Fred Cox passes away

News has just come down that we’ve lost one of the all-time greats in Minnesota Vikings history

Fred Cox, the all-time leading scorer in the history of the Vikings, has passed away at the age of 80.

Cox was initially drafted in both the NFL Draft and the AFL Draft in 1961 by the Cleveland Browns and New York Titans, respectively. He did not wind up playing for either team, and became the Vikings’ kicker at the start of the 1963 season. He played for the Vikings for fifteen seasons, which is almost unimaginable given the way kickers move around in the modern NFL, and remains the Vikings’ all-time leading scorer with 1,365 points. At the time of his retirement in 1977, he was the second-leading scorer in the history of the NFL, trailing only George Blanda.

Over the course of his career, Cox was accurate on 62% of his field goals (282/455) and 96.3% of his extra points (519/539).

After his career in the NFL, Cox went on to become a licensed chiropractor in the state of Minnesota. He also invented something that a lot of us have encountered at one point in our lives, that being the Nerf football, which hit the market in 1972 and was named one of the top 100 toys of all time.

Here’s a recent video feature that NFL Films did about Cox and the invention of the Nerf football.

We at The Daily Norseman want to send our condolences to the family and friends of Fred Cox.

Please share any memories you may have of Fred Cox in the comments section below.