Kapp, former QB for Cal, Vikings, dies at 85

• ESPN News Services

May 9, 2023, 11:25 AM ET

Joe Kapp, who played quarterback at Cal and later led the Minnesota Vikings to the Super Bowl, died Monday at age 85.

J.J. Kapp confirmed his father’s death to the San Francisco Chronicle, saying it came after a “15-year battle with dementia.”

Raised in California, Kapp played both football and basketball at Cal. On the field, the All-American led the Golden Bears to the Pacific Coast Conference championship in 1958 and on to the Rose Bowl. The Bears lost to Iowa in the 1959 game — the last appearance in the Rose Bowl for Cal.

Kapp spent eight seasons in the Canadian Football League, twice leading the British Columbia Lions to the Grey Cup title game. He moved to the NFL in 1967, leading the Vikings to a Super Bowl IV appearance following a 12-2 season in 1969, though the team fell short against the Kansas City Chiefs 23-7.

“Men like Joe Kapp are the cornerstones the Minnesota Vikings franchise was built upon,” Vikings Owner and President Mark Wilf said in a team statement Tuesday. “Joe’s toughness and competitive spirit defined the Vikings teams of his era, and his tenacity and leadership were respected by teammates and opponents alike. We mourn Joe’s loss with his family, friends and Vikings fans around the world.”

“He was a great leader, a great friend and he really held our team together,” added Pro Football Hall of Famer and former teammate Paul Krause. “He was a guy who liked to have fun and win football games, and that’s what counted. I respected him for his love of the game and love for his teammates. We lost a good friend.”

Kapp is the only quarterback to lead teams to a Rose Bowl, Grey Cup and Super Bowl.

“It was kind of like having your own superhero living in your house,” J.J. Kapp said in a phone interview with The Associated Press.

“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 on Tuesday.

Kapp spent three seasons with the Vikings and signed with the Boston Patriots in 1970 after Minnesota didn’t offer him a new contract. After the season, commissioner Pete Rozelle intervened and declared the four-year contract Kapp signed with the Patriots was invalid. Rozelle ruled Kapp had to sign a revised contract to continue in the NFL, and Kapp never played again.

He finished his NFL career with a 24-21-3 record as a starter. He threw for 5,911 yards, with 40 touchdowns and 64 interceptions.

He filed an antitrust suit against the NFL and eventually won but wasn’t awarded any damages.

Kapp had small acting roles in films, including in “The Longest Yard,” in the 1970s. In 1982, he took over as head coach at Cal in his first-ever coaching job. He was the coach of the Bears during the Nov. 20, 1982, game against Stanford, when Cal improbably won with four seconds left in a contest marked by the Stanford band prematurely stepping onto the field.

“Playing for and coaching at Cal meant the world to him,” J.J. Kapp said.

Cal fired Kapp in 1986 after a 20-34-1 record.

In later years, as he lived with dementia, Kapp said in an interview that he feared he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a brain disease that affects many former football players.

“He used to tell people to put your son in piano lessons and not let them play football, but he let me play and he let my brother play,” J.J Kapp said, adding: “He never regretted playing football.”

J.J. Kapp said his father’s brain will be studied at UC San Francisco to determine whether Kapp had CTE.

Information from Reuters and the Associated Press was used in this report.