When Bert Rose was elected as General Manager of the Minnesota Vikings in
1961, one of the first steps he took was to recommend to the Board of
Directors that the club be nicknamed the “Vikings.”
He said a nickname should serve a dual purpose. First, it should represent
an aggressive person or animal imbued with the will to win. Second, if
possible, it is desirable to have it connote the region that the particular
team represents.
The “Vikings” scores well on both points. Certainly, the Nordic Vikings were
a fearless race. Following many years of victories in the British Isles and
France, under Erik the Red, they sailed in open boats across the North
Atlantic, seeking new peoples to conquer. Their entire history is punctuated
with the aggressive desire to will and win.
While Minnesota is populated by the descendants of settlers from many
nations, the area has a rich Nordic lore, perhaps due to the mythology of
Paul Bunyan and his Blue Ox, perhaps due to the preponderance of the ‘sons’
and ‘sens’ in the phone book. The Vikings, too, were Nordics; hence the name
represents in a large part the solid stock of people who call Minnesota their
home.
About the Logo
Karl Hubenthal who was (and still may be) a sports cartoonist for the Los
Angeles Times, did the original drawing of the Viking logo. He was contacted
by Bert Rose, then the General Manager of the Minnesota Vikings.
This page hosted by 
Get your own Free Home Page