Fran Tarkenton is a former quarterback who spent the majority of his playing career with the Minnesota Vikings.
A college and pro football Hall of Famer, Tarkenton enjoyed a successful career on and off the gridiron, amassing a fortune through his business ventures after calling it a day on the field.
After retiring, Tarkenton founded a software company and served as an NFL commentator. He has also hit the headlines for his political views, including endorsing Donald Trump at the 2016 Republican National Convention.
In his pomp, Tarkenton was a perennial NFL betting favourite to win MVP, an achievement he added to his illustrious CV in 1975.
How Much Is Fran Tarkenton Worth?
Fran Tarkenton is the third-richest former NFL player according to Statista, behind Roger Staubach and Jerry Richardson. Tarkenton’s net worth is somewhere around £240 million after his various business ventures following his football career.
His earnings during his playing days with the Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants were minuscule compared to comparable modern-day players.
A multi-time Pro Bowler, Tarkenton was one of the better players at his position throughout his career, but that fortune has predominantly been accumulated through his software business.
Tarkenton received around $1 million in salary across his 18-year NFL career. In college, he was a leading salesperson for Franklin Life Insurance Company before working for a regional trucking company during the NFL offseasons.
Known as ‘The Scrambler’, Tarkenton was the kind of player who altered betting markets singlehandedly with his effectiveness on the ground and in the air.
Life After Football
After an almost 20-year career in the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants, Fran Tarkenton hung up his cleats after the 1978 campaign. He had been undecided about retirement for most of the second half of his career.
Once he finally decided to retire from the NFL, Tarkenton founded Tarkenton Software. A computer-program generator company.
He started travelling around the country promoting 'CASE' (computer-aided software engineering) alongside Albert F. Case Jr. of Nastec Corporation.
Eventually, Tarkenton Software merged with KnowledgeWare. Tarkenton remained president until 1994, when the business was sold to Sterling Software.
While software was obviously a lucrative endeavour for the former quarterback, Tarkenton’s business interests stretched far further.
He has owned over 20 companies, including Tarkenton Financial, GoSmallBiz, and Tarkenton Teleconferencing. It has been reported that he owns tens of millions of Apple stock and has a real estate empire worth north of £10 million.
In a 2023 interview, Tarkenton shared his motivators in business, and how money should be the byproduct rather than the aim.
“The company needs to bring people in who can do their jobs, and it needs to give them the coaching, mentoring, and leeway needed to develop and do their work.
“It’s not about making money. That’s a byproduct of what we should be doing. Let’s go out and change the world, make the world better, and help our people get more customers.”
Learning From Failure
Fran Tarkenton lost three Super Bowls in four years and never won the Big Game; he is more accustomed to failure than most. Amid his business success, he has had plenty of failures along the way, too.
A multi-time author, one of Tarkenton’s releases was titled “The Power of Failure: Succeeding in An Age of Innovation”.
The brutal nature of playoff football, and of professional sport in general, seemed an ideal preparation for the world of business.
Speaking to Forbes in 2015, Tarkenton said, “My biggest failures have led to my biggest successes. Most of the things I’ve tried in my life don’t work, but I learn from those and I get closer to something that will work.”
Failure, according to Tarkenton, is when he really learns.
“If we lost, I didn’t go out. I stayed in my house, pulled out our old film projector and looked at all the mistakes we made. I’d ask myself, ‘What didn’t I do? How did I not prepare? What did I miss? What did I not see?’ and from that I got better. I learned from failure. I have never learned from winning.”
Family Life
Fran Tarkenton has four children from two marriages. Anna Elaine Merrell, a Georgia native, married Tarkenton just before Christmas in 1960. The couple had three children together: Angela, Matthew, and Melissa.
Tarkenton married his second wife, Linda Sebastian, in the 1980s. In 1988, Tarkenton welcomed his fourth child, Hayley Gray Tarkenton. Hayley is a singer-songwriter, who is 24 years younger than her eldest sibling.
Career Statistics
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246 games
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57% pass completion
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47,003 passing yards
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342 passing touchdowns
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266 interceptions
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7.3 yards per attempt
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12.8 yards per completion
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191.1 passing yards per game
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570 times sacked
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29 fourth-quarter comebacks
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33 game-winning drives
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3,674 rushing yards
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32 rushing touchdowns
Honours
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NFL MVP
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First Team All-Pro
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Second Team All-Pro
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Nine-time Pro Bowler
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NFL passing yards leader 1978
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NFL passing touchdowns leader 1975
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Bert Bell Award
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Number 10 retired by Minnesota Vikings
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50 Greatest Vikings
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50 Greatest Giants
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Two-time First Team All-SEC
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Orange Bowl champion
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Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee
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College Football Hall of Fame inductee
*Credit for the main photo belongs to Alamy*
