Fran Tarkenton

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Francis Asbury "Fran" Tarkenton (born February 3, 1940) is a former professional football player, TV personality, and computer software executive.

He is best known for his years with the Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants, as well as a commentator on Monday Night Football and a co-host of That's Incredible!.

Tarkenton also founded Tarkenton Software, a computer-program generator company, and he toured the U.S. promoting CASE (computer-aided software engineering) with Albert F. Case, Jr. of Nastec Corporation. Tarkenton Software later merged with KnowledgeWare (with Tarkenton as president), until selling the company to Sterling Software in 1994.

Biography

Early life

Tarkenton was born in Richmond, Virginia. He went to Athens High School (which later became Clarke Central High School) in Athens, Georgia, and later attended the University of Georgia where he was the quarterback on the Bulldog football team, leading Georgia to the 1959 Southeastern Conference championship under coach Wally Butts.

Also in Tarkenton's early years he was a member of the Masonic Youth Group DeMolay.

Tarkenton's first marriage was to Anna Elaine Merrell of Decatur, Georgia, on December 22, 1960 at First Baptist Church in Decatur.

Professional football career

The Minnesota Vikings drafted Tarkenton in the third round of the 1961 NFL Draft. Tarkenton, 21, came into his first National Football League game (also the first game for the Vikings) against the Chicago Bears and led the Vikings to a victory by passing for 250 yards as the upstarts stunned the Bears 37–13.

He played for the Vikings from 1961 to 1966, during which time he frequently locked horns with head coach Norm Van Brocklin, who disdained the idea of a mobile quarterback, a concept that Tarkenton dramatically advanced in the NFL. Tarkenton was given the nicknames "Frantic Fran" and "Scramblin' Fran" because he frequently ran around in the backfield to avoid being sacked by the opposition (among his other nicknames: "Sir Francis," used occasionally by Howard Cosell of ABC Sports).

Tarkenton was traded to the New York Giants in 1967 for five seasons, during which time he lived in New Rochelle, New York. ^[1] His efforts helped the Giants rally from the NFL's basement (a 1-12-1 record in 1966) to better times.

Tarkenton was traded back to Minnesota in 1972. He led the Vikings to three Super Bowls in the 1970s, but lost all of them. In Tarkenton's first Super Bowl appearance they lost to the Miami Dolphins 24–7 in Houston, the second the Vikings also lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in a defensive struggle 16-6 in New Orleans, and in the last Super Bowl Tarkenton would ever play in, the Vikings were blown out by the Oakland Raiders 32-14 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

Tarkenton won the NFL's MVP award after the 1975 season, capturing All-Pro honors in the process. Tarkenton was also second Team All-Pro in 1973 and earned All-NFC selection in 1972 and 1976. He was named second Team All-NFC in 1970 and 1974. Tarkenton was selected to play in nine Pro Bowls.

In his 18 NFL seasons, Tarkenton completed 3,686 of 6,467 passes for 47,003 yards and 342 touchdowns, with 266 interceptions. Tarkenton's 47,003 career passing yards rank him 6th all time, while his 342 career passing touchdowns is 4th all time in NFL history^[2]. He also is fifth on the all-time list of wins by a starting quarterback with 124 regular season victories. He also used his impressive scrambling ability to rack up 3,674 rushing yards and 32 touchdowns on 675 carries. During his career, Tarkenton ran for a touchdown in 15 different seasons, an NFL record among quarterbacks. He ranks fourth in career rushing yards among quarterbacks', behind Randall Cunningham, Steve Young and Michael Vick. He is also one of two NFL quarterbacks ever to rush for at least 300 yards in seven different seasons; the other is Tobin Rote. Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986. Vikings head coach Bud Grant flatly called Tarkenton "the greatest quarterback who's ever played." When he retired, Tarkenton held NFL career records in pass attempts, completions, yardage, and touchdowns; rushing yards by a quarterback; and wins by a starting quarterback.

However, Tarkenton's poor performance in three Super Bowls and his inability to win a championship ring in 18 seasons prevents some people from considering him as great as other quarterbacks. Despite not winning a Super Bowl, he won many playoff games, and in 1999 he was ranked number 59 on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Football Players. He was also known to heave the ball deep on third and long with no regard to an interception. He stated this was due to the great defense they had.

One of the more difficult losses of Tarkenton's career occurred during the 1975 NFC Divisional Playoffs. With what was considered by some observers^{[citation needed]} to be the best team of their Purple People Eater era, the Vikings lost to the Dallas Cowboys 17-14 on a controversial touchdown pass from Dallas quarterback Roger Staubach to wide receiver Drew Pearson. The controversy sprang from the appearance that Pearson interfered with defender Nate Wright while running his route. The call so incensed the crowd that one fan fired a whiskey bottle from the stands, striking official Armen Terzian in the head; some Vikings fans call this the real Hail Mary. This was partly responsible for the banning of glass bottles at arenas around the country. Common Vikings folklore blames this incident for every future bad call that referees make against the Vikings, and has been termed "Terzian's Revenge". Tarkenton also lost his father, who died while he was watching that infamous game; it had been rumored that the "Hail Mary Pass" caused the cardiac arrest, but in fact Mr. Tarkenton died during the middle of the fourth quarter. It was a disappointing end to a spectacular season for the Vikings. They had finished the season with an NFC best 12-2 record and Tarkenton had won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award, and the NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award.

Post-football life

Tarkenton was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1977, the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1987.

Tarkenton later appeared on the television show That's Incredible! and also worked part time on Monday Night Football. He also guest-hosted Saturday Night Live on January 29, 1977.

A biography of Tarkenton titled Better Scramble than Lose was published in 1969. Tarkenton wrote a book titled Broken Patterns: The Education of a Quarterback, as told to Brock Yates. It is a chronicle of the 1969 preseason and the 14-game regular season with the NY Giants.

In 1986 Tarkenton, with author Herb Resincow, wrote a novel titled Murder at the Super Bowl, the whodunit story of a football coach killed just before his team is to participate in the championship game.

It is not widely known that Tarkenton was also a pioneer in computer software, and founder of Tarkenton Software, a program generator company. He toured the United States promoting CASE or "computer-aided software engineering" with Albert F. Case, Jr. of Nastec Corporation, but ultimately merged his software firm with James Martin's KnowledgeWare, of which Tarkenton was president until selling the company to Sterling Software in 1994.

In 1999 Tarkenton reached an agreement to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission suit accusing him and ten other executives of the software company of fraudulent activities that led to overstated earnings of $8 million for fiscal 1994. Tarkenton agreed to pay $54,187 in disgorged profits and a fine of $100,000.

Since then, Tarkenton has been seen promoting various products and services including Tony Robbins and 1-800-BAR-NONE. He also founded GoSmallBiz.com[3], a small business consulting website, which is sold exclusively through Pre-paid Legal Services, Inc. His most current company is an annuity marketing firm called Tarkenton Financial.[4]

In 2009, Tarkenton made national news for his harsh criticism of Brett Favre's indecision on whether or not to come out of retirement to play for the Minnesota Vikings. Tarkenton, however, himself was similarly indecisive on his retirement during the last seven years of his playing career.^[3][4] Ironically, Tarkenton forced the Vikings to trade him away in 1967, even though head coach Norm Van Brocklin, with whom he had had a dispute, had already resigned. Tarkenton's departure caused the Vikings to go on a five-year search for a starting quarterback (Joe Kapp, Gary Cuozzo, Ron Vanderklien, Norm Snead, and Bob Lee were all Vikings' starters between 1967 and 1971), before Tarkenton badgered the Giants into trading him back to the Vikings in 1972.

He has on occasion spoken negatively of players in the NFL, most recently Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler. Despite disqualifying himself as an objective source by admitting in an ESPN 1000 radio interview that "I don't know anything about Jay Cutler," he then cricized Cutler's performance based upon watching a single game performance. At no time, however, did he suggest that Cutler wasn't an NFL caliber player, as some have claimed.

Tarkenton, his wife Linda, and daughter Hayley currently reside in the Buckhead Community of Atlanta, Georgia.

See also

• History of the New York Giants (1925-1978)

Further reading

• Olsen, Jack (1969). Better Scramble Than Lose. Four Winds Press.  Book-length biography of Fran Tarkenton.

Notes and references

External links

• Fran Tarkenton.com - official web site
• Fran Tarkenton at Pro-Football-Reference.com
• Fran Tarkenton at the Pro Football Hall of Fame
• Fran Tarkenton at the Internet Movie Database
• Fran Tarkenton at TV.com
• College Football Hall of Fame - Fran Tarkenton
• Georgia Sports Hall of Fame
• Fran Tarkenton (entry in the New Georgia Encyclopedia)
• Football card gallery.com - Fran Tarkenton