Vikings’ Hall of Fame defensive end Doleman dies at age 58
MINNEAPOLIS >> Chris Doleman was clinging to his preferred position of outside linebacker, struggling through his second NFL season with the Minnesota Vikings.
The team’s vision for his 6-foot-5 frame was at defensive end, where he could use his long arms, strong legs and quick feet to become the kind of premier pass rusher to build a scheme around.
Finally Doleman relented. His willingness to move up front sent him on a decorated path that traveled all the way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Doleman, whose enviable blend of speed and power made him one of the game’s most feared pass rushers during 15 seasons in the league, died Tuesday, two years after being diagnosed with brain cancer. The longtime Vikings star, who had 150½ career sacks to rank fifth on the all-time list, was 58.
“It’s a shock to see someone who was so strong and so gifted and so incredibly talented and such a great dude and so much fun to be with go so young,” former Vikings teammate Keith Millard said in a phone interview on Wednesday.
The fourth pick in the 1985 draft, Doleman was so dejected by his substandard performance in a game in 1986, former Vikings defensive line coach Paul Wiggin said, that he skipped the team flight home and went back to Minnesota by himself.
“His mentality was doctor, lawyer, linebacker, garbage man, sewer worker, defensive lineman,” Wiggin said by phone on Wednesday, adding: “He had such great body lean, such great speed coming around the corner. He had everything you wanted in a defensive end.”
Doleman, who had surgery two years ago to remove a brain tumor, was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive type of cancer that killed U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
Doleman spent his first nine seasons with Minnesota, collecting a league-high 21 sacks in 1989 while forming a fierce pass-rushing tandem with Millard.