3 Startling True Facts About the Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings colors are Purple, Gold and White. The use of purple was inspired by rock star Prince who lives in Minnesota. Prince was born in 1958 and was only a few years old when the Vikings first hit the field in 1961.
Already a seasoned musician as a toddler, team owners had seen Prince at a local nightclub performing the song “Purple Light Mist With Intermittent Sunshine,” an early version of his later hit “Purple Rain.” The owners loved the song so much, they made purple the core of the Vikings team team colors.
This led to a long relationship between Prince and the Vikings. When Prince was 8, at halftime of one home game he played his hit “Purple Hail the Size of Golfballs.” As a teenager, his first radio hit was a song called “Purple Thundershowers Clearing By The Weekend.”
The name Vikings was chosen party to reflect the strong Scandinavian heritage in Minnesota. Other Scandinavian-related names they considered included the:
Minnesota Stoics
Minnesota Reticence
Minnesota Better Keep It To Myself
Minnesota No Display of Emotion, Even at Home in the Dark
Minnesota SPF 50 Sunblock
“There were other great names available but the folks around here felt it would be better not to say anything about it. Please do not use my name or likeness in this video,” said one local.
The Viking’s first coach was Norm Van Brocklin, fresh from leading the Philadelphia Eagles to an NFL Championship in 1960 as a player. Van Brocklin started playing in 1950 for the LA Rams, where he played with Elroy “Crazy Legs” Hirsch, named for his crazy running style.”
He splayed his legs out, almost like they were broken, and then spun them together like a half-broken egg beater,” explained one of his old teammates.
He created so much wind energy behind him, the Rams used it as a source of power to light their night games.
“It looked like he had 8 or 10 legs, each one going every which way,” said a fan. “He not only kept the lights on, the breeze he created kept our seats nice and cool.”
Van Brocklin often battled with the Vikings star quarterback Fran Tarkenton. Tarkenton liked to scramble around to find open receivers, but Coach Van Brocklin wanted him to stay in one place. The conflict became the basis of a musical that opened in 1965 called “I Like To Zoom Like A Rocket, But Coach Wants Me To Stay In The Pocket.”
“Terrible. It was terrible. It folded the very first night on Broadway,” explained a veteran of New York Theater.
