Murphy concurred that Birk was the conference’s dominant player that season, adding that his position, offensive tackle, kept him from garnering more attention.

But Birk’s command of the line of scrimmage was enough to catch the eye of the Vikings, who drafted him in the sixth round of the 1998 NFL Draft with the 173rd pick.

And so the Harvard grad returned home to the Twin Cities, his home state unaware of the draft steal it had acquired.

RETURN OF THE VI-KING

When Birk returned home to Minnesota, his new team was all set at the line of scrimmage, leaving the Harvard alum to spend two years on the bench.

It proved to be a perfect scenario.

“When I got there, they weren’t relying on me to play right away,” Birk said. “There were some great offensive linemen who I could learn from—learn the game from, and learn how to be a professional football player.”

When Birk did get his shot on the gridiron, he quickly established himself as one of the top linemen in the league and earned a trip to the Pro Bowl in his first year as a starter, and Minnesota reached the NFC Championship that season.

“He’s very athletic,” Murphy said. “He’s smart in a football sense. He seamlessly made the transition from tackle to center.”

“They pulled the center a lot,” Birk noted of Minnesota’s offense. “For my size, I was fairly athletic. That scheme fit my skill set pretty well.”

Birk made the Pro Bowl every year from 2000 to 2004, and after missing the 2005 season with a hip injury, he bounced back with two more Pro-Bowl selections in 2006 and 2007 and was named an alternate in 2008.

But Birk’s emergence as a dominant player in the NFL didn’t shift his core values. Instead, Birk’s commitment to his family and community complemented his persona as a hard working football player, and Birk founded the HIKE Foundation in 2002.

“[Birk’s loyalty] starts with his upbringing, with his parents who are wonderful, wonderful people and his friends who are wonderful guys, who he is loyal to and they are equally loyal to him,” Skelton said. “He has his priorities in the right order..., and it shines through.”

The Vikings certainly took notice and named him the team’s Man of the Year for six straight years. Birk also earned the Ed Block Courage Award in 2006.

GOOD MORNING, BALTIMORE