Jerry Reichow Calling it a Wrap After 59 Vikings Seasons

[Viktor]

Months later, with Van Brocklin preparing for his first season as the Vikings head coach, Minnesota acquired Reichow. He initially again thought he might have an opportunity to play QB.


“I get there, and here’s Tarkenton, another Hall of Famer,” Reichow said. “I finally came to the fact that quarterbacking was out.”


Reichow flourished for the fledgling franchise for four seasons until Van Brocklin brought him in to cut him and offer him a job in the personnel department in 1965.


“It was late in the fall, and I’ve got a family, so I said, ‘I’ll scout this fall and see how I like it,’ ” Reichow explained. “We only had one scout, named Joe Thomas. He was the personnel director.”


Thomas, who was the first person hired on the football side by the Vikings original founders, was fired that fall. Van Brocklin called Reichow in the following winter and offered him the personnel director job.


“ ‘Really, who am I going to direct? I’m the only scout,’ ” laughed Reichow, who accepted the job under the condition that the Vikings would also join a scouting combine. The Vikings personnel department has grown over the years, but the team remains affiliated with BLESTO.


Marshall, who played through the 1979 season, said he “knew [Reichow] was going to be good” in the personnel department.


“He’s a very compassionate person who knows football and deals with people very well,” Marshall said. “To me, he was perfect for the job.”


Reichow’s first draft as personnel director had the benefit of extra picks gained in trades, including one that dealt Tarkenton to the New York Giants. The 1967 class included Hall of Famer Alan Page, Clinton Jones, Gene Washington, Bob Grim, Bobby Bryant and John Beasley.


“The next year, we had the first pick, and the pressure is on when you have the first pick,” Reichow said. “Which way are you gonna go? We had five guys that we kept talking about, so I went to see all five of them again in the spring after we had seen most of them and picked Ron Yary. A couple of those guys … didn’t make it big. Yary made it.”