LOS GATOS — Joe Kapp made the duvet of Sports activities Illustrated in 1970 with the memorable headline, “The Hardest Chicano.”
The brawling, take-no-prisoners quarterback from Salinas by no means strayed from the deal with even whereas struggling to recall his colourful previous due to the ravages of Alzheimer’s illness, a degenerative situation he attributed to taking too many hits throughout his lengthy profession at Cal and within the skilled ranks.
Kapp, the one quarterback to seem within the Rose Bowl, Tremendous Bowl and Canada’s Gray Cup died Monday, as first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle and confirmed by a Cal supply. He was 85 years outdated.
“I can bear in mind issues means again however I can’t bear in mind what I had for breakfast — or if I had it,” he mentioned in a 2015 interview at his residence in Los Gatos.
However the tough-talking quarterback was able to recount his memorable life and instances to anybody keen to pay attention.
After main Cal to the 1959 Rose Bowl, Kapp opted to play in Canada the place he cemented his roughhouse popularity. Kapp began with the Calgary Stampeders earlier than spending six dazzling years with the B.C. Lions.
His teaching profession started at Cal, the place his first of 5 seasons as the pinnacle coach concluded with The Play.
It was after that inconceivable victory that Kapp uttered his well-known quote: “The Bear won't stop! The Bear won't die!”
Kapp went on to briefly turn into the final supervisor of the BC Lions in 1990.
As his reminiscence diminished in his 70s, Kapp started investigating the concussion concern. He stored a pile of newspaper tales within the shed behind his downtown Los Gatos cottage the place Kapp had lived for many years and mentioned enjoying by head accidents.
“One time in Canada I obtained hit so exhausting my left facet was numb and my left eye was shut,” Kapp mentioned. “The fellows wouldn’t let me go off the sphere. The ethic of soccer remains to be the identical. You play by it. That’s how we did it for 20 years.”
The quarterback had pledged his mind to Stanford researchers to review after dying. The degenerative illness continual traumatic encephalopathy can solely be identified when inspecting mind tissue of the deceased. The illness often called CTE is believed to be attributable to repetitive blows to the pinnacle in sports activities resembling soccer.
Kapp, although, by no means misplaced his humorousness even whereas educating himself on the causes and signs of traumatic mind accidents.
“I’ve obtained delusions of dementia,” he mentioned throughout a protracted interview in 2015. When requested if he had ever suffered a damaged bone, Kapp replied, “Would you like me to begin on the prime or the underside — by no means thoughts the pinnacle?”
However the vocal quarterback didn’t focus all of his consideration on the each day challenges of his cognitive dysfunction.
“I’m like Walter Mitty,” he informed this information group.
The lean, hardscrabble Kapp wasn’t referring to the meek character of James Thurber’s novel. He meant he had lived an inspiring life resembling Mitty’s fantasies. That, little doubt, wasn’t far off.
Kapp had a job in a few of soccer’s momentous instances, together with two of the largest authorized circumstances in NFL historical past. He sued the league in 1971 on antitrust grounds in a free company battle just like Curt Flood’s in baseball. Kapp additionally was a plaintiff within the landmark concussion lawsuit in opposition to the NFL that led to a $1 billion payout to former gamers.
Even his temporary teaching profession is a part of the hallowed historical past of soccer. Kapp took over Cal’s program in 1982 though he had by no means coached earlier than. He was on the sideline for The Play, the well-known five-lateral kickoff return that led the Golden Bears to attain the profitable landing on the ultimate play of the Large Recreation in opposition to Stanford.
“I really like Stanford,” he mentioned in 2017. “They have been the one college we may beat.”
Kapp lasted 5 years in Berkeley earlier than settling into retirement in Los Gatos the place he watched son Will Kapp and grandson Frank Kapp play for the Bears.
The outdated raconteur appeared most current when wanting again.
“The Rose Bowl, the bathroom bowl, I’ve been to all of them,” he as soon as mentioned when recounting his resume.
The final quarterback to steer Cal to a Rose Bowl held courtroom at his favourite Los Gatos hang-out, C.B. Hannegan’s, the place in later years he would scream over the background music as a result of his listening to was shot.
“When you heard as a lot booing as I did you'd too,” he as soon as mentioned, earlier than letting out his attribute chortle.
Kapp arrived in Salinas from New Mexico when coming into fifth grade. He beloved all sports activities, however significantly basketball. Kapp performed within the church leagues in east Salinas. The thin child additionally realized to field.
Nobody thought of him quarterback materials due to his small stature. He was a receiver at Salinas Excessive College. Kapp recalled affected by Osgood-Schlatter illness, a painful irritation of the decrease entrance of the knee.
It wasn’t till the 6-foot-2 Kapp had a development spurt that he grew to become a quarterback. The transformation occurred in his junior season at Hart Excessive in Newhall after he had moved to Southern California to dwell with an aunt.
“I simply took over,” he mentioned of changing into the sign caller. “I don’t know why.”
Kapp returned to the Bay Space after growing into an L.A.-area star. He credited a center college trainer who took him and a buddy to tour the Cal campus to piquing his curiosity within the college.
However the soccer participant wanted one unit of language to turn into eligible for UC Berkeley. He arrived the summer season earlier than his freshman 12 months to take an Italian class and do yard work round Memorial Stadium.
Coaches and tutorial counselors thought Kapp would have a better time passing Italian than Spanish though the Latino quarterback spoke his household’s native tongue.
He began three consecutive seasons, throwing for 1,896 yards and 7 touchdowns in an period of the working recreation. Kapp led the Bears to their final Rose Bowl look a 12 months after Cal had gone 1-9. He additionally performed on the basketball group in 1956 and ‘57. Due to the Rose Bowl, he wasn’t a part of coach Pete Newell’s group that received the ‘59 NCAA title.
“Once I performed I set my sights to be the very best on the sphere,” Kapp mentioned.
After ending fifth within the Heisman Trophy vote, Kapp was handed over within the ‘59 NFL Draft. Washington lastly took him within the 18th spherical with the 209th choice. It was the beginning of his frustration with NFL officers.
“Washington by no means known as me,” Kapp recalled. “So I mentioned, ‘If I need to play professional soccer, I’ll go to Canada.’ It was a phenomenal nation, it was price a lifetime.”
He cast a Corridor of Fame profession at Calgary and British Columbia within the Canadian Soccer League.
Kapp joined the NFL in 1967, changing the legend Fran Tarkenton in Minnesota. He performed three seasons for the Vikings, main them to the 1970 Tremendous Bowl. Earlier that season, Kapp threw for seven touchdowns in opposition to the Baltimore Colts, the single-game document shared with George Blanda, Drew Brees, Adrian Burk, Nick Foles, Sid Luckman, Peyton Manning and Y. A. Tittle. Kapp refused the group MVP award that season, saying, “There isn't a one most beneficial Viking. There are 40 most beneficial Vikings.”
However he signed a four-year cope with Boston after the Tremendous Bowl. The Patriots went 2-12 in Kapp’s solely season in New England, main the group to draft quarterback Jim Plunkett out of Stanford as the highest general choice within the 1971 draft.
Additionally, then-commissioner Pete Rozelle had demanded Kapp signal an ordinary participant contract, which he refused to do as a result of the quarterback already had a four-year cope with the Pats. The dispute resulted in courtroom and Kapp by no means performed once more.
He threw for 28,636 yards and 176 touchdowns over 13 years within the two leagues mixed. Kapp additionally rushed for 3,395 yards in 698 carries with 31 extra touchdowns.
“I by no means went to a observe or a gathering the place it felt like work,” he mentioned. “I spent so many hours watching movie it was by no means work. Not in the future, not one minute.”
Kapp is survived by his spouse, Jennifer, sons J.J. and Will, daughters Emiliana and Gabriela, and 6 grandchildren.
