Joe Kapp, the quarterback who led the Minnesota Vikings to their first ever Super Bowl, has died at the age of 85, according to reports.
Kapp’s death was confirmed to the San Francisco Chronicle, with his son saying it followed a “15-year battle with dementia.” He had been previously diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease, which his family believes partly resulted from his football career.
After leading the California Golden Bears to the Rose Bowl in 1959 – proving to be the last time the Golden Bears made it to the game – Kapp spent time in the Canadian Football League before joining the Minnesota Vikings in 1967.
In 1968 the Vikings reached the playoffs and in 1969 Kapp led them to Super Bowl IV on the back of a 12-1 record, ultimately losing 23-7 to the Kansas City Chiefs.
In his three years as Vikings QB, he threw for 4,807 yards and 37 touchdowns.
He was known for his bruising style of play, with the Chronicle noting he “relished contact” and would seek out defenders, leading Sports Illustrated to once describe the New Mexico native as “The Toughest Chicano.”
Writing for Sports Illustrated in 1970, Kapp said: “I’m aware of my own reputation, and I enjoy it.”
“People take one look at the scars on my face and they assume that I spend most of my off-hours prowling around looking for fights, when the truth is that the fights are prowling around looking for me, and sometimes they find me,” he said.
Describing himself as a “gentle, fun-loving, peaceful person,” he said “you can be all these things and still get in fights,” and that when trouble finds him, he tries not to back down.
“You won’t see me running out of bounds to avoid a little physical contact with a linebacker, and you won’t see me ducking out the window when somebody wants to tangle.”
Playing with an intense style that sometimes saw him rile up opposing defenders to motivate his offensive teammates, Kapp wrote on the meaning of football:
“Football is a kids’ game, invented to give a lot of people a lot of fun. The minute a player loses sight of that fact, he’s in trouble. Like the Minnesota Vikings in the Super Bowl. We forgot we were supposed to be enjoying ourselves out there. We forgot it was a kids’ game, and we wound up playing in a redwood forest. Every time I looked up I could see those red tree trunks in front of me and on top of me and all around me. We didn’t stay loose and have fun – in the traditional Viking way—and we played a poor game and they played a great one.”
