Kapp had played for the Calgary Stampeders when Finks was its General Manager. That year, Finks also brought in a new quarterback, Joe Kapp, from the CFL. In 1967, Norm Van Brocklin resigned as head coach and Finks immediately hired Bud Grant, who had been a successful coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL for 10 seasons. He completed 'The Purple People Eaters' in 1967 by picking Alan Page in the draft. In 1964, the new general manager added two potential stars to the line: end Carl Eller as a first-round pick in the NFL Draft, and tackle Gary Larsen in a trade. The first member of the unit, defensive end Jim Marshall, came to the Vikings in a 1961 trade before Finks arrived. The Vikings team that Finks put together was powered by a dynamic defensive front four, popularly known as The ' Purple People Eaters'. In 1969, the Vikings won 12 of 14 games and claimed the NFL championship before losing to the American Football League's Kansas City Chiefs 23–7 in Super Bowl IV. In 1968, Minnesota won its first NFL Central Division Championship, marking the start of a dynasty that produced 11 division championship teams and four Super Bowl appearances in the following 14 years. In 1964, Finks was named the general manager of the Minnesota Vikings. He also signed quarterback Joe Kapp, who would also later play under Finks in the NFL. He signed many of the players that made Calgary the winningest team in the CFL during the 1960s, though the team did not win a Grey Cup title until 1971. Finks turned the Stampeders into a winning team. He was also drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in 1948 to play catcher and accepted that position before moving to the Pittsburgh Steelers to play football.įinks served as an assistant coach under Terry Brennan at the University of Notre Dame in 1956, after which he went on to the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League, where he served as a player/coach before becoming the general manager on October 31, 1957. After being selected as a 12th-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1949 NFL Draft, he played for several years as a defensive back and quarterback, retiring after the 1955 season. Louis, Missouri, attended high school in Salem, Illinois, and attended college at the University of Tulsa. James Edward Finks (Aug– May 8, 1994) was an American football and Canadian football player, coach, and executive.įinks was born in St.

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