Vikings legendary center Mick Tingelhoff, who never missed a game in his 17-year career and was regarded as one of the toughest players in team history, died Saturday morning in the Twin Cities. He was 81.
Tingelhoff played for the Vikings from 1962-78 and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August 2015. He had suffered from health issues in recent years that affected his memory, and his family had elected to have Fran Tarkenton, his former quarterback and his presenter, give his hall of fame speech.
Tingelhoff played in four Super Bowls with the Vikings and was five times selected first-team All-Pro and to six Pro Bowls. His streak of starting 240 straight game remains the third longest in NFL history.
“He goes down as one of the five greatest Vikings of all time,” hall of famer Bud Grant, Tingelhoff’s coach in his final 12 seasons, said in a phone interview. “He was a great leader. He was just a competitor and all the great ones have that great ability of durability. He played every week, practiced every day. He came ready to go. He had a great career.”
Grant was coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League in 1962 when Tingelhoff went undrafted after being a two-way player at Nebraska. Grant said he tried to sign Tingelhoff to play both center and linebacker before the Lexington, Neb., native latched on with the Vikings.
“He made a good decision, and came with the Vikings, and I knew Mick and his family for a long time,’’ Grant said. “He was one of our greatest players and represented the Vikings as well as anybody. I made him and (defensive end) Jim Marshall captains (in 1967) and they were throughout their whole careers.”
Tingelhoff was undersized at 6-foot-2, 237 pounds but routinely held his own against bigger players. There were numerous stories told about his toughness.
Longtime athletic trainer Fred Zamberletti, who died in 2018, told the story in 2015 of Tingelhoff having a separated shoulder and the Vikings weren’t going to let him play in the 1976 opener at New Orleans. He then rammed and severely dented a locker at the Superdome with his shoulder, and was allowed to play.
Godfrey Zaunbrecher, the only other center on Minnesota’s roster for a period in the early 1970s, once said, “I’m the third-string center behind Tingelhoff and Tingelhoff hurt.”
“I call him a 150-percenter and what I mean by that is that’s what you got from him every play,” said Chuck Foreman, a Vikings running back from 1973-79. “He was as tough as nails. Probably one of the toughest guys in the NFL.’’
Tingelhoff, though, was mild mannered off the field.
“It hurts,’’ Ron Yary, a hall of fame tackle who played for Minnesota from 1968-81, said about Tingelhoff’s death. “There’s a hole in you when that happens. If there was ever a football player that was as humble as him about his accomplishments, I‘d love to meet him.’’
Tingelhoff’s granddaughter, Jazzmyn Tingelhoff also made note of the legendary center’s humility.
“Mick was the greatest person I have ever had the privilege to know,’’ she wrote in a text message. “He was a man who put his family first. … Through all the attention he received for his accolades, he remained a humble person. He celebrated more for his grandkids’ varsity games than any honor he earned.”
Jazzmyn Tingelhoff wrote that the family was keeping Mick Tingelhoff’s cause of death private and that information regarding funeral services were “private at this time.”
At Tingelhoff’s hall of fame induction in 2015, the family at the last instance opted to have Tarkenton, Tingelhoff’s longtime friend and his teammate for 12 seasons, give his speech. Tingelhoff’s wife, Phyllis Tingelhoff, told the Pioneer Press then that the family
“made the decision just to take the pressure off Mick.’’
“Mick’s a man of little words but a lot of action,’’ Tarkenton told the crowd in Canton, Ohio, while holding back tears. “He’s so proud to be in this class of 2015.’’
Ed White, a Vikings guard from 1969-77, said he last saw Tingelhoff during a 50-year reunion in September 2019 for Minnesota’s first Super Bowl team from the 1969 season.
“That’s tough having dementia and dealing with that,’’ White said. “We had a very nice visit and he seemed to know me. And I didn’t focus on that. But I just focused on the things were talking about.’’
On Saturday, White’s mind flashed back to when he first met Tingelhoff after joining the Vikings in 1969.
“I was a rookie but he treated me like I’d been next to him for 20 years,’’ White said. “He was that kind of guy. … He was quiet and tough as nails and never complained. He was an unbelievable, kind generous guy.’’
