A Van for a Van

"We've got two Dutchmen now," crowed Coach Norm Van Brocklin of the National Football League's Minnesota Vikings. "How can we help but win?" For a coach whose team won only two of 14 games last fall, Dutch Van Brocklin seemed a trifle overenthusiastic. But he could be pardoned for gloating. In one of those classic, prop-studded contract ceremonies, he happily signed up the Vikings' newest recruit: Wisconsin Quarterback Ron VanderKelen, the most coveted pro prospect in the nation.

VanderKelen's Viking contract called for $20,000--steep for a 23-year-old rookie who had played only 90 sec. of varsity ball prior to the 1962 season. But against Southern California on New Year's Day, he showed the kind of talent appreciated by ex-Quarterback Van Brocklin, who passed the Philadelphia Eagles to the 1960 N.F.L. Championship. Wisconsin lost, 42-37, but not before VanderKelen completed 33 passes and personally accounted for 406 yds. (TIME, Jan. 11).

To land him, the Vikings had to outbid half a dozen other teams. Unbelievably, VanderKelen was a free agent, ignored in December's pro draft by everybody except the American Football League's no-account New York Titans (who chose him on the 21st round). When the pros finally did wake up after the Rose Bowl game, the N.F.L. Champion Green Bay Packers seemed to have the inside track. "I'm from Green Bay," VanderKelen said, "and every boy in town dreams of playing one day for the Packers." But pros play for pay, not for home-town loyalty. Reasoned VanderKelen: "I think an athlete would be seriously handicapped playing for his home-town team--especially in a town as small as Green Bay. He'd be faced by unusual pressures."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.