Throwback Thursday: Vikings First Draft

In 1961 the Minnesota Vikings entered the NFL as an expansion team. The 1961 NFL Draft was held December 27-28, 1960. It was the first step in filling an empty roster. An Expansion Draft was held a month later to further supplement the new team with players but that draft is for another time. In a week the Vikings will be taking part in their 57th NFL Draft. Here's a look at their first one.

As the new team in the league the Vikings had the first pick in every round.

Rd	Overall	Player	Pos.
1	1	Tommy Mason	RB	Tulane
2	15	Rip Hawkins	LB	North Carolina
3	29	Fran Tarkenton	QB	Georgia
4	43	Chuck Lamson	S	Wyoming
5	57	Ed Sharockman	CB	Pittsburgh
6	71	Jerry Burch	TE	Georgia Tech
7	85	Allan Ferrie	WR	Wagner
8	99	Paul Lindquist	DT	New Hampshire
9	113	Dan Sheehan	OT	Tennessee-Chattanoga
10	127	Doug Mayberry	FB	Utah State
11	141	Jerry Mays	DT	Southern Methodist
12	155	Steve Stonebreaker	LB	Detroit
13	169	Ray Hayes	FB	Central State
14	183	Ken Petersen	OL	Utah
15	197	Mike Mercer	K	Arizona State
16	211	Ted Karpowicz	RB	Detroit
17	225	Willie Jones	FB	Purdue
18	239	Bob Voigt	OT	Cal State-Los Angeles
19	253	Bill Hill	FB	Presbyterian
20	267	Mike McFarland	QB	Western Illinois

Four fullbacks. It was a different time.

The following draft picks made that 1961 Vikings team.

Tommy Mason

Rip Hawkins

Fran Tarkenton

Ed Sharockman

Doug Mayberry

Ray Hayes

Ken Petersen

Mike Mercer

Chuck Lamson and Steve Stonebreaker made the team in 1962. Half of the players selected in that first draft played for the Vikings. That's a low success rate for a team starting from scratch. All NFL teams had to deal with a pilfering AFL that was only gaining traction. Draft choices had choices. 

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The highlights of the Vikings' first draft were Tommy Mason, Rip Hawkins, Ed Sharockman, Mike Mercer, and of course Fran Tarkenton. Mason was a hit. He would've been a bigger hit if injuries hadn't slowed his career. He still played in the NFL for 11 years. The first six with the Vikings. He was a versatile, electric back earning an All-Pro nob in 1963 and Pro Bowl honors from 1962-64. Hawkins was an early starter at middle linebacker and defensive leader for five years, making the Pro Bowl in 1963. Ed Sharockman was a solid starter at right cornerback for the Vikings' entire first decade in the NFL. Mercer held down the kicking duties until Fred Cox showed up in 1963. With a short field goal against the Chicago Bears in game 1 Mercer scored the first points in Vikings' history. He'll always have that.

Then there's Fran Tarkenton. The only knocks on Tarkenton's great Vikings' career were the five years that he spent with the New York Giants in the middle of it and three Super Bowl losses. The former isn't on him and the latter is more of a team thing. Maybe the Vikings win a Super Bowl or more if the team continuity wasn't broken by that trade to the Giants. We'll never know. Vikings football was never boring with the little, scrambling quarterback from Georgia on the field. It was his spontaneous play, a devastating defense, and an icy coach that brought me to the team as a kid. Tarkenton retired from the NFL with every major career passing record and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986.   

The NFL-AFL competition for college football talent was hitting a boil in 1961. A few of the players that the Vikings drafted opted for the rival league. The player that truly qualifies as the "one that got away" is Jerry Mays. He was drafted by the Dallas Texans (Kansas City Chiefs) in the fifth round of the AFL Draft. Mays chose the Texans and was an immediate hit. He was a 6x AFL All-Star, a member of the AFL All-Time team, and a Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Famer. He was great. It's difficult to imagine the Vikings great defenses of the late 1960s with Mays lined up next to Alan Page without shedding a few tears.

The first draft of the Minnesota Vikings was one of their best. It might've been the best if Jerry Mays had opted for the NFL rather than that rival league. Four of the first five picks were franchise cornerstone players. For an expansion team that needed some young players to step up quickly it was a nice start.