Hundreds of men have worn purple
and gold since the Vikings began play 46 seasons ago. Nevertheless, only a select
few have the perspective of defensive tackle Jim Prestel, who was one of the 45 players that composed the first edition of
the Minnesota Vikings.
“It was tough, we hit
twice a day…they were very hard training camps, we trained up in Bemidji, MN in those days,” Prestel reminisced
about coach Norm Van Brocklin’s grueling camp schedule. “We would
probably have about a three hour practice in the morning and a three hour practice in the afternoon. I always remember Hugh McHeleny, who was our running back, said if he had to hit this much in practice
(his entire career), he wouldn’t have lasted as long as he had.”
A 6th round draft
choice by Cleveland in 1959, Prestel played in just six games as a Brown, but
has vivid memories of the legendary figures he encountered there. “(Paul
Brown) is probably the most organized coach I’ve ever played for,” Prestel said of the Hall of Famer. “You
stood in the same place everyday at practice to do your calisthenics…if the itinerary said we we’re going to be
done in an hour and twenty minutes and we punted the ball and the ball was in midair when (Brown) blew the whistle, we would
run off the practice field and nobody would catch the ball. It was quite a first year for me to being playing for a guy like
Paul Brown.”
Another Brown, Jim, also left
a lasting impression, “I didn’t really get to know (Jim Brown) that well, I was a rookie and rookie’s sometimes
have to work their way up to be a veteran and get accepted,” the Indiana native explained. “He was very sure of himself, just like you see him on the football field. He seemed to know what he wanted to do and where he was going.”
Prestel also met and played
along side a future Viking legend during his short stint in Cleveland, “Jim Marshall and I came (to Minnesota) in the
same trade,” he commented. “We played together as rookies with Cleveland…
Jim had a good attitude and he was so strong…he wasn’t big for a defensive end, he only weighed about 220 to 225
(pounds), but he was quick. He was destined to be good, (but) I didn’t think he’d play as long as he did, but
he proved to be durable too.”
Despite playing for a successful,
star-studded team, Prestel welcomed his trade to the expansion Vikings, “I was anxious because I thought it would give
me a chance to start, I hadn’t been starting in Cleveland,” the Idaho
alumnus pointed out. “So, I made the team and started along with Paul Dixon and Jim Marshall. I played until 1966 when
I got replaced by Gary Larsen and was traded to the Giants. I played for five years as a starter.”
In those five seasons, Prestel
helped the Vikings evolve from a rag-tag expansion outfit to a winner. A major
reason for that was future Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton, “George Shaw actually was going to be our quarterback, he came
from Baltimore, he was Johnny Unitas’s backup, but he got hurt right before
the first game, so Fran Tarkenton came in and we beat the Bears in our first game 37-13,” the former lineman remembered.
“So, Fran became a leader.”
(Tarkenton) was just a rookie
from the University of Georgia,”
Prestel continued. “Nobody knew one of his greatest skills was scrambling, but we found out that later. He could also throw the ball pretty darn good. It was fun
to have him there and, of course, he just became better every year.”
The high
point of Prestel’s tenure in Purple came in 1964 when the Vikings posted their first winning
season, with an 8-5-1 mark. “We thought maybe next year, we could
be in the hunt, but it just never happened (they finished 7-7-1),”
he lamented. “We got better every year, but we just never got over the hump, the hump was beating Green
Bay. Green Bay
was awfully good in those years.”
According to Prestel, the Packers
cast a large shadow on those early Vikings teams, “(People in the Twin Cities area weren’t) really great Vikings
fans, they had been so tuned in with Green Bay all of those years,” he claimed. “Most of our fan base was in South
Dakota, North Dakota and Iowa.
After we started winning a little more, we got some of the Minnesota fans (rooting)
for us. They weren’t wearing green and gold, they were wearing purple finally.”
Now 69 and living in suburban
Denver, Prestel still follows the NFL, but rarely visits Minnesota
and has yet to attend a Vikings game in the Metrodome. The purple and gold however,
still hold a special place in his heart, “I follow the Denver Broncos now, of course, but my allegiance is still with
the Vikings,” he stated. “I spent most of my career with the Minnesota Vikings.
I played 9 years, five of them here.”
Minnesota
was the best part of my career,” Prestel added. “It was a good franchise, they treated us well and the fans here
were fantastic. Of course, that was the prime of my career when I was starting
and playing and of course, you always enjoy it more when you are starting. We
got to meet a lot of people that we are still in contact with and that’s nice too.”
To prove his loyalty, Prestel
followed his former team through all four of their Super Bowl losses and still believes a championship is in the franchises’
future. “Every (time they made the Super Bowl), I thought it was their year, but it just (didn’t happen),”
the original Viking explained. “It’s funny, I move to Denver and Denver
went through four before they won their fifth. Of course, Minnesota
hasn’t won theirs yet, but one of these days, they’ll get there I’m sure.”
-David Zingler
December 9, 2006
