Jim Marshall, a defensive end whose 19-year tenure with the Minnesota Vikings helped define the team’s hard-nosed identity, has died, the team announced Tuesday afternoon. He was 87.
“The entire Minnesota Vikings organization is mourning the loss of Jim Marshall. No player in Vikings history lived the ideals of toughness, camaraderie and passion more than the all-time iron man,” Minnesota’s owners said in a statement.
Marshall played 282 games (starting 277) during an unusually long career for any era; the former number is still a record for defensive players. He was weeks shy of his 42nd birthday when he played his final game in 1979.
Bud Grant: “Jim Marshall was special.”