After Hart, Kapp played in the Super Bowl

Wednesday afternoon, Santa Clarita’s most accomplished athletic product came back to the place where it all started.

 

Joe Kapp, former Hart High Quarterback was filming a segment for a network television show when KHTS caught up with him.

 

Kapp played multiple sports for Hart High, and shared the 1955 graduating class with current COC Board member Bruce Fortine.

 

In a storied career, Kapp attended the University of California where he played in the Rose Bowl, and then played in the Canadian football league for eleven years. There, he guided his team, the BC Lions to their first Grey Cup Championship.

 

Then, in 1967, Kapp entered the NFL, where he played four years with the Minnesota Vikings. First, he led the team to the NFL Championship, and then all the way to the Super Bowl the following year.

 

[view:node_ad=5]Other highly notable achievements in Kapp’s career include the fact that he was the last person to throw seven touchdown passes in a single game. Also, when he began coaching at his alma matter Cal, Joe Kapp designed a breathtaking kickoff return play, which was orchestrated with four seconds left in a game against Stanford. The plan worked, and Cal won the game. The play involved five laterals, and has been regarded as one of the great moments in college football history.

 

Now in his sixties, Kapp’s personality is still every bit as thunderous as it ever was. Always smiling, Kapp spent his television shoot cracking jokes and telling old stories.

 

As he stood on the field he told stories of playing football, basketball and baseball for Hart. Although, he was quick to admit that some things have changed.

 

“Well this field is a heck of a lot more modern than ours was…they’ve done a marvelous job of making the school first class. If you can’t get an education here, you can’t get educated,” he quipped.

 

When asked whether or not he looks back to his days as an Indian when thinking about his memorable sport’s career, Kapp gave a resounding “yes!”

 

“Without question it was the birthplace. Back then they didn’t have little league or pop warner. We went out on the playground and fought our own battles, and the bullies were there, the big guys…and we learned how to deal with them,” he said.