DAUNTE’S INFERNO: Daunte Culpepper
WORDS BY DAVID FANTLE & TOM JOHNSON
Vikings QB Daunte Culpepper explains why giving up, either on or off the field, isn’t ever an option.
Daunte Culpepper, three-time Pro Bowl quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, stands tall among the NFL elite. His 6’4” height, strength and weight (260 lb) make him an imposing threat for any opposing frontline that has its sights set on sacking him during this, his sixth year as a Viking starter. But Culpepper is far more than a QB who hurls the pigskin every Sunday afternoon.
Whether it’s talking about his team’s consistent inability to advance in the playoffs or win a Super Bowl (after four losses), or his hardscrabble childhood as an adopted child in Ocala, Florida, Culpepper is adamantly not an apologist and is never willing to give up.
Although he’s only 28 years old and makes tens of millions playing ball (in 2003, Culpepper signed a 10-year contract extension worth in the region of $100 million), Culpepper differs from many corporate executives who take home similarly princely sums yet are often unwilling to take the rap for less-than-stellar corporate earnings. This Viking is the first one to take responsibility for his performance on the gridiron, regardless of the outcome.
“I always expect us to win,” he says, from his suburban Minneapolis home. “I want us to win because I work hard, and football is a team game. If you don’t have everybody doing what they’re supposed to do at the same time, you’re not going to be successful.”
Culpepper predicts the 2005-06 season will be a breakout year for the team that earned the nickname of Purple People Eaters back in the ’70s, with menacing players like Carl Eller and Alan Page. But at the same time, he acknowledges that defensive woes have prevented the Vikings from making a serious move in the playoffs during the past few seasons.
“I look at our roster and believe that this is by far the most talent we’ve assembled as a team,” he says. “We’ve always had go od players on offense, but not on the defense. Now we’ve got guys who know what it takes to be successful on the defensive side of the ball, and that’s what gets me excited. We’re more balanced.”
Even with the highly publicized departure of the gifted, but controversial, wide receiver Randy Moss to the Oakland Raiders, Culpepper is already talking Super Bowl.
Too diplomatic to trash-talk ex-teammate Moss, Culpepper says of the recently departed receiver: “I don’t want to say we’ll be better or worse without him. Randy is a great player—always has been, always will be— but the best players don’t always win championships; it’s always the best team. New England has won the Super Bowl three of the last four years because it has guys that play together, love each other, accept their roles and execute their game plan every week. That’s what it takes.”
But don’t think that this means Culpepper isn’t an amazing player in his own right. He is already amassing offensive team records in a number of statistical categories and may eventually rival the legendary Fran Tarkenton as the team’s finest quarterback. Even with his physical gifts and uncanny ability to rush for long yardage—he ranks 12th in Vikings’ history with 2,329 rushing yards—Culpepper acknowledges that the weekly sacks and tackles take a toll on his body.
“Every week we go out and play, I kind of feel like my body has been in a minor car accident,” he admits. “After a typical game, I c ome home and ice everything. I lie down in a cold tub and relax Monday and Tuesday before we resume practices on Wednesday.”
But he also adds that he prefers to dish it out, rather that take it. “I play rough; I play tough; I play physical. I take pride in bringing that fight to guys sometimes. I don’t always stand there and take the hit. I like to dish out the hits, too.”
Culpepper is one of the new class of African-American superstar quarterbacks, along with Donovan McNabb of the Philadelphia Eagles and Michael Vick of the Atlanta Falcons. He says the sport and society have evolved to the point where the best players, regardless of race, are assigned to positions of prominence.
“I think we are seen now as just quarterbacks—not as black quarterbacks,” he says. “I was blessed to have a great high-school coach who never questioned my ability to play at that position. I was always a quarterback. None of the coaches tried to change that position or make me into a running back or receiver because they knew my best position was QB.
“The way professional sport s are today, I think people are more accepting, and it doesn’t matter what color you are or where you come from or your ethnic background. If you can play at that position, they’re going to let you play, ” he says.And while Culpepper has proved that he can play with the best of them on the field, he has also proved that he can be a leader off of it. In an age where more and more professional athletes are making headlines for their inappropriate conduct away from the field of play, Culpepper does not shirk from his responsibilities as a role model.
“It doesn’t matter if a guy sees himself as a role model or not, because he’s automatically a role model just by the fact that he’s seen by millions on television,” he says. “People know us wherever we go—the store, the mall, anywhere. We’re under a microscope. So whether a guy accepts it or not, or understands it or not, we’re definitely role models and we’re going to influence young kids.
One of the most important things that Culpepper wants to teach kids is some advice he received from one of his biggest fans: “My mom always taught me to treat people how I want to be treated,” he recalls.
When Culpepper speaks of his mother, he’s referring to Emma Culpepper, the woman who raised him. At the time of his birth, Culpepper’s teenaged mother, Barbara Henderson, was serving time for an armed robbery conviction and lacked the resources (including a father figure) to raise her son. Henderson turned to Emma Culpepper, who worked in the same correctional facility, to raise her son. Emma could be called an expert in child rearing, as she raised 14 other kids through various circumstances. Emma, now 91 and still living in Ocala, is savoring her adopted son’s success.
“I try to get to see her as much as possible during the off-season,” says Culpepper. “She’s doing pretty well. She’s still sharp, thank God, and she’s still on my case every t ime she sees me. She keeps me straight! She watches the games and comes up to Minneapolis for one game every year.” ulpepper divides his time between his off-season home in Orlando and in-season home in Eden Prairie, a Minneapolis suburb. A frustrated golfer since his college days at University of Central Florida in Orlando, Culpepper s ays he still hits the links when he can—mostly for charitable events held by his professional sports friends. But his most rewarding, and perhaps most physically demanding, position is that of father to five young children (three girls age 10, eight and four; and two sons, age three and one).
After arriving in Minneapolis in 1999, Culpepper was looking for a charity to affiliate himself with as a way of giving back to the community. When the Twin Cities-based African American Adoption Agency (AAAA) heard about Culpepper’s personal story, they sought him out—it was a perfect fit.
AAAA (www.afadopt.org) is Minnesota’s only non-profit agency designed to move children of color from foster care to homes with permanent families. The organization has shared the message that potential parents do not need to be wealthy, married or homeowners to adopt—they simply need to make a lifelong commitment to a child. From 1998 to 2002, AAAA placed more than 300 children in permanent families. In addition to large donations (in the upper six figures), Culpepper contributes his time at a number of events.
“This organization is near and dear to my heart,” he says. “It’s really about helping them out and letting those kids know that it’s not really where they are right now, but it’s where they’re going. I’m a living testament that you can be adopted and be successful. Don’t use being adopted or a foster child as an excuse because you can do it. It may not be football; it can be anything. As long as you work hard in school and be the best student you can be and learn a trade, you can succeed in a profession you love.”
Straight talk and sound advice from a no-excuses kind of guy who has never let anything hold him back. With an undying spirit, perhaps that perseverance will soon earn him football’s highest accolade and his greatest desire this February—a Super Bowl ring.
© Greg Flume/NewsSport/Corbis
© Jeffery Allan Salter/Corbis Saba
© Eric Miller/Reuters/Cor bis