Joe Kapp, known as the “toughest Chicano” and the first Latino football player to lead a team to the Super Bowl, passed away on Monday at the age of 85.
According to a statement issued by his alma mater, the University of California, Berkeley, Kapp died after a lengthy battle with dementia.
The only quarterback to have played in the Rose Bowl, Super Bowl, and Canada’s Grey Cup, Kapp is a native of New Mexico whose mother was Mexican American.
Additionally, he still retains a share of the NFL single-game record for touchdown passes, which he set in a 1969 victory over Baltimore with the Minnesota Vikings.
When he led the Vikings to the 1970 Super Bowl, he became the first Latino player to do so.
He was a pioneer as one of the first Mexican-American professional football players. He and Jim Plunkett are the only Mexican-American quarterbacks to start in a Super Bowl.
Mark Wilf, owner, and president of the Minnesota Vikings, said in a statement,
“Men like Joe Kapp are the pillars upon which the franchise was built.”
Joe’s toughness and competitive spirit defined the Vikings teams of his era, and both colleagues and opponents respected his tenacity and leadership. Together with Joe’s family, colleagues, and Vikings fans around the world, we mourn his passing.
During his collegiate tenure at Cal, he led the Golden Bears to the 1958 Pacific Coast Conference championship and the Rose Bowl, where they were defeated by Iowa.
Before joining the NFL, Kapp played in the Canadian Football League, where he led the British Columbia Lions to the 1964 Grey Cup championship. 1984 marked Kapp’s induction into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.
Neil McEvoy, co-general manager and director of football operations for the BC Lions, said in a statement that Joe Kapp will be remembered as one of the greatest players in the history of the entire Canadian Football League.
In 1982, as head coach at Cal, his team executed what is regarded as the finest play and game ending in college football history: “The Play” — a wild, five-lateral kickoff return with no time remaining.
Cal won the Big Game by scoring a touchdown while sprinting through the Stanford marching band and crushing a trombone player.
“Playing for and coaching at Cal meant the world to him,” his son J.J. told The Associated Press.
Kapp was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the headline “The Toughest Chicano.” This was the name of Kapp’s 2019 autobiography, co-written by his son J.J. Kapp and two of his acquaintances.
He also experimented with acting, with a role in the 1974 prison football film “The Longest Yard” to his credit.
Jennifer Kapp, his second wife, four children, and six grandchildren also survived him. In 2005, his first wife, Marcia Kapp, passed away.
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