The Vikings then lost the last Super Bowl before the merger to Kansas City. He ran and threw a TD pass against Cleveland to lead Minnesota to a 27-7 victory in the 1969 NFL title game. Kapp helped the Vikings make the playoffs before losing to Baltimore in 1968 and then threw 19 TD passes and led Minnesota to a 12-2 record the following year when he finished second in MVP voting. He then went to the NFL in 1967 as part of a complicated trade between teams in different leagues and replaced Tarkenton, who had been traded by Minnesota to the New York Giants. “Along with helping put the Lions on the map after some lean early years, Joe also served as a trailblazer for quarterbacks making a name for themselves on both sides of the border,” the BC Lions said in a statement. He took the Stampeders to the playoffs in his second season and led the Lions to back-to-back Grey Cup appearances, winning it all in his second try in 1964. Kapp spent his first eight seasons in the CFL with Calgary and the BC Lions. “He used to tell people to put your son in piano lessons and not let them play football, but he let me play and he let my brother play,” J.J Kapp said, adding: “He never regretted playing football.” Kapp was cognizant of the toll the sport took on his body and mind, but nonetheless he was proud of his career.
His grandson, Frank Kapp, also was a member of the Golden Bears last decade. “Playing for and coaching at Cal meant the world to him,” J.J. Kapp had a 20-34-1 record in five years at Cal, his final game being the biggest upset in the history of the rivalry with Stanford when the Golden Bears won as 21-point underdogs. When he was hired to coach at Cal before the 1982 season, he vowed not to drink his favorite alcoholic beverage tequila until the Bears made another appearance in the storied bowl game. Kapp also later coached his alma mater for five seasons and was on the sideline for one of the most memorable plays in school history when the Golden Bears returned a kickoff with five laterals to beat rival Stanford on the final play in 1982, scoring the touchdown with the Cardinal band on the field.
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He was a trailblazer as one of the first Mexican-American stars in pro football and remains with Jim Plunkett one of only two Mexican-Americans to start at quarterback in a Super Bowl. He also dabbled in acting, with credits that include a role in the 1974 film “The Longest Yard” about a prison football team. Kapp, whose mother was Mexican American, was a fierce advocate for the Latino community who worked with activist Cesar Chavez for farmworker rights. Known as a fighter on the field, Kapp was the subject of a Sports Illustrated cover story that dubbed him “The Toughest Chicano.” That was the title of Kapp’s autobiography published in 2019 and co-authored by J.J. He took over for Fran Tarkenton in Minnesota and led the Vikings to a Super Bowl appearance in the 1969 season before losing to Kansas City. Kapp went on to star in Canada before making it to the NFL. He had a stellar collegiate career at Cal, capped by the appearance in the 1959 Rose Bowl. Kapp helped lead Cal to the Pacific Coast Conference title in 1958 and the accompanying trip to the Rose Bowl, where the Bears lost to Iowa. Kapp was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and moved around California as a child before becoming a four-sport athlete at Hart High School in Newhall and becoming the first person in his family to attend and graduate from college. The family made plans to send his brain to UC San Francisco researchers for the study of the potential connection between his dementia and hits he took to the head with his punishing playing style. He had suffered from Alzheimer’s disease for the last 15 years and was residing in an assisted living facility, his son J.J. He was 85.Ĭal confirmed that Kapp died on Monday.
Joe Kapp, the hard-nosed quarterback who routinely ran into tacklers instead of away from them while leading the Minnesota Vikings to their first Super Bowl and Cal to its last Rose Bowl, has died. By JOSH DUBOW and DAVE CAMPBELL (AP Pro Football Writers)
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