Jim Marshall, a defensive end whose 19-year tenure with the Minnesota Vikings helped define the team's hard-nosed identity, has died, the team announced Tuesday afternoon. He was 87.
"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," Minnesota's owners said in a statement.
Marshall played 282 games (starting 277) during an unusually long career for any era; the former number is still a record for defensive players. He was weeks shy of his 42nd birthday when he played his final game in 1979.
The Danville, Ky. native played collegiately for Ohio State and then the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL. Having drafting him directly from the CFL, the Cleveland Browns traded him to the Vikings after just one season.
The acquisition proved fortuitous for Minnesota, a second-year expansion team in need of an identity in 1961. Marshall and the Vikings' "Purple People Eaters" defensive line helped the team develop into winners—making the Pro Bowl in 1968 and '69, the latter of which ended with the team's first Super Bowl berth.
The '69 campaign proved to be his best; he unofficially recorded 14 sacks and garnered AP All-Pro honors. He saw action in four Super Bowls, compiling 14 tackles in those games.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Jim Marshall, Defensive Ironman of Vikings’ Early History, Dies at 87 .
