#Minnesota vikings purple people eater pro#

North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame January 25, 2018Ĭarl Eller worked hard on the high school football field. On this Date 1942 Carl Eller born in Winston-Salem! #hallpass #ncsportshistory /kyIXquNCuw Before long, they planted the seed that helped the future Minnesota Vikings great boost his long-term confidence. Warren and Oldham encouraged the young Eller to use football as a platform to help him achieve his life’s purpose. He told him to try taking out his anger and frustrations on the high school gridiron.Ĭarl Eller listened and became a standout on the Atkins Camels football team.Įller, who didn’t know what to do with his life prior to playing high school football, suddenly had two life mentors in his coaches: Ben Warren and Warren Oldham. His death had a profound effect on Carl, who became angry and developed a grudge against the world.įortunately, Carl’s high school principal intervened at the perfect moment.

#Minnesota vikings purple people eater pro#

He also pursued art as a hobby in retirement, per the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s official website.Įller’s father passed away during his high school days. His fascination grew to the point that he regularly visited museums on out-of-town trips. That move made quite an impression on Eller, who thought King – a young man whose goal was to earn a college diploma – was different from everybody else in his neighborhood.Įller attended Atkins High School in his hometown of Winston-Salem, NC.Įller was already enamored with art and ceramics as a high school student in North Carolina. The former wore his athletic gear and leaped over the fence. “I was just a really happy kid running around.”Ĭarl looked up to Norman King, a student-athlete from Winston-Salem State College. “I really didn’t start off with any dreams or any goals,” Eller said in his enshrinement speech in 2004. Few of them had aspirations to live an extraordinary life and break the monotony.Ĭarl Eller, future Pro Football Hall of Famer, was one of them. Carl grew up in an environment where people went about their normal, daily routines. However, Eller’s family was poor and had to work hard to survive. When the took the podium, he told the crowd his parents were decent, hard-working people. When Eller entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame some sixty-two years later, he recalled his humble beginnings in North Carolina.

This is Carl Eller’s incredible and controversial football story.Ĭarl Eller was born in Winston-Salem, NC on January 25, 1942.

Sutherland finished his NFL career playing one season for the Seahawks, in 1981.Eller eventually earned his gold jacket and bust in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the summer of 2004. Playing with those three guys elevated his play, his position and his value.' He was a very good football player and an equal part of the Purple People Eaters. When I think of the Purple People Eaters, I always think of Doug Sutherland as part of that group. 'When Gary Larsen left,' former Vikings coach Bud Grant said, per the team, 'Doug Sutherland came in and was the perfect fit. His hand in the 'Purple People Eaters' D-line helped the Vikings to three of the franchise's four Super Bowl appearances. Over the next 10 years, he started 90 games and appeared in 48 more, totaling 484 tackles and 26.5 sacks as part of five different top-10 defenses, replacing Pro Bowler Gary Larsen alongside Page, Eller and Jim Marshall. After one year in New Orleans, where he played in 10 games as a guard and linebacker, he was traded to the Vikings and converted to defensive tackle. Sutherland was originally a 14th-round draft pick of the Saints in 1970. Our thoughts are with Doug's friends and family.' He was one of the most active members of Vikings Legends events and didn't miss a chance to help out at a community event or lend a hand where needed. Doug was also the consummate teammate after football. 'His humble nature did not allow for him to talk much about his own playing career, but Doug was a key member of some of the best defenses in NFL history and three Super Bowl teams. 'Doug Sutherland was one of our proudest legends,' Vikings owner Zygi Wilf and president Mark Wilf said in a team statement. A Midwest native who was born and attended college in Wisconsin, Sutherland spent 10 of his 12 NFL seasons with the Vikings, starting along a feared 1970s defensive line featuring Hall of Famers Alan Page and Carl Eller. Fifty years after the final reign of the 'Purple People Eaters' in Minnesota, the Vikings are mourning the loss of one of the unit's all-time greats, announcing Tuesday the death of former defensive tackle Doug Sutherland, 73.