RIP, Wally Hilgenberg

Wally Hilgenberg, a stalwart member of the old "Purple People Eaters" as a linebacker for the Minnesota Vikings and one of my boyhood heroes, passed away today at age 66. He had been diagnosed with ALS in 2006. The Strib story from today is here and they also relink a great column by Patrick Reusse from earlier this year.

I like the humor in this anecdote from the Reusse column:

Lonnie Warwick was the middle linebacker and Roy (Moonie) Winston was the left linebacker. Hilgenberg was big into hunting and fishing and had heard the same about Warwick and Winston.

"I thought it wouldn't hurt to buddy up right away to two starting linebackers," Hilgenberg said.

The newcomer was told that Warwick and Winston were going duck hunting early the next morning. "If you want to hunt with us, you're going to need waders,'" Wally was told.

He bought waders after practice. He was ready when Winston picked him up before dawn in his old truck.

"Even that morning, Warwick sat in the middle, because that's where he played," Hilgenberg said.

The Vikings arrived at the Minnesota River backwaters.

"I said, 'Where are your waders?'" Hilgenberg said. "They said, 'We don't need waders, as long as you got them.' I waded out to set up the decoys. I waded out to retrieve the ducks. I waded out to pick up the decoys."

Heheh...been on both sides of that kind of thing myself. RIP, Wally.

Comments

[Rob]

Sorry to hear about Wally. That "as long as you have them" is priceless. That's someone who can appreciate when the laugh is on them. I remember the Purple People Eaters and his name but that's about it. Mostly remember Page, Marshall, Eller, Krauss, and Winston. I played safety at the playgrounds. Loved Paul Krauss of the Vikes and Larry Wilson of the Cardinals.

RIP, Wally.

[Dave E.]

Yeah, the front four usually got most of the press, but Hilgenberg was one of many troopers on those teams. Krause was amazing, 79(is that still the record?) career interceptions, but in the secondary I always liked Ed Sharockman. The word on him was he hit people so hard he broke his own nose. I worked with his wife years ago and have his autograph around here somewhere.

[Rob]

I looked up Krause on Google because I wanted to make sure I spelled the name right. I hadn't thought about him in years. Got absorbed in his HOF page and forgot to look at the spelling. 79 is still the record and it will probably stand for a long time. No one gets more than 3 or 4 per year any more and that would take 20 years. Not too many teams want older players in their secondary any more.

http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.jsp?player_id=116

I don't remember Sharockman at all.

[Dave E.]

Ok, it was 81 interceptions for Krause. Thanks for the link. Sharockman had 40 interceptions over 11 seasons with the Vikes and was part of the Purple People Eaters until 1972. Hilgenberg and all of those guys were tough old-style NFL players. Those were the days before the dome and multi-million dollar contracts.