Frank Youso, a star offensive tackle at the University of Minnesota who was the first player to join the expansion Vikings in their initial season of 1961, died Saturday in his native International Falls, Minn. He was 86.
Youso’s death at Rainy Lake Medical Center was announced by Green-Larsen Mortuary of International Falls.
Youso starred for the Gophers before being selected in the second round of the NFL draft by the New York Giants in 1958. He played in the NFL with the Giants from 1958-60 and with the Vikings from 1961-62 before finishing his pro career with the Oakland Raiders of the AFL from 1963-65.
Youso was released by the Giants after the 1960 season, and became the first player signed by the expansion Vikings, who entered the NFL in 1961. Youso, listed at 6-foot-4, 257 pounds, played in 27 of 28 Vikings games in the the team’s first two years, starting 26.
“He was a big strong guy, but he didn’t have a mean bone in his body,” Jerry Reichow, a Vikings wide receiver from 1961-64, said Monday.
Due to that nature, Reichow said Youso didn’t initially didn’t say a word whenever then-Vikings coach Norm Van Brocklin would chew him out.
“Van Brocklin was a pretty salty guy and he’d just rip guys, and if they didn’t fight back or tell him to back off, he’d just keep doing it,” Reichow said. “He did that with Frank, and Frank was such a nice guy, he didn’t say anything. After awhile, I finally pulled Frank aside and said, ‘Don’t take that from anybody. Just challenge the guy.’ He did, and Van Brocklin left him alone after that.”
Youso started at right tackle in the Vikings’ first game, a stunning 37-13 win over the Chicago Bears on Sept. 17, 1961, In a 2019 interview with the Pioneer Press, he talked about how upset legendary Bears coach George Halas was to lose that game.
“Halas was madder than hell,” Youso said. “They thought they were going to come in and whip us. And a lot of people in our own stadium were hollering, ‘They’re going to kick your butt.’ But we didn’t think so. That was one of the greatest thrills of my life.”
Youso said in 2019 he made $8,000 a year when he was with the Vikings. Following his retirement from football, he and his wife Evelyn, who survives him, owned and operated for years Pinecrest Lodge on Lake Kabetogama and Northland Motor Court in International Falls.
A funeral mass will be held for Youso at 11 a.m. Friday at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in International Falls.
