Five of Mick Tingelhoff’s Vikings teammates and his former head coach have been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Yet Tingelhoff had never even been inside the building.

Until this week.

The former Vikings center, who will be inducted into the hall on Aug. 8, made his first visit Monday. He particularly enjoyed seeing the room dedicated to the busts of the inductees.

“They looked young,” said Tingelhoff, 74. “It was good. … I hope mine (is young). I’m looking a little old. My hair has turned white.”

Tingelhoff, who starred for the Vikings from 1962-78, figures to be satisfied when the artist is done. Hall of Fame busts generally are modeled after how an inductee looked when he played.

At the recent Super Bowl in Arizona, Tingelhoff was elected to the hall as a Seniors’ Committee nominee. Teammates already enshrined are Fran Tarkenton (1986), Alan Page (1988), Paul Krause (1998), Ron Yary (2001) and Carl Eller (2004), as well as coach Bud Grant (1994).

Tingelhoff had not seen any of their busts in person until Monday. He posed for photos alongside the bust of Tarkenton, the quarterback who will serve as his presenter into the hall.

“He was a great player and a great teammate,” Tingelhoff said. “Fran is a good friend.”

Tingelhoff’s wife, Phyllis, said the Hall of Fame arranged the visit, which included a briefing on how the induction will work.

“We flew out (from Minnesota on) Sunday and we spent the whole day Monday touring the (Canton) Civic Center, where a lot of events will be in August, and then we went to the hall and spent a considerable amount of time,” she said. “They gave us a great tour.”

A day after the induction, the Vikings will face Pittsburgh in the Hall of Fame Game.

Tingelhoff will be enshrined with former players Jerome Bettis, Tim Brown, Charles Haley, the late Junior Seau and Will Shields, plus executives Bill Polian and Ron Wolf. Also on hand for this week’s hall visit were Shields and Wolf.

“It was a lot of fun,” Tingelhoff said. “It’s just a great honor to visit and a great honor to be included. It’s unbelievable.”

Tingelhoff was measured in Arizona for his gold Hall of Fame jacket and had his face measured for his bust. Still to come is the artist who will sculpt the bust visiting Minnesota later this year.

Follow Chris Tomasson at twitter.com/christomasson.