Karl Otto Kassulke (March 20, 1941 – October 27, 2008) was a professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player. Kassulke graduated from

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

, where he starred as a

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

. He played 10 seasons in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

, all with the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

. Kassulke started in

Super Bowl IV Super Bowl IV was an American football game played on January 11, 1970 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was the fourth and final AFL–NFL World Championship Game in professional football prior to the AFL–NFL merger taking eff ...

, where he and teammate

Earsell Mackbee Earsell Mackbee (January 15, 1941 – November 9, 2009) was a professional American football player. Mackbee was born in Brookhaven, Mississippi and served as an airman in the United States Air Force. He graduated from Utah State University, whe ...

missed a tackle on Otis Taylor on the final touchdown of the game, late in the third quarter. The next season, he was selected to the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

. On July 24, 1973, Kassulke suffered a motorcycle accident on the way to training camp that left him paralyzed from the waist down. After his playing career, Kassulke worked with Wings Outreach, a Christian Ministry to the disabled. Kassulke was immortalized in NFL lore by

NFL Films NFL Productions, LLC, doing business as NFL Films, is the film and television production company of the National Football League. It produces commercials, television programs, feature films, and documentaries for and about the NFL, as well as ot ...

' official highlight film for

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

coach

Hank Stram Henry Louis Stram (; January 3, 1923 – July 4, 2005) was an American football coach. He is best known for his 15-year tenure with the Dallas Texans / Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (N ...

, who was wired for sound by NFL Films executive producer

Ed Sabol Edwin Milton Sabol (September 11, 1916 – February 9, 2015) was an American filmmaker and the founder (with his son Steve Sabol, among others) of NFL Films. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011 as a contributor due to his wo ...

, noted the confusion in the Vikings' defense due to the Chiefs' shifting offense and quipped, "Kassulke was running around there like it was a

Chinese fire drill "Chinese fire drill" is a slang term for a situation that is chaotic or confusing, possibly due to poor or misunderstood instructions. Origins The term goes back to the early 1900s, and is alleged to have originated when a ship run by British of ...

References

External links

Obituary
in St. Paul Pioneer Press American football defensive backs Drake Bulldogs football players Minnesota Vikings players National Conference Pro Bowl players People with paraplegia Players of American football from Milwaukee 1941 births 2008 deaths {{defensiveback-1940s-stub