Why you need Frank Gilliam on your 'Greatest Vikings' list

We are losing the greatest generation of Vikings.

In May, Bud Grant, the legendary coach, was memorialized at U.S. Bank Stadium. On Thursday, at the Hotel Ivy in Minneapolis, there was a quieter tribute to another essential member of the braintrust that built four Super Bowl teams.

Frank Gilliam, the team's longtime scouting director and director of player personnel, died in April at age 89. He was remembered this week, before and after the ceremony, as a historic and endearing figure.

Gilliam starred at football in Iowa, playing receiver for quarterback Jerry Reichow. He would play in the CFL for Grant, and would become one of the country's first Black Division I college football coaching assistants for Jerry Burns at Iowa.

When Reichow took over the Vikings' personnel department, the first person he hired was his old friend Frank Gilliam, making Gilliam one of the first men of color to work as an NFL scout. Together, the friends built winners for Grant and Burns.

"We were different kinds of players,'' Reichow said from his home in Iowa this week. "He was so sound, in terms of technique, and I was just the opposite. I played behind him on defense — in those days, you played both ways. He weighed 187 pounds and nobody could knock him off his feet.

"We worked together for 37 years. I would look for athletic ability, and then I'd call in Frank and have him break down the player's technique. He had such an eye."

Reichow and Gilliam would draft the great players who made up the Vikings' greatest teams, always collaborating. They never craved attention, and they treated their colleagues like family.

"I came here as a coach and wound up in the personnel department, so Frank became my boss,'' said former Vikings defensive line coach and executive Paul Wiggin. "I don't know if there's a Hall of Fame for being a wonderful person, but if there was, he would be in it.

"He would be in the top five all time of anybody who ever had anything to do with scouting. He had it all and he was great for me, because when I started working for him I didn't know what the heck I was doing. He set me off in the right direction.''

Wiggin remembered a Vikings employee was once named scout of the year, and felt guilty because he thought Gilliam deserved it. When the scout gave his acceptance speech, he said that Gilliam had taught him everything.

"Everybody who worked for Frank loved him,'' Wiggin said. "As a scout he would see the little things that separated a prospect from a stack of similar players. When we drafted Kevin Williams, Frank told us, 'This isn't just another guy. This guy is special.' ''

The NFL was smaller and more intimate when Gilliam and Reichow were running the personnel department. Walk through Winter Park in the early 1990s and one would likely call you into their office for a chat.

"Every week, before we got ready to play, I would go into Frank and Jerry's offices and let them give me the rundown of our opponent's new players,'' quarterback Fran Tarkenton said. "That became a routine for me. They were terrific guys and they understood the game. They understood what kind of players we wanted in Minnesota. And they were just so easy to work with.

"Everything in the NFL, and in that building, is so freaking big now. There are extra people hanging around in every department. Back then we had two guys who knew how to run the draft and knew what we wanted and knew how to find the right players. We trusted them.''

Scott Studwell, like Reichow, transitioned from being a standout Vikings player to a scout and executive. "Frank was so dedicated to his craft,'' Studwell said. "Working for our organization was so important to him. This was his football family. He was a leader. He was humble. He was highly intelligent. He had a great eye for talent.

"The way he conducted himself outside and inside the building, in meetings and with players, he was respectful and he was respected. These meetings can get pretty heated, and he always found a way to navigate those conversations without losing his temper and making sure that everybody had their say. He was truly a great man.''

At his memorial service on Thursday, there were purple and white flowers, more comfortable shoes than ties, and tears leavened by laughter.

Longtime Vikings scout Conrad Cardano remembered dinners at J.D. Hoyt's with Gilliam and Reichow, two friends who balanced long hours and time with family and friends. Cardano started as their employee and became their friend. "Frank and Jerry — you've never seen two people work so hand in glove,'' he said.

Vikings executive vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski joined the team in 1999. "Frank was one of the kindest and most humble people you could meet,'' he said. "I get here and I'm 29 years old and there are legends like Frank and Paul Wiggin who had dedicated 30, 40, 50 years to this organization, and they welcomed me and helped me learn the business.

"Our goal, in this organization, is to win a championship for guys like Frank and coach Grant and Jerry Reichow, the people who paved the way for all of us. We need to get over the hump, for them.''