FREE ESSAY ON TARKENTON

TARKENTON

Francis Asbury Tarkenton was born in Richmond, Virginia, To the Pastor Dallas Tarkenton.
He grew up in Georgia, where he played played football. Although he was an all-state
quarterback in high school and an All-American at the University of Georgia, he was not
chosen in the professional draft of 1961 until the third round, when the Vikings, a newly
established team, selected him. 
He won the starting quarterback position as a Rookie and with the Vikings led the team to
an upset of the Chicago Bears in the team's first professional game. From the beginning
of his professional career Tarkenton used his ability to elude tacklers and rush for
yardage, which became his trademark. The coaches of the Vikings criticized his
improvisations on the playing field, and after the 1966 season he was traded to the
Giants, where he played from 1967 to 1971.
In 1972 Tarkenton was traded back to the Vikings, leading them to the National Football
Conference (NFC) Central Division title for six consecutive seasons (1973-1978) and to
three Super Bowl games (1974, 1975, and 1977), all of which the Vikings lost. During the
1975 Super bowl Dallas Tarkenton Died of a Heart Attack while watching his son play
football in his home. Dallas Tarkenton never understood or liked football but always
watched his son play. Francis said this about his father," Daddy didn't know about
football, so he might not understand how it could become that desperately important to a
civilized person. But he did know humanity and therefore would not see it as an evil
thing."
Slowed by injuries, he played for a final season in 1978 and then retired. During his
playing career Tarkenton developed a successful business career, which he continued after
his retirement.
He was American football player, a quarterback noted for his ability to run with the ball
while looking for a receiver. He set numerous National Football League (NFL) passing
records during his professional career with the Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants and
was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986.