This is another swing at a Minnesota Vikings Mount Rushmore. Typically, Mount Rushmores are used to separate the four best players, coaches, etc. from the rest. One of the cool things about Mount Rushmores is that you can mold them to your needs. I think often about the history of the Vikings. I think of my history with the team as well as the team's history in general. While in the midst of those thoughts recently, I was thinking about the most important, most influential people in the nearly 60 year history of the team. Those thoughts inevitably led to the narrowing of all those influential people to an easy four. A Mount Rushmore. So here's a Mount Rushmore of the Most Influential People in the History of the Minnesota Vikings.
1. Zygi Wilf-Wilf Family
2. Bud Grant
3. Max Winter
4. Fran Tarkenton
1. Zygi Wilf-Wilf Family. This is an easy one. The Vikings might not be playing their football games in Minnesota if it wasn't for the Wilf family. Red McCombs, the man who thankfully sold the team to the Wilfs, tried to bully a stadium out of the people of Minnesota. The Wilfs felt that a partnership with state and local governments was a better method. It was. Once a stadium financing partnership was achieved they could've whipped up a piece-o-shit stadium on the cheap like the Metrodome. Instead, they sought to build the best stadium in sports. It is. US Bank Stadium is a work of art. During stadium construction, the Wilfs started construction on a new training facility for their team. Winter Park might've been sparkling in 1981. It's been trash for decades. If the Vikings attracted free agents it was never for the amenities. The Vikings' TCO Performance Center might be the best team facility in the league. More important than appearances, the Wilfs have made the Minnesota Vikings a team and a business built on openness and inclusion. I've always been proud to be a fan of the Minnesota Vikings. I've never been more proud as I've been since the Wilf Family purchased the team in 2005.
2. Bud Grant. He's a Minnesota icon. As a kid, I always felt like the world was a better and safer place when I saw the coach on the sideline. There's no other person that screams "Minnesota Vikings" more than Grant.
3. Max Winter. He was the front person of the following five-member ownership group that brought the Vikings to Minnesota.
Max Winter
E. William Boyer
H.P. Skoglund
Ole Haugsrud
Bernard H. Ridder, Jr.
It's fairly safe to say that the Vikings became the Vikings because of these men, especially Winter. He'd been trying to get an NFL expansion team but the league wasn't interested in expanding. The league suddenly became interested in expanding when the AFL popped onto the professional football scene. Winter's group was originally aligned with the new league. They were so much aligned that the team was officially announced as one of the original eight teams and even took part in the first AFL draft. George Halas couldn't have an AFL threat in his own backyard so the NFL swooped in and stole the Vikings. Winter's desire for a professional football team and his preference for the NFL over the AFL made the Vikings the team that we know today. If he'd held to his commitment to the new league there'd still be a Minnesota Vikings but Fran Tarkenton would never have played for them.
4. Fran Tarkenton. Quarterback is the most important position in football. And Fran Tarkenton is the quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings. When I was an itty bitty Vikings fan I thought that Tarkenton would lead the team for eternity. I didn't really grasp the concept of football players aging out of the game. My team had a franchise quarterback then. They're still looking for the next one. There's been some contenders. Tommy Kramer was the first one that was supposed to be the next one. He had some great and thrilling moments but he could never stay on the field long enough. For most of the best years since the 1970s the Vikings have trotted out quarterbacks that were at the end of their careers. Warren Moon was fun for a couple years. Randall Cunningham was brilliant for a year. So was Brett Favre. Jeff George threw a beautiful ball. Daunte Culpepper and Teddy Bridgewater had something but injuries took it away. I don't what Christian Ponder was supposed to be. The Vikings had a franchise quarterback over 40 years ago. They're still looking for the next one.
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