Mick Tingelhoff passes away

On this Saturday afternoon, we have some incredibly sad news to pass along to fans of the Minnesota Vikings and football fans everywhere.

Per his former teammate, Ed White, Hall of Fame center Mick Tingelhoff has passed away. He was 81 years old.

Tingelhoff first joined the Vikings as an undrafted free agent out of Nebraska in 1962. He won the starting job in training camp that year and started every single game at the position for the Vikings until he retired following the 1978 season. He was the center of an offensive line that took the Vikings to four Super Bowls over the course of his career and, at the time of his retirement, had the second-longest streak of games started in NFL history behind his teammate, Jim Marshall.

Tinglehoff’s #53 is one of just six numbers that have been retired by the Vikings in their history and he was enshrined in the team’s Ring of Honor in 2001. Eventually, even though it took significantly longer than it should have, he got to take his rightful place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as part of their Class of 2015 as the Senior Committee candidate.

As always, if you want to share your memories of Mick Tingelhoff with those of us that were too young to remember his time on the field, we certainly would appreciate it if you did so.

We at The Daily Norseman want to send our deepest condolences to the family, friends, and loved ones of Mick Tingelhoff.