Greg Coleman Retiring from Vikings Sidelines

Coleman pointed to Eric Kendricks, Anthony Barr and other players – past and present – who have worked to make a difference.

“There are people who say about the Vikings Social Justice Committee, ‘Well, why don’t you just shut up and play football? There’s no place in sports for that.’ Listen – sports is part of our society. And we are part of this community,” Coleman said. “What if we had not used our voices to voice our displeasure about how [certain people] were treated many years ago?

“I read somewhere where someone told Eric Kendricks, ‘Just shut up and play football.’ What if Eric had not used his voice to be a light in the life of young people in this community?” Coleman continued. “The list goes on and on. What if Alan Page had chosen to be silent about a lot of different things? And Jim Marshall, and Carl Eller – years and years ago.”

As mentioned earlier, Coleman is no stranger to racism.

During his youth, his all-Black team won the league championship but was not allowed to play in the Gator Bowl. Then at the NFL level, he recalled the days long before social media, when his teammates of color would receive handwritten letters that weren’t fan mail but rather “nasty, vulgar, racist” words spewed on paper.

“And these were some of the same people that cheered for us on Sundays. But when we took that jersey off, we were just another Black man,” Coleman said. “I can’t unzip this Black skin. I can take the jersey off. But I cannot unzip the fact that I’m a Black man, and I am not apologetic about using this platform to raise awareness for diversity.”

Coleman emphasized that it’s tragic George Floyd had to lose his life at the hands of a police officer for tides to begin to change in Minnesota, the country and around the world. He’s proud, though, to see young men and women using their voices for a greater good.”

“You can go back many years. Athletes have been a catalyst for change. I was fortunate enough to live in an era where I saw Muhammad Ali, what he did about racism in boxing,” Coleman said. “And when he and Jim Brown and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and a few other prominent athletes, used their voices to make a difference.

“I applaud this Social Justice Committee because we were doing things even before the George Floyd murder,” Coleman continued. “There are so many great things about this Vikings community that make you proud. … But what if those men had kept their voices quiet? Where would we be?”

Looking back over decades spent with the Minnesota Vikings, Coleman can only smile.

“I’ve been with every head coach with the exception of Norm Van Brocklin … I told myself, ‘Damn, man. You’re old, dude,’ ” he laughed. “It’s been an amazing run to play with some of the greatest men to ever play this game. The Purple People Eaters. The Hall of Famers that we have. All of the men in the Vikings Ring of Honor. I played with – and had relationships with – the majority of those men.”