What if your most embarrassing moment was caught on tape? What if that tape was then played over and over again on national television? And what if that one moment was talked about over and over again for the rest of your life? So much so that it would probably make the first paragraph of your obituary.
Former Minnesota Viking defensive end Jim Marshall died this week at the age of eighty-seven, and that is exactly what happened to him. In 1964, at the age of twenty-six, Marshall recovered a San Francisco 49ers fumble and rumbled sixty-six yards into the end zone. Unfortunately for Marshall, he ran sixty-six yards in the wrong direction, into the wrong end zone. Instead of scoring a touchdown for Minnesota, he scored a safety for San Francisco, his opponent. When Marshall flipped the ball into the air and turned back to celebrate with his teammates, there was no one there. No one, except San Francisco offensive lineman Bruce Bosley, who patted Marshall on the shoulder and said, “Thanks Jim!” Fortunately for Marshall, the Vikings prevailed that day 27-22 over the 49ers.
I was a fan of Marshall’s Minnesota Vikings when I was a little kid. Of course I rooted for the Patriots as well, but in the late sixties and early seventies they were annually pretty much eliminated by the beginning of October. Back then Patriots home games were rarely on local television because they almost never sold out. If you want to know why that is, simply take a look at their record from 1967-75. Caution: you may need protective eyewear suitable for viewing an eclipse. Their aggregate win-loss-tie record in those years was 37-88-1. These were not the Brady/Belichick Patriots.
Marshall’s Vikings were a very good football team. They were on television a lot. Marshall joined with teammates Alan Page, Carl Eller and Gary Sutherland to form a fearsome defensive line called the Purple People Eaters. During Marshall’s career the Vikings put together a string of ten years in which they made the playoffs nine times and went to four Super Bowls. How many Super Bowls did the Vikings win? Well, they didn’t win any. That was another thing Marshall had to live with.
But Marshall didn’t let his most embarrassing moment, or any of the other tough moments of his career, define him as a player or a person. The very next week after his wrong-way fumble return, Marshall suited up and started again at right defensive end for the Minnesota Vikings and continued to do so, starting every game through the end of 1979 season. In all, Marshall played in 282 consecutive games, an NFL record when he retired. His ability to consistently stay healthy enough and play well kept him in pro football until he was forty-two years old. Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton said of Marshall, “He was the greatest leader in football that I ever played with.”
Incidentally, the man that fumbled the ball that made Marshall famous was San Francisco halfback Billy Kilmer. He also was not deterred by his mistake. The versatile Kilmer went on to a long career as a scrambling quarterback, most famously as the QB that led the 1972 Washington Redskins to the NFC Championship and a birth in the Super Bowl.
Whatever embarrassment that’s haunting you, televised or untelevised, it’s just one of many moments in your life. You can rise above it. Just like Jim Marshall.
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