It’s a sad day for longtime fans of the Minnesota Vikings, as yet another legend of professional football has shrugged off this mortal coil and ventured into the great unknown beyond the veil.
Retired defensive end Jim Marshall, who held the NFL record for most games played consecutively for several decades, died on Tuesday at the age of 87. Marshall had been hospitalized for a lengthy period of time prior to his passing.
Marshall was part of the inaugural season for the Vikings in 1961. He played in every game that followed. Marshall played 282 games in a row, with a whopping 270 of them taking place in the city of Minnesota.
His record for consecutive games played lasted until 2009. Another legendary NFL star, quarterback Brett Favre, snapped the record, which was set by Marshall just before his retirement in 1979.
Vikings president, Mark Wilf, along with the team’s owner, Zygi Wilf, and the rest of the Wilf family, put out a statement about Marshall’s passing, saying, “The entire Minnesota Vikings organization is mourning the loss of Jim Marshall. No player in Vikings history lived the ideals of toughness, camaraderie and passion more than the all-time iron man.”
“A cornerstone of the franchise from the beginning, Captain Jim’s unmatched durability and quiet leadership earned the respect of teammates and opponents throughout his 20-year career,” the statement continued, according to the New York Post.
Marshall was also the team captain for 14 seasons, a two-time Pro-Bowler and played in all four of the franchise’s Super Bowl appearances. He was part of the lineup that won an NFL Championship in 1969 before the NFL-AFL merger in 1970.
“While sacks were not an official statistic throughout Marshall’s 20 years in the league, Pro Football Reference credited him for 130.5 sacks, which ranked third at the time of his retirement and would currently tie him at 22nd in league history,” the report said.
Another major accomplishment for Marshall is his induction into the Ohio State Hall of Fame. He left the institution early to play in the Canadian Football League in 1959.
“Jim led by example, and there was no finer example for others to follow,” the Wilf statement added. “His impact on the Vikings was felt long after he left the field. Jim will always be remembered as a tremendous player and person. Our hearts are with his wife, Susan, and all of Jim’s loved ones.”
The NFL wrote in an article about Marshall’s passing, “Marshall was the embodiment of the toughness and ruggedness that forged the Vikings of the 1960s-1970s, enduring harsh winter games at Metropolitan Stadium. He was just the same a symbol of the construction of an NFL expansion team into a perennial champion.”
