Carl Eller Is A Card Carrying Member Of The Public Library
(aka my brush with frame)

 

Carl EllerCarl Eller is most famous for being a defensive lineman and one of the Vikings’ Purple People Eaters.  His election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004 was long overdue.  Carl Eller was even a star on the University of Minnesota’s last Rose Bowl team.  However, Carl Eller’s playing days are a little past before time.

As such, my most vivid memory was when I saw him in the Minneapolis public library.  It had been a particularly long day for me when I headed to the public library.  I had been unable to find a text I needed to read at the University of Minnesota library and I thought all hope was lost.  So, I headed home in a despondent funk, trying to manufacture excuses I would use should my professor call on me the next day.  Alas, as I sat on the bus we passed the public library and I recognized that not all hope was lost.

 

 I was able to find the text that I needed.  In the midst of reading I looked up to see a large man walking across the room.  For whatever reason, this man caught my attention and, after a moment’s pause, I recognized that it was Carl Eller.  He smiled and high-fived a young developmentally disabled man as he made his way to another section of the library.  Before I even had the chance to decide whether to approach him he was gone.

 

In retrospect I am glad that I did not have a chance to talk to him.  This is not to say that I believe that he would not be a sparkling conversationalist.  I just can not imagine I would have said anything of worth.  I also suspect that Carl Eller had some business to conduct at the library I would have not have been anything more than a mildly annoying roadblock on his way to his goal.  Still, to this day I will catch myself wondering what Carl Eller was doing in the Minneapolis public library.

 

Read more about Carl Eller, the Purple People Eaters and the disappointment that is being a Vikings fan in “My Least Favorite Team is My Favorite Team”