Houston fell face first, knocked out before he hit the ground, and was done for the day. Houston bought neither so Kapp tried to hurdle him. "I put all my moves on him," Kapp said years later. So "Hennepin Avenue Joe" didn't turn to the sideline. Locally, he was called many things, including "Hennepin Avenue Joe" in a witty Midwestern bent on the "Broadway Joe" Namath craze from that same era. Kapp could have cut right to the sideline, but that wasn't who he was.Ī tough-talking, tequila-loving, fists-a-flying swashbuckler, Kapp once was described as "The Toughest Chicano" in a headline by Sports Illustrated. Kapp lumbered beyond the line of scrimmage as linebacker Jim Houston closed in for the clobber. "Joe wasn't exactly the fastest guy or the greatest athlete you ever saw," Osborn said. He then saw an opening around right end that even his legs could get to. He looked left, but his receivers were covered. "He was a quarterback who didn't care if he completed a pass or gained one yard because all he cared about was, 'Did we win the game?'"Īrguably the biggest win in franchise history - the 1969 NFL Championship Game against the Cleveland Browns at Met Stadium - came with a classic Kapp moment that's been relived countless times over the past half-century, and more. "Joe was one of the most dedicated team-first guys I think I ever played with," said former running back Dave Osborn, who was with the Vikings during Kapp's three-year stint from 1967-69. That "40 for 60" mantra became the battle cry for a Vikings team that went 12-2 while scoring a league-high 379 points and allowing a league-low 133 en route to the franchise's first of four Super Bowls in eight seasons. Kapp, who battled dementia the last 15 years of his life, was 31 years old in the fall of 1969 when he kept telling any and all who asked that his success hinged on all 40 players on the roster giving full effort for 60 minutes. Joe Kapp, one of the toughest and most beloved blue-collar characters in Vikings history, died Monday after 85 years of never turning away from a fight, never taking the easy road and never, ever running out of bounds when the most prudent thing for a quarterback to do was head for the safety of the nearest sideline.
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