Hall Of Fame Shame: The Omission Of Jim Marshall, The Greatest Team Captain In NFL History

The NFL Hall Of Fame has rarely treated the Minnesota Vikings and their pantheon of great players with respect. But the greatest insult to this franchise and their fans remains the fact that they keep the Vikings’ greatest leader and player from their immortal corps.

Mission Statement: NFL HALL OF FAME HONOR THE HEROES OF THE GAME, PRESERVE ITS HISTORY, PROMOTE ITS VALUES AND CELEBRATE EXCELLENCE EVERYWHERE

Certainly, this is a rather ambiguous declaration of values and vision for a vessel such as the NFL Hall of Fame. It appears to have been sketched out by a PR person; someone who is trying to reach out and connect to something beyond professional football.

But such a thing is not really taken seriously by true fans of this game. It is a violent game, a game of collision and fortitude, of brains and brawn. It’s “values” may seem to lend themselves to success in life, but really how? Beating a man on a post pattern? Jarring the ball loose with a bone-crunching hit? Simply winning?

Nor does the NFL “celebrate excellence everywhere”. It is a league whose very contests illustrate its vitality; an ‘Any Given Sunday’ kind of thing. The Cardinals could indeed beat the Cowboys if they played their very best game, but it rarely happened. Why?

Because the Cowboys had better coaches and players, they had a better core of veterans and youth, they had better team captains and team concepts.

So when the NFL Hall Of Fame declares that its reason for being is to “honor the heroes of the game” and “preserve its history”, who–or what exactly–is it that they are honoring? The history of those heroes or the history of the game?

Let’s just say it’s both to make everyone happy. But to say that the NFL Hall Of Fame has a true mission to celebrate and honor a game that America loves, they have failed in one unforgivable oversight; the disregard of Minnesota Vikings’ immortal team captain, Jim Marshall.

What Makes Jim Marshall An NFL Hall Of Famer?

When the great Green Bay Packers quarterback Bart Starr passed away in 2019, ESPN Senior Writer Ian O’Connell re-essayed a short biography he had written in 2015 of him that was titled “Bart Starr was the toughest football player who ever lived”.

The story had plenty of anecdotes about Starr and his career. The invincibly tough Vince Lombardi, Starr’s family tragedy, his history of physical afflictions, The Ice Bowl, Super Bowl Championships, etc.

At the end of the interview, O’ Connell turned to Starr and told him he thought he was the toughest man to play in the NFL. Starr smiled at the writer. “Well,” he responded, “I’ve been the luckiest football player ever.”

Whether or not Bart Starr was the “luckiest”, he certainly had a lot more luck than a guy named Jim Marshall– at least when it came to football. But when it came to toughness, nobody in the history of the game could touch him.

In fact, it took a veteran Jim Marshall leading a relentless young Minnesota Vikings defense called the ‘Purple People Eaters’ to finally topple the dynasty of the Green Bay Packers and put the Vikings on top of the NFC Central Division for more than a decade.

Marshall played in 282 consecutive NFL games–as well as an additional 19 playoff games. He lead one of the most prolific defenses in NFL history to four Super Bowls and was considered by his Hall of Fame coach, Bud Grant, to be the team’s one indispensable player.

He didn’t have head coach Vince Lombardi and a mighty NFL football team like the Green Bay Packers that Bart Starr led for so many years.

Instead, he had to become the most important part of building one; a team captain and player that never took a day off the job for 19 years.

The Long Start To Marshall’s Career

Playing his first professional season in the Canadian Football League, then drafted in 1960 by the Cleveland Browns, Marshall was traded to the new NFL franchise in Minnesota in 1961.

In their first three seasons, the Vikings won 10 games and were in the basement of the NFL West, one of two divisions in the league.

But in 1964, at age 27, defensive end Jim Marshall lead a group of youngsters like 22 year-old DE Carl Eller, 23 year-old safety LB Karl Kassulke and 24 year-old LB Roy Winston to the number six defensive ranking in the league and the Vikings’ first winning season at 8-5-1, good enough to place second in the NFL West behind the 12-2 Baltimore Colts.

Purple People Eaters: Jim Marshall (32), Carl Eller (27), and Alan Page (24), in 1969.

From ‘66 to ‘68, the Vikings’ became a top ten NFL defense to stay. New head coach, Hall of Famer Bud Grant, both recognized and relied on Jim Marshall to be not only a defensive captain, but a veteran team leader.

Marshall–at age 32–then lead the Vikings to the league’s top defensive ranking in 1969, ‘70 and ‘71.

In ‘69, The Vikings’ won the NFL Championship Game by crushing the Cleveland Browns 27-7. In that season, the Viking defense allowed a mere 3.2 yards per carry rushing average and gave up only 3.6 yards per pass. They won 12 games in a row, sat their starters in a meaningless week 14 game against Atlanta and finished the season 12-2.

The ‘Purple People Eaters‘ were bonafide, and they were led by the ever-present Jim Marshall.

The Minnesota defense would lead the Vikings’ to ten division titles in 11 seasons and three more Super Bowls, in 1973, ‘74, and 1976. In each year, the Vikings’ defense never fell below a number three rank in the NFL.

You may ask yourself if the NFL–or the NFL Hall of Fame–has a history replete with guys like Jim Marshall. Players that lead on the field and off, never missed starts, played through all injuries and infirmities, and at age 36, 38 and 39 spearheaded a defense that lead a team to three Super Bowl games.

No, my friend. It does not.

The Nine Lives Of Jim Marshall

A few years, Marshall has offered a list of his infirmities that came from a 19-year career and 302 consecutive career pro football games.

“I’ve had the ankle operated on twice. I’ve had numerous knee surgeries, but I have two replacements now. I’ve got two artificial hips. I’ve had five operations on one shoulder and six on the other. Six back surgeries, including two major fusions. I’ve had neck surgeries, eye surgeries, three heart surgeries, an ear operation.” -Jim Marshall on injuries

Vikings’ teammates sometimes often joked about “the nine lives of Jim Marshall.”

Coach Grant once scratched Marshall from a game against Dallas because of the effects of his acute asthmatic bronchitis. Marshall was in the hospital–in an oxygen tent–when he decided to escape the place just in time to arrive at the stadium and play the whole game.

He had three sacks against the Cowboys that Sunday.