Fran Tarkenton.

Sunday, October 03, 1999

Fran Tarkenton.

The name rolls off first the husband’s tongue, then the wife’s, like it were a nerve impulse and not a thought decision.

"He was the most entertaining player there was to watch," said Jerry Anfinson. "He wasn’t the pocket quarterback like they like to have today. He was the best scrambler I’ve ever seen."

Anfinson was there when Tarkenton, moving all around Bloomington’s Metropolitan Stadium grounds, threw a TD pass against the Rams that clinched the Vikings’ berth in Super Bowl XI against the Raiders in Pasadena, Calif. – the only Super Bowl the Anfinsons would attend.

"Oh God," said Anfinson. "The Raiders. What a disappointment."

"I was watching Fran on the sidelines," said Carol, Jerry’s wife. "He had this look on his face like ‘What went wrong.’ "

The Anfinsons didn’t miss a home game back then. Every home Sunday the couple charged north up Interstate 35 – no matter the weather – to watch the Vikings.

The trek coincided with the Viking’s very beginnings in their inaugural season in 1961.

Then, the "Golden Gophers were the big deal," remembered Jerry, who was honored a just weeks ago by the Minnesota Vikings front office for being a charter member season ticket holder.

Getting in on the ground floor of Purple Pride wasn’t a big undertaking. The Anfinsons were good friends of H.P. Skoglund’s niece. Skoglund was among the men who founded the Vikings.

"He owned one third of the team," Jerry said. "His niece, Val, was one of our best friends. We split four tickets."

The cherry seats are found in the second deck on the 50 yard line.

"You couldn’t get any better seats in general admission," said Jerry, who is used to founding endeavors, having himself started the Austin CPA-firm BACH, which has since merged into LAWCO.

Jerry doesn’t proclaim to be a die-hard fan. In fact, he calls himself, "just a Vikings fan."

"Jeri Morgan (an employee at LAWCO)," Jerry said, "now she’s a die hard. She goes to every preseason game, every draft party, absolutely every game."

These days, Jerry is retired. He’s a traveler, a big-game hunter, a fisherman and is lucky to catch a handful of games live. He and Carol speak most fondly of the pre-Metrodome days.

They used to take part in what Jerry called "elaborate tailgating" back then.

"There’d be steaks, wine, hors d’oevers, candelabras with white tablecloths," Jerry said.

"That’s when the games were really fun," Carol said.

And cold.

"I remember when everybody would get excited and stand up and a cloud of snow would go flying off their shoulders," Jerry said.

"You had to get into the game," Jerry said. "You had to be yelling and screaming to stay warm."

Sometimes, when things weren’t going so well for the home team, snow, an inch or more deep, could accumulate on the fans’ shoulders.

There were other ways to fight the cold, the Anfinsons wore warm sleeping-bag-like sacks over their feet, legs and waists.

They stole moments with flasks of brandy to keep warm.

And they’d take part in nipping off of a thermos passed down the entire row of seats from one season-ticket holder to the next.

"There’s no way you’d do that in this day and age," Carol said.

Speaking of ages, the Anfinsons witnessed the golden age of the Vikings – when the Purple People Eaters dominated.

The Anfinsons watched as Jim Marshall pulled off the NFL’s all-time blooper by returning a fumble the wrong way thinking it was a score for the Vikings.

"We thought ‘What is he doing,’ " Carol said.

They were there for "Carl Eller, Alan Page, Karl Kassulke and Boom-Boom (Bill) Brown," said Jerry rattling off a who’s who of Hey-Day Vikings.

In a Purple haze, Jerry lamented the short season that was long on losses under Les Steckel, joked that Jerry Burns looked as if he cut his hair with a lawn mower, had a hard time choosing between Norm Van Brocklin and Bud Grant as the all-time Vikings coach, recalled fondly Fred Cox’s straight-ahead kicking-style and called last season’s 15-1 Vikings the best Minnesota team he’s ever seen.

Among the things the Anfinsons like most about the Vikings is their year-in and year-out consistency.

"They’ve always had good teams," Jerry said.

Both Jerry and Carol observed the Chicago Bears as the Vikings’ most intense rival.

And the best opposing player they’ve ever seen?

The name rolls off both of their tongues like it were a nerve impulse and not a thought decision.

Dick Butkus.