83 YO NFL Icon Who Once Worked as a Salesman to Earn $600 Is Now NFL’s Second Richest Athlete Worth $300 Million

Former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Francis Asbury Tarkenton, aka Fran, showed his tremendous talent during the 60s-70s era in the NFL. However, he did not earn a lot of money throughout his playing career. Interestingly, he is currently the second richest NFL player in the history of the sport. So, how did he become so rich?


Fran Tarkenton played 18 seasons in the NFL

Fran started his career in the Vikings team. Then he moved to the New York Giants team and rejuvenated that franchise when the Jets were ruling. Later, he returned to the Vikings and ended his career there. He received the MVP award in 1975 and was 9x Pro-Bowler. 



Fran earned very little money from the NFL

After playing 18 seasons in the NFL, Fran earned a total of $1.2 million. Initially, he earned only $12,500 a year, which is nearly $111,000 in today’s value. Apart from playing, he also had plenty of side gigs, as he worked as a salesman for an Idaho-based trucking company, earning around $600 per month. He did advertising as well. 


How did Fran become so rich?

Right now, Fran’s net worth is around $300 million, only second to Roger Staubach’s $600 million. After retirement, he worked as a broadcaster for Monday Night Football. Then he found his interest in business and founded a computer program generator company called Tarkenton Software. He merged it with KnowledgeWare and sold the company in 1994 for $73 million. He now owns $15 million in real estate and $100 million in Apple stocks. At 83, he certainly showed everyone how to do business. 

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