If quarterbacking Cal and the Vikings was all that he’d done to impact my football life, that’d be enough. He was also the Golden Bears football coach for all of my years as a Cal student. The football wasn’t great but it sure was fun. Kapp’s infectious enthusiasm for football and Cal football was fun. He coined the enduring phrase, “The Bear will not quit, the Bear will not die!” That was never more evident than in the 1982 Big Game with Stanford. That was the game that ended with The Play. The beautiful, five-lateral play that won the game and ended John Elway’s college days. There weren’t a lot of wins during Kapp’s five years as coach but two of the biggest were his first and last games against Stanford.
As the Vikings quarterback, Kapp once threw for an NFL record seven touchdowns. Still, he was never confused for peers like John Unitas, Sonny Jurgensen, or Len Dawson. Kapp played the position more like how a linebacker might. He threw like a linebacker might. He ran like a linebacker might. Kapp looked and hoped for contact. He knocked out Cleveland Browns linebacker Jim Houston in the 1969 NFL Championship game. He famously fought with Vikings linebacker Lonnie Warwick because both took the blame for a loss. Joe Kapp was different. He was a football player that played quarterback. For the Vikings, he was “40 for 60.”
Kapp’s family said it best in the obituary, “In Joe’s world everyone was family, and every day was a fiesta.”
RIP Joe Kapp.
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