By Chris Tomasson
St. Paul Pioneer Press
PHOENIX - Legendary Vikings center Mick Tingelhoff finally has made the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Tingelhoff, a Seniors’ Committee nominee, got the necessary 80 percent of the vote Saturday by the 46-member hall selection committee on the day before the Super Bowl. He will be enshrined in Canton, Ohio, next summer.
Tingelhoff played for the Vikings from 1962-78, starting all of the team’s 240 regular-season games during that period. He made the Pro Bowl six times and was first-team All-Pro five times.
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Tingelhoff was first eligible for enshrinement in 1984 but failed to get the nod in 20 years on the regular ballot. This was the first time he was a senior finalist.
The 6-foot-2, 237-pound Tingelhoff went undrafted out of Nebraska, where he played center and linebacker. He joined the Vikings in their second season after they had entered the NFL in 1961 as an expansion team.
Tingelhoff and his wife, Phyllis, arrived in Arizona on Friday. He will be on hand for Sunday’s Super Bowl at University of Phoenix Stadium between New England and Seattle and is expected to fly back to Minnesota on Tuesday.
Tingelhoff becomes the 13th player or coach in the Hall of Fame who was with the Vikings extensively. Five other hall of famers had abbreviated stints with the Vikings.
The Pioneer Press is a media partner of Forum News Service.
