Jim Finks James Edward Finks ( August 31 , 1927 – May 8 , 1994 ) was an American sports executive , primarily for American Professional Football . Biography . Jim Finks was born in St . Louis , Missouri , attended high school in Salem , Illinois , and attended college at the University of Tulsa . After being selected as a 12th - round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1949 NFL Draft , he played for several years as defensive back and quarterback , retiring after the 1955 season . College and CFL career . He served as an assistant coach under Terry Brennan at the University of Notre Dame in 1956 , after which he went on to the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League , where he served as a player / coach before becoming the general manager on October 31 , 1957 . Finks turned the Stampeders into a winning team . He signed many of the players that made Calgary the winningest team in the CFL during the 1960s , though the team did not win a Grey Cup title until 1971 . He also signed quarterback Joe Kapp , who would also later play under Finks in the NFL . NFL front office . In 1964 , Finks was named the general manager of the Minnesota Vikings . In 1968 , Minnesota won its first NFL Central Division Championship , marking the start of a dynasty that produced 11 division championship teams and four Super Bowl appearances in the following 14 years . In 1969 , the Vikings won 12 of 14 games and claimed the NFL championship before losing to the American Football League ' s Kansas City Chiefs 23 – 7 in Super Bowl IV . The Vikings team that Finks put together was powered by a dynamic defensive front four , popularly known as The " Purple People Eaters " . The first member of the unit , defensive end Jim Marshall , came to the Vikings in a 1961 trade before Finks arrived . In 1964 , the new general manager added two potential stars to the line : end Carl Eller as a first - round pick in the NFL Draft , and tackle Gary Larsen in a trade . He completed " The Purple People Eaters " in 1967 by picking Alan Page in the draft . In 1967 , Norm Van Brocklin resigned as head coach and Finks immediately hired Bud Grant , who had been a successful coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL for 10 seasons . That year , Finks also brought in a new quarterback , Joe Kapp , from the CFL . Kapp had played for the Calgary Stampeders when Finks was its General Manager . During the 1969 NFL championship season , Kapp passed for a record seven touchdowns against the Baltimore Colts and was a major contributor to his team ' s success . In 1972 , Finks made another daring trade with the New York Giants , this time to bring back Fran Tarkenton , the quarterback he had traded in 1967 . In 1973 , the Vikings defeated the Dallas Cowboys for the NFC championship but lost to the Miami Dolphins 24 – 7 in Super Bowl VIII . It turned out to be the last game with the Vikings for Finks , who that season was named the NFL Executive of the Year . Finks , who had been named a club vice - president in 1972 as a reward for his brilliant work , resigned in May , 1974 . Chicago Bears . Finks joined the Chicago Bears , as general manager and executive vice - president . He spent the remainder of the 1974 season studying the Bears player talent as well as opposition players from all around the NFL . The next year , he began employing the same formula he used so well in Minnesota to improve the Bears ' talent pool . The Bears under Finks improved . By 1977 , they reached the playoffs for the first time since 1963 . They were a playoff team again in 1979 with a 10 – 6 record , best - ever for the Finks - led Bears . But Finks ' tenure in Chicago ended suddenly in 1982 when he resigned because George Halas did not consult him in the hiring of Mike Ditka as head coach . Finks contributed to one of the most dominant NFL teams of the 1980s . The 1985 Bears went over 15 – 1 in regular season and shut out both the New York Giants and Los Angeles Rams in playoff games leading to the Super Bowl . After leaving the Bears , Finks joined the Chicago Cubs as president and chief executive officer in September 1983 . He remained through the 1984 season when the Cubs captured the 1984 National League ' s Eastern Division crown . Later Career . On January 14 , 1986 , Finks took charge of a New Orleans Saints team that never had experienced a winning season in its 19 - year history . His first move was to hire a new coach , Jim Mora . Success came more quickly for Finks in New Orleans than it had in either Minnesota or Chicago . In just his second season , the Saints won 12 games for their first winning season ever . Finks was named NFL Executive of the Year for the second time . When NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle retired in 1989 , Finks was the leading candidate to replace him . He was the only candidate put forward for the job by a six - owner search committee ( Wellington Mara , Lamar Hunt , Art Modell , Robert Parins , Dan Rooney , and Ralph Wilson ) , however , a group of eleven newer owners who wanted more of a voice in the selection process abstained from voting , preventing Finks from receiving the nineteen votes necessary to become Commissioner . Six months later , a second meeting was held and it ended with 13 votes for Finks and 13 for attorney Paul Tagliabue . At a third meeting , a compromise was reached by the two groups that would make Tagliabue Commissioner and Finks president in charge of football operations . However , Finks declined this position and Tagliabue was elected by an undisclosed number of votes . Death . Finks died in 1994 in Metairie , Louisiana from lung cancer . He was selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1995 . Finks became the first person whose enshrinement was based substantially on achievements with the Saints franchise , though he had also previously built the Vikings and Bears into Super Bowl teams . His longest tenure was spent with the Minnesota Vikings . His son Jim Finks , Jr . authored the 2009 book " COLORS : Pro Football Uniforms of the Past and Present " .