Joe Kapp, the quarterback with an unorthodox style who took the Vikings to their first Super Bowl in 1969, has died at age 85.
His son, J.J. Kapp, confirmed the death to the San Francisco Chronicle, writing in an email that Kapp died Monday after a “15-year battle with dementia.”
Kapp was a quarterback in the Canadian Football League before joining the Vikings. He was known for a hard-nosed running style and throwing passes that were rarely pretty but often wobbled their way into completions.
Kapp played for only three seasons in Minnesota and one more with the Patriots before leaving pro football in the aftermath of a contract dispute. He was later the head football coach at the University of California, where he had been a college star in the 1950s and took the Bears to the 1958 Rose Bowl, where they lost to Iowa.
Professionally, Kapp spent his first eight seasons in the CFL with Calgary and the BC Lions. He took the Stampeders to the playoffs in his second season and led the Lions to back-to-back Grey Cup appearances, winning it all in his second try in 1964.
”Along with helping put the Lions on the map after some lean early years, Joe also served as a trailblazer for quarterbacks making a name for themselves on both sides of the border,” the BC Lions said in a statement.
He then went to the NFL in 1967 and replaced Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton, who had been traded by the Vikings to the New York Giants.
In 1968, Kapp led the Vikings to their first playoff appearance, which ended with a loss to the Baltimore Colts. He was said to have coined the Vikings’ motto of that era — “40-for-60” — which referred to the 40 players on the roster giving their all for the 60 minutes of a game.
Kapp is the only quarterback to lead his team to a Rose Bowl, Grey Cup and Super Bowl.
After the 1969 season, which ended with the Vikings losing Super Bowl IV to Kansas City, Kapp was a free agent. He played the Super Bowl season without a contract after the Vikings had exercised an option clause that was standard at that time. No team made him an offer during that offseason, and he joined the Patriots several games into the 1970 season.
Kapp filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NFL that led to changes in contract rules in the mid-1970s.
In 2016, Kapp acknowledged publicly that he had Alzheimer’s disease, telling a reporter: “Every single day I live being forgetful. I’ve got calendars on both of my shoes.”
At the time, Kapp pledged to donate his brain for medical research after his death and his son confirmed that it will go to the medical school at the University of California, San Francisco.
Kapp came to Minnesota for Super Bowl week in 2018 and participated in a conference at Mitchell Hamline Law School titled “Impact on the Gridiron: Safety, Accountability, and the Future of Football.”
At the time, he told Star Tribune columnist Jim Souhan: “I loved playing for the Vikings, We had tremendous team chemistry. We had 40-for-60. We also had a ton of great players with heart.”
Material from The Associated Press is included in this article.