Minnesota Vikings

Remember when? Tarkenton recalls first Vikings training camp

Published Jul. 9, 2015 3:25 p.m. ET

foxsports

It is a couple of days after the anniversary, but thanks to Twitter's #TBT (throwback Thursday), former Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton dusted off a picture from his shoebox.

Tarkenton tweeted out a picture from the initial day of training camp in 1961 in Bemidji, Minn. for the new Minnesota Vikings franchise.

The quarterback, a third-round pick, is pictured along with the team's first head coach Norm Van Brocklin -- who had just retired as a player after the 1960 season.

The rookie QB would play in 10 games for a 3-11-1 Vikings team, the first of his 18 NFL seasons which eventually led him to the Hall of Fame.

An interesting footnote: Tarkenton said he drove from Atlanta, Ga., all the way to northern Minnesota for that initial training camp -- a distance that, according to mapquest.com, would involve a nearly 21-hour car ride.