Vikings great Roy Winston passes away at age 81

We’ve lost another piece of Minnesota Vikings history, as one of the team’s all-time greats has passed away.

Linebacker Roy Winston, who played on all four of the Vikings’ Super Bowl teams in the late 60s and early 70s, passed away on 5 March in Birmingham, Alabama. He was 81 years old.

Winston was drafted by the Vikings in the fourth round of the 1962 NFL Draft out of Louisiana State. He was also selected by the San Diego Chargers in the sixth round of the AFL Draft that same season, but chose to come to Minnesota. He spent his entire fifteen-year NFL career in the purple and gold.

Winston was a starter at linebacker in the team’s first three Super Bowl appearances and was a reserve for the fourth one, having been replaced by Matt Blair in the starting lineup. He’s a member of both the Vikings’ 25th Anniversary Team and the list of the 50 Greatest Vikings of All Time.

As I say with so many of these Vikings legends that pass away, Roy Winston’s time with the team came before my time as a fan, so I don’t have any memories of his on-field performance. If you have any memories of Roy Winston you’d like to share, please feel free to talk about them in the comments.

We here at the Daily Norseman would like to send our condolences to the family and friends of Roy Winston on their loss.