Fond Memories of a Vikings Icon — Jim Marshall
To me, he was always Captain Jim. To him, I was always Groucho.
In the close to 50 years I knew him before he passed away on Tuesday at 87 years old, Jim Marshall always was so nice and friendly with a big personality and greeted me with a big smile, whether I was a Vikings PR intern who set up media interviews for him as the team operations coordinator, or after he retired when I was Vikings GM and in recent years when I’ve seen him at special events.
Former Vikings general manager Jeff Diamond remembers Jim Marshall, who passed away this week.
My favorite memories from my 28-year NFL front office career are of the players, coaches, and staff I worked with, who often became lifelong friends. Jim Marshall is certainly high on that list for me.
I first met Jim as a 22-year-old Vikings PR intern fresh out of college. As part of my internship project in the spring of 1976, I wrote a book called “The First Fifteen Years,” which covered the early years of the Vikings franchise.
Naturally, one of my chapters was titled “The Amazing Jim Marshall.” When I interviewed him, he immediately gave me the nickname “Groucho,” as he thought my appearance, with a mustache and glasses, resembled that of the famous comedian and actor.
I figured by the time training camp opened in July of 1976 down in Mankato, he’d have forgotten his nickname for me. To the contrary, he greeted me at the Gage Hall desk on opening day with a loud “Groucho,” and Fran Tarkenton and the rest of the team quickly picked up on it.
That’s the kind of leader Jim Marshall was, as his teammates always followed his lead. Of course, he was a tremendous player with over 130 career sacks, an NFL-record 29 opponents fumbles recovered, and incredible durability (282 consecutive regular season games played with 270 starts, both NFL records for a defensive player, and his 289 consecutive games started, including playoffs, ranks second to Brett Favre’s 321). Jim’s No. 70 is one of only six retired jersey numbers by the Vikings.
But beyond being a great and durable player, he was — as Bud Grant called him — the “bell cow” of those great Vikings teams of the late 1960s and through the 1970s that were perennial division champs and a four-time Super Bowl participant.
The term “team leader” is often used loosely and may not always accurately apply. In Jim Marshall’s case, it was absolutely an apt description. Bud Grant recognized it immediately in his first season as Vikings head coach in 1967 and made Marshall the defensive captain. Bud has often said that once Jim bought into his coaching style, it paved the way for the rest of the team to follow along.
Bud also said a player can’t achieve greatness without durability. Marshall was the epitome of a durable football player in a sport where injuries are prevalent. It was incredible to see him play through so many injuries and never miss a start in his 19-year Vikings career. Long-time Vikings head athletic trainer Fred Zamberletti would recount how Marshall’s ankle was so badly sprained in a game, yet he would line up at right defensive end for the Purple People Eaters on the next game day.
Jim told me back in that 1976 interview he had a “real rapport between his mind and his body, this harmony that enables me to continue playing even under very adverse conditions.”
Grant paid tribute to Marshall’s durability and love of the game in saying, “He is just one of those rare people whose system heals quickly. He has learned to live with pain, and his body has the resiliency to respond to what he wants it to. And Jim loves to play football. He has great enthusiasm for the game.”
Tarkenton was a great leader on offense and one of the most durable quarterbacks in NFL history, and he called Marshall “the face of the Vikings … the greatest leader I’ve ever played with and the most amazing man I know. He just puts the pain out of his mind. I believe there’s nothing he can’t endure.”
That was further proven by Jim’s off-the-field endeavors, which included surviving a hang-glider crash and a blizzard in Wyoming while on a snowmobile journey, where he had to burn money to stay warm, resulting in the loss of one person’s life.
Jim was also active in supporting charitable causes, such as The Link, a Minneapolis non-profit that he co-founded with former teammate Oscar Reed. The Link works with youth and families to overcome poverty and social injustice.
It’s been wonderful to see the tributes come pouring in from his Vikings teammates such as Tarkenton, Alan Page, Carl Eller, Chuck Foreman, and Ahmad Rashad.
One of my lasting memories of the tight bond between Bud Grant and Jim Marshall came at a press conference we held before Jim’s final game in 1979. Jim was there, and as Bud spoke of Jim’s fantastic career and his importance to the team as the defensive captain, Bud began crying. I had never seen him do that. That spoke volumes about his feelings for Jim.
I think it’s absurd and a travesty that Jim has not been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Perhaps it will eventually happen as a senior inductee, but that would be a shame; he wasn’t alive to experience the thrill of it in Canton.
The Hall of Fame voters sometimes get too focused on Pro Bowls (Jim was selected twice) and All-Pro honors (he was a second-team All-Pro three times). Jim’s 130 sacks and 29 fumble recoveries are Hall-worthy, as are his longevity records, which alone deserve Hall of Fame enshrinement, along with his leadership and dedication to the game.
Jim Marshall was the epitome of a professional football player who loved the game, the competition, and his teammates, and was a great person who will be deeply missed by all who knew him well.
Jeff Diamond is a former Vikings GM, former Tennessee Titans President and was selected NFL Executive of the Year after the Vikings’ 15-1 season in 1998. He now works for the NFL agent group IFA based in Minneapolis and does other sports consulting and media work along with college/corporate speaking. Follow him and direct message him on Twitter– @jeffdiamondnfl
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