- Fran Tarkenton
Infobox NFLretired
caption=College Football Hall of Fame photo.
position=Quarterback
number=12,10
birthdate=birth date and age|1940|2|3Richmond, Virginia
debutyear=1961
finalyear=1978
draftyear=1961
draftround=3
draftpick=29
college=Georgia
teams=
*Minnesota Vikings (1961-1966)
*New York Giants (1967-1971)
*Minnesota Vikings (1972-1978)
stat1label=TD-INT
stat1value=342-266
stat2label=Yards
stat2value=47,003
stat3label=QB Rating
stat3value=80.4
nfl=TAR369148
highlights=
* 9xPro Bowl selection (1964, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1976)
* 6xAll-Pro selection (1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976)
* 1975NFL MVP
* 1975NFL Offensive Player of the Year
* 1975UPI NFC Player of the Year
* 1975Bert Bell Award
* 1964Pro Bowl MVP
* Minnesota Vikings #10 RetiredRecords
* Vikings Career Passing Yards Leader with 33,098
* Vikings Career Passing Touchdowns Leader with 239
HOF=209
CollegeHOF=50053Francis Asbury Tarkenton (born
February 3 ,1940 ) is a formerAmerican football player,TV personality, and computer software executive.He is best known for his years with the
Minnesota Vikings andNew York Giants , as well as a commentator on "Monday Night Football " and a co-host of "That's Incredible! ".Tarkenton also founded Tarkenton Software, a computer-program generator company, and he toured the U.S. promoting CASE (
computer-aided software engineering ) withAlbert F. Case, Jr. of Nastec Corporation. Tarkenton Software later merged withKnowledgeWare (with Tarkenton as president), until selling the company toSterling Software in 1994.Biography
Early life
Tarkenton was born in
Richmond, Virginia . He went toAthens High School (which later becameClarke Central High School ) inAthens, Georgia , and later attended theUniversity of Georgia where he was the quarterback on the Bulldog football team, leading Georgia to the 1959Southeastern Conference championship under legendary coachWally Butts .Also in Tarkenton's early years he was a member of the Masonic Youth Group
DeMolay .Pro football career
The
Minnesota Vikings drafted him in the third round of the1961 NFL Draft . Tarkenton came into his firstNational Football League game (also the first game for the Vikings) against theChicago Bears and led the Vikings to a victory by passing for 250 yards as the upstarts stunned the Bears 37-13.Tarkenton played for the Vikings from 1961 to 1966, during which time he frequently locked horns with head coach
Norm Van Brocklin , who disdained the idea of a mobile quarterback, a concept that Tarkenton dramatically advanced in the NFL. Tarkenton was given the nickname "Scramblin' Fran" because he frequently ran around in the backfield to avoid being sacked by the opposition (among his other nicknames: "Sir Francis," used occasionally byHoward Cosell ofABC Sports ). Tarkenton was traded to theNew York Giants in 1967 and played there until 1972 when he was traded back to Minnesota. He led the Vikings to threeSuper Bowl s in the 1970s, but the Vikes lost all of them.Tarkenton won the NFL's MVP award after the 1975 season, capturing
All-Pro honors in the process. Tarkenton was also 2nd Team All-Pro in 1973 and earned All-NFC selection in 1972 & 1976. Fran was named 2nd Team All-NFC in 1970 and 1974. Tarkenton was selected to play in ninePro Bowl s.In his 18 NFL seasons, Tarkenton completed 3,686 of 6,467 passes for 47,003 yards and 342 touchdowns, with 266 interceptions. He also is 4th on the all-time list of wins by a starting quarterback with 125 regular season victories. He also used his impressive scrambling ability to rack up 3,674 rushing yards and 32 touchdowns on 675 carries. During his career, Tarkenton ran for a touchdown in 15 different seasons, an NFL record among quarterbacks. He ranks fourth in career rushing yards among QB's, behind
Randall Cunningham , Steve Young andMichael Vick . He is also one of two NFL quarterbacks ever to rush for at least 300 yards in seven different seasons; the other isTobin Rote . Voted into thePro Football Hall of Fame in 1986, Tarkenton is widely considered one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. Vikings head coachBud Grant flatly called Tarkenton "the greatest quarterback who's ever played."However, Tarkenton's poor performance in three Super Bowls and his inability to win a championship ring in 18 seasons prevents some people from considering him as great as other famous quarterbacks. Despite not winning a Super Bowl, he won a great many playoff games, and in 1999 he was ranked number 59 on "
The Sporting News " list of the 100 Greatest Football Players.One of the more difficult losses of Tarkenton's career occurred during the 1975 NFC Divisional Playoffs. With what was considered by some observersfact|date=August 2008 to be the best team of their Purple People Eater era, the Vikings lost to the
Dallas Cowboys 17-14 on a controversial touchdown pass from Dallas quarterbackRoger Staubach to wide receiver Drew Pearson. The controversy sprang from the appearance that Pearson interfered with defender Nate Wright while running his route. The call so incensed the crowd that one fan fired a whiskey bottle from the stands, striking officialArmen Terzian in the head. This was partly responsible for the banning of glass bottles at arenas around the country. Common Vikings folklore blames this incident for every future bad call that referees make against the Vikings, and has been termed "Terzian's Revenge". Tarkenton also lost his father, who passed away while he was watching that infamous game; it had been rumored that the "Hail Mary Pass" caused the cardiac arrest, but in fact Mr. Tarkenton died during the middle of the fourth quarter. It was a disappointing end to a spectacular season for the Vikings. They had finished the season with an NFC best 12-2 record and Tarkenton had won theNFL Most Valuable Player Award , and theNFL Offensive Player of the Year Award .Post-football life
Fran Tarkenton was inducted into the
Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1977, thePro Football Hall of Fame in 1986 and theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 1987.Tarkenton later appeared on the television show "
That's Incredible! " and also worked part time on "Monday Night Football ".A biography of Tarkenton titled "Better Scramble than Lose" was published in 1969. Tarkenton wrote a book titled "Broken Patterns: The Education of a Quarterback", as told to
Brock Yates . It is a chronicle of the 1969 preseason and the 14-game regular season with the NY Giants.In 1986 Tarkenton, with author Herb Resincow, wrote a novel titled "Murder at the Super Bowl", the
whodunit story of a football coach killed just before his team is to participate in the championship game.It is not widely known that Tarkenton was also a pioneer in computer software, and founder of Tarkenton Software, a program generator company. He toured the United States promoting CASE or "
computer-aided software engineering " withAlbert F. Case, Jr. of Nastec Corporation, but ultimately merged his software firm withJames Martin 'sKnowledgeWare , of which Fran was president until selling the company toSterling Software in 1994.Since then, Tarkenton has been seen promoting various products and services including
Tony Robbins and 1-800-BAR-NONE. He also founded GoSmallBiz.com [http://www.gosmallbiz.com] , a small business consulting website, which also offers its services throughPre-paid Legal Services, Inc. His most current company is an annuity marketing firm called Tarkenton Financial [http://www.tarkentonfinancial.com] .Tarkenton, his wife Linda, and daughter Hayley currently reside in the Buckhead area of
Atlanta, Georgia .ee also
*
History of the New York Giants (1925-1978) Further reading
*cite book | author=Olsen, Jack | title=Better Scramble Than Lose | publisher=Four Winds Press| year=1969 [http://jackolsen.com/fran.htm Book-length biography] of Fran Tarkenton.
External links
* [http://www.frantarkenton.com/ Official web site]
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* [http://www.collegefootball.org/famersearch.php?id=50053 College Football Hall of Fame]
* [http://www.gshf.org/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=312&Itemid=50 Georgia Sports Hall of Fame]
* [http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2015&sug=y Fran Tarkenton] (entry in the New Georgia Encyclopedia)
* [http://www.footballcardgallery.com/player/Fran+Tarkenton/ Football card gallery]
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