Tyler Conklin My Cause My Cleats Grandparents

Even when his mind started to slip, Thurman almost always remembered Tyler and his siblings, Trevor and Tori.

“I like to think he remembered me the most,” Tyler quipped, smiling. “I was always the football player, Trevor was always the one in the military, Tori was the volleyball player. He always remembered the kids a lot.”

Last Christmas, Tyler and Scottie hosted the entire family for Christmas at their Eagan home.

“That was our last big rendezvous together,” Tyler said, scrolling sentimentally through his phone to show me photos and videos from that holiday season.

Emotion turned to laughter when he remembered returning home from the Vikings loss at New Orleans.

“I always have my house really cold … that’s just the way I am,” Tyler acknowledged. “Scottie hates it. My grandpa hated it. He’s from down south, so he always liked it hot. That night I came home, and he was lying on the air mattress [and] he’s like, ‘Tyler, you don’t have enough money for heat? I’ll give you some money.’

“I said, ‘Grandpa, yeah, I don’t have enough money.’ He said, ‘OK, I’ll give you some money. Get you some heat,’ ” Tyler laughed.

When the Vikings played the Panthers in Charlotte this fall, Tyler’s family held a memorial service for Thurman near his hometown. And when Tyler laces up his cleats for tonight’s Thursday Night Football game, he’ll remember the grandparents who left him too early.

“We had a lot of good times together,” he smiled.