Joe Senser, the former Vikings tight end, radio broadcaster and Twin Cities businessman, died Thursday at 69. He arrived in Minnesota in 1979 as a sixth-round pick out of West Chester and quickly became one of the team’s most productive pass catchers.
Within two years, Senser had put together a season with 79 catches, 1,004 yards and eight touchdowns that earned him a Pro Bowl selection. Scott Studwell called him a late-round steal, a judgment backed by the numbers and by the way Senser worked his way into the lineup.
The height of that run came on Nov. 29, 1981, against Green Bay, when Senser caught 11 passes for 98 yards and a 13-yard touchdown. That game also brought the severe knee injury that cut short his career, ending what Studwell said should have been a far longer and more productive stay with the Vikings.
Mark Wilf and Zygi Wilf said the Vikings family was saddened by Senser’s death and said his impact on the organization and in the community was felt long after his playing days. They called him a generous soul whose positive personality reached former teammates, team staff and the Wilf family after they became stewards of the franchise.
Studwell said Senser still affected fans on and off the field and made his mark across the Twin Cities in many ways. He described him as a great man, player and person with a warm heart and huge smile, while Greg Coleman recalled meeting him at Vikings Training Camp in 1979 and remembered Senser’s blunt answer after a walk-through hit: “Touch, you don’t understand. I gotta do everything I can to make this team.”
That line fits the arc of Senser’s life in Minnesota as well as any résumé could. He was more than a promising tight end whose career ended too soon; he became part of the team’s memory and part of the city that he stayed in long after the playing days were over.
