On This Date in Minnesota History: October 12

*October 12, 1989 – Vikings General Manager Mike Lynn acquired running back Herschel Walker from the Dallas Cowboys on this date in what many Minnesotans consider the worst trade in sports history.

Herschel Walker²

“The Vikings coaches reluctantly accepted Walker after the trade [but] never totally used the tool they had been given. From the moment he arrived in Minneapolis there was Herschel Mania everywhere he went. After a 2 ½ hour practice session where he was just taught 12 offensive plays, Walker had an incredible debut against the Green Bay Packers, where he produced the best rushing game by a Viking back since 1983 and the first 100 yards rushing performance by a Viking since 1987, gaining 148 yards on 18 carries.

He received three standing ovations from the record Metrodome crowd of 62,075, with the Vikings winning the game after previously having lost four successive games and 14 of 18 games to the Packers. His production went downhill from there, with the team questioning his talent and commitment to football, especially after he got involved in the Bobsled program of the United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, [which] eventually led him to participate in the 1992 Winter Olympics.”¹

Walker, who generally referred to himself in the third person, revealed that he suffers from dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as "multiple personality disorder,” in his 2008 autobiography Breaking Free.¹   

http://min.scout.com/2/11653.html

¹http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herschel_Walker

²http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Herschel_Walker.jpg

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