Jim Marshall, NFL ironman and ‘cornerstone of the Minnesota Vikings,’ dies at age 87

Jim Marshall, the indefatigable defensive end who started 270 consecutive games for the Vikings and was captain of Bud Grant’s four Super Bowl teams, died Tuesday.

He was 87.

The Vikings said in a statement that he had been hospitalized for a lengthy period of time.

Marshall played 19 seasons for the Vikings, starting every game from the team’s win over the Bears in its inaugural game on Sept. 17, 1961, to his final start on Dec. 16, 1979, at age 41.

His 282 consecutive regular-season games, counting his 12 with the Browns in his 1960 rookie year, were a NFL record until Brett Favre broke it as a Viking in 2009.

Though sacks did not become an official stat until 1982, Pro Football Reference analyzed games since 1960 and estimated Marshall had 130.5 sacks in his career, ranking him 22nd in NFL history. Marshall also set an NFL record for fumble recoveries with 29, a mark later tied by Dolphins Hall of Fame defensive end Jason Taylor.

“The entire Minnesota Vikings organization is mourning the loss of Jim Marshall,” Vikings co-owner Mark Wilf said in a statement. “No player in Vikings history lived the ideals of toughness, camaraderie and passion more than the all-time iron man.

“His impact on the Vikings was felt long after he left the field. Jim will always be remembered as a tremendous player and person. Our hearts are with his wife, Susan, and all of Jim’s loved ones.”

While Alan Page and Eller posted the most prolific statistics as members of the Vikings’ famed “Purple People Eaters” defense, it was Marshall whom Grant regarded as the team’s standard-bearer. The Vikings retired his number 70 and inducted him into their Ring of Honor in 1999.

He remained a regular presence in his later years, and a video of Marshall reading his “Heart of a Viking” poem became a fixture of the team’s player introductions at U.S. Bank Stadium. After Favre broke Marshall’s record on Sept. 20, 2009 — his second game as Vikings quarterback — Marshall visited the team’s facility in Eden Prairie before a Friday practice to congratulate Favre and personally pass him the title. Marshall then attended the Vikings’ home opener at the Metrodome, which ended with Favre’s touchdown pass to Greg Lewis as time expired.

In retirement, Marshall knocked on the door of the Pro Football Hall of Fame but was never inducted, despite the best efforts of people like Grant.

“There’s a picture of him that I have that says it all,” said Grant, who died in 2023. “He’s standing on the football field. Everything’s all muddy. It’s snowing. And Jim’s got that look. He represented the Vikings better than any player we’ve ever had. He and Mick [Tingelhoff]. The absolute cornerstone of the Minnesota Vikings. That’s Jim Marshall.”

And he never missed a game. Including playoffs, Marshall played in 301 consecutive games, third all-time behind punter Jeff Feagles (363) and Favre (323). His 289 consecutive games started, including playoffs, is second behind Favre’s 321.

“Jim Marshall is not dead,” Eller said in a statement released by the team. “He is alive in my heart and in my soul and he will always be my friend. He was inspirational to our team. Every week he was ready to go. That’s what everybody looked for and waited for. And sometimes just a minute before a game he would show up and say ‘Let’s go, let’s do it.’ I love Jim Marshall.”

One of Marshall’s NFL-record fumble recoveries turned into an infamous play in NFL history that followed him for years: The wrong-way run.

On Oct. 25, 1964, in San Francisco, Marshall recovered a fumble, got turned around and ran 66 yards to the end zone that his team was defending, giving the 49ers a safety rather than scoring a touchdown for the Vikings.

“That is something I would rather forget, although it’s not going to happen,” Marshall said in 1999. “In the years that I spent playing football, trying to play the best I could play, to have all that overshadowed by one play … it’s not the ideal situation.”

But that one play couldn’t overshadow Marshall’s Vikings legacy.

“Marshall would take care of problems for Bud,” said Fred Zamberletti, the Vikings’ first and longtime trainer who died in 2018. ”They throw around the term ‘leader’ in sports. Marshall was the true leader of the Vikings.”

Grant said one of the smartest things he ever did upon taking the Vikings job in 1967 was making Marshall a captain. Marshall was in his eighth NFL season but had never been a captain. Without that move, Grant had his doubts as to whether his program would have worked in Minnesota.

“Whatever I said, Jim was the first guy in line,” Grant said. “When I first got here, if I said take a lap, everybody looked to Jim Marshall. If Jim went, they’d all follow. They were like a bunch of goats following Jim.”

Vikings captains, past and present, are now honored at the team’s headquarters in Eagan on the Jim Marshall Vikings Captains Legacy Wall.

Marshall stayed in Minnesota after his playing days, paying the price for his ironman career. Eight years ago, he recounted his post-career medical issues:

“I’ve had the [right] ankle operated on twice. I’ve had numerous knee surgeries, but I have two replacements now. I’ve got two artificial hips. I’ve had five operations on one shoulder and six on the other.

“I’ve had six back surgeries, including two major fusions. I’ve had neck surgeries, eye surgeries, three heart surgeries, an ear operation. I can’t think of anything else other than some minor things, like my hands.”

Marshall’s life off the field had its share of troubles. On a snowmobile trip in Wyoming and Montana in 1971, a blizzard trapped his party on a mountaintop and one man froze to death. Marshall burned money to stay warm until help arrived. A frequent skydiver, Marshall crashed his ultra-light glider plane shortly after his retirement.

“I think I’ve had nine lives already, but the very nature of my life makes these close calls happen,” Marshall told the Star Tribune in 1992.

That was a little more than a year after he was arrested in Duluth and charged with possessing more than 57 grams of cocaine. He went to rehab, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to home arrest and community service. He was pardoned under Governor Tim Pawlenty in 2007.

Marshall found support from his former teammates and the Vikings, and his wife, Susan Landwehr Marshall, whom he married in 2008.

Marshall credited Susan for lifting him out of a depression caused by the chronic pain he endured from being the quintessential NFL ironman.

“She’s like an angel from heaven,” Marshall said in 2017. “I call her my angel all the time. She makes sure I take my pills and do my exercises and get out of the house. She even thinks of things to trick me into getting out of the house.”

Marshall was born Dec. 30, 1937, in Danville, Ky. His mother, Ann, died when Marshall was 17.

“She died in my arms one morning fixing breakfast for me before I went to school,” Marshall said. “That influenced my life a lot. From then on, I was determined. It changed me. I wanted to do something, to be something, to make something big out of my life.”

He attended high school in Columbus, Ohio, and then starred at Ohio State, where he was an All-American and won a national championship in 1957. After a year in the Canadian Football League, Marshall was drafted in the fourth round of the NFL draft by the Browns in 1960, then was traded to the Vikings in 1961.

His father, George Lorraine Marshall, and grandfather, George Washington Marshall, always told him he could do anything he set his mind to if he was willing to make sacrifices.

“I didn’t quite accomplish all the things I wanted to, but I sure tried,” Marshall said. “I sacrificed. I gave it my best shot.”

In addition to his wife, Marshall is survived by two daughters from a previous marriage, Angela Marshall and Jimi Marshall, four grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and a sister, Deloris Bosley. Memorial service details are pending.