Vikings revealed Friday that his home took a direct hit from the the hurricane that battered Florida last September, saying a 12-foot wave went through his home and wiped out nearly all of his possessions inside.
“We were displaced from our home for about 2 1/2 months. We got back in about a month ago. Lost everything in the lower level, lost cars,” Spielman said Friday during an appearance on KFAN FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. “We’re able to live in the upstairs level now as the house gets reconstructed and put back together, but it’ll probably be a full year. We’re pretty fortunate and blessed that we’re able to rebuild and stay down here. A lot of people aren’t going to be able to do that.”
Spielman, who worked for the Vikings from 2006 to 2021, including 2012 to 2021 as the general manager, said most of the memorabilia that he collected in three-plus decades in the NFL was washed away during the hurricane.
“I have some memorabilia left, but I lost 31 years of game balls,” he said,” adding a punch line about his game balls now floating in the ocean like the volleyball Tom Hanks’ character named “Wilson” in the movie Cast Away.
One piece of memorabilia he was fortunate to get back was a photo of his son with former Vikings running back Adrian Peterson. The picture was taken after Peterson rushed for an NFL record 296 yards against the San Diego Chargers on Nov. 4, 2007.
The photo was found five miles from his house by someone who was generous enough to post a picture of the photo on Twitter, which got back to Spielman and he was able to recover it.
“We just got a roof over our head, literally, two weeks ago,” said Spielman.
Lee County, Florida, took a direct hit from Hurricane Ian. One-hundred-fifty-two people died during the storm and it caused an estimated $50-$65 billion in damages.
