Jim Marshall Should be in the Hall of Fame

Jim Marshall is not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame (HOF). I am incredulous every time I think about it. Jim Marshall not being in the Hall of Fame is like Penn without Teller. Sonny without Cher. Brady without Gronk. It just doesn’t make any sense.

Many of you are not old enough to remember Jim Marshall and the greatness he displayed on the football field. He was a major part of one of the best defensive lines of all time. A leader on the field and in the locker room. And one of the more interesting personalities that has ever graced the earth.

Jim Marshall Begins His Pro Career

Jim Marshall skipped his senior season at Ohio State to go North and play for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Before the start of the next season, in a rare Canadian Football League (CFL) to NFL trade, Marshall was sent to the Cleveland Browns for Bob Ptacek. The very next season, Marshall was traded to the Minnesota Vikings in a multi-player trade. Minnesota would be his home for the remainder of his NFL career.

Jim Marshall played 19 seasons for the Minnesota Vikings before he retired in 1979. There is a highlight reel of Jim’s accomplishments as a Viking. His 30 recovered fumbles trail only Rod Woodson in the NFL record books. And he had two league longevity records that stood for many years. First, he had the record for the most games played in the NFL, 282, until Jeff Feagles broke his record during the 2005 season. Wait, Feagles was a punter. Does that even count?

The second longevity record he held was for most consecutive starts by an NFL player. He retired after having started 270 consecutive games in his illustrious career. This was later topped by Brett Favre in 2009 when he was coincidentally playing for the Minnesota Vikings.

Jim Marshall and His Illustrious Career

Former Vikings DE Carl Eller (81) – Dick Raphael/USA TODAY Sports

But there was so much more to Jim Marshall, both on and off the field. He played in four Super Bowls, was named to two Pro Bowls, and recorded 130.5 sacks in his career. He was part of the famous “Purple People Eaters” squad that terrorized NFL offenses in the late ’60s to early ’70s. This famous unit starred Marshall and Carl Eller at defensive ends and Alan Page, Gary Larsen, and later Doug Sutherland at tackles.

They rivaled the Los Angeles Rams’ “Fearsome Foursome” as the most dominating defensive line of that era. This unit was so good that after the 1969 season, Marshall, Eller, Page, and Larsen were all named to the Pro Bowl. Collectively, Marshall, Eller, and Page recorded 412.5 sacks during their playing days. Talk about domination?

Wrong-way Run

Of course, many people remember Jim Marshall for committing one of the biggest foibles in sports history. On October 25, 1964, in a game against the San Francisco 49ers, Marshall picked up a Billy Kilmer fumble and headed for the end zone. He proceeded to run 66 yards unimpeded, and when he reached the end zone, he threw the ball away in joyful exuberance. The only problem was he had run the wrong way, and the end result was a safety for the 49ers.

Footnote to history, the Vikings still won the game 27-22. But that‘s not my eternal memory of Jim Marshall’s playing days. That occurred on a snowy Thanksgiving day in Detroit on November 27, 1969. 1969 was my first year of watching professional sports. And what a year it was. Billy Martin’s Twins won the AL Western Division title. And the Vikings were in the middle of a 12-game winning streak.

Best Jim Marshall Memory

Former Vikings DT Alan Page (88) – Malcolm Emmons/USA TODAY Sports

On this cold and blustery day, the Vikings were leading the Lions 17-0 when Marshall intercepted a pass from Detroit quarterback Greg Landry. He returned it 30 yards and, as he was being tackled, threw a no-look lateral to Page who brought it the final 15 yards for a Vikings touchdown. Man, was that fun!

Off the field, Jim Marshall was truly a Renaissance man. He was passionate about skydiving, scuba diving, and snowmobile riding. On one snowmobile outing, his party was trapped in a blizzard in Wyoming when their snowmobiles stopped working. One member of the group died, and Marshall and the other party members had to burn money to produce heat.