29 September 2023
Adam Thielen admitted that it’ll be weird playing against the Vikings this weekend. Why wouldn’t it be?
As a native Minnesota with an underdog story that has been covered in ways defenders never could him, Thielen became synonymous with the Vikings, emerging as the face of the franchise over the past decade.
The 33-year-old receiver grew up idolizing Randy Moss. A couple of decades later, kids grew up idolizing him. It was a movie script fit for Hollywood.
That’s why the fact that Thielen now plays for the Carolina Panthers still doesn’t make sense. He was supposed to play his entire career with the Vikings, then garner a farewell tour akin to that of Twins legend Joe Mauer of St. Paul, culminating with Thielen watching his No. 19 jersey get raised into the rafters at U.S. Bank Stadium.
All of that might still happen. There’s a chance the prodigal son returns home at some point.
In the meantime, Thielen will live on in the hearts he touched along the way, knowing his impact off the field is far more important than anything he will ever do on it.
His lasting legacy stretches across Minnesota. In the hallways at St. Paul Humboldt High School, where he restored an outdated weight room. On the football field at Brooklyn Center High School, where he replaced the stadium lights. At the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital, where he helped brighten the days of so many patients.
That doesn’t even begin to sum up Thielen’s reach, which, fittingly, was personified each home game in the thousands of No. 19 jerseys on people scattered about downtown Minneapolis.
Some of those jerseys are bound to pop up on Sunday afternoon at Bank of American Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.
“I’m sure there will be a lot of Vikings fans here and a lot of No. 19 jerseys in the stands,” Thielen said. “Not as many blue No. 19 jerseys. More purple No. 19 jerseys.”
There’s a reason for the support.
How it started
Everybody knows the underdog story by now about the kid from Detroit Lakes, Minn. He went to college without a scholarship offer and ended up at Division II Minnesota State Mankato on a $500 stipend. It wasn’t even enough to cover the cost of books at the time.
“The whole $500 story is true,” Mavericks football coach Todd Hoffner said. “We had no money to invest in him when we found out he was available.”
It wasn’t about the money for Thielen. It was about the opportunity to prove himself.
That’s exactly what he did, making a name for himself with the Mavericks, then signing with the Vikings as an undrafted free agent after an impressive rookie tryout.
The rest is history. Not only did Thielen establish himself among the best receivers to ever play for the Vikings, he and his wife Caitlin weaved themselves into fabric of Minnesota at large with their willingness to give back.
They started the Thielen Foundation in 2018.
“It has been an amazing professional ride, mostly due to the generous, authentic, and faith-based people that both Adam and Caitlin are,” Thielen Foundation executive director Amy Sinclair said. “They are passionate about using the platform that God has given them and encouraging young people to dream big.”
The inception of the Thielen Foundation started at a small coffeeshop in the North Loop.
Though the Thielens knew they wanted to make impact in some way, they leaned on Nick Engbloom as a sounding board in the early stages. As somebody who had previously worked with local athletes like former Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph and former Wild winger Jason Zucker, Engbloom helped the Thielens narrow their focus.
“There was no champion for mental health out there,” said Engbloom, the senior director of community partnerships at the University of Minnesota Foundation. “They were like, ‘Perfect. That’s it. Let’s be the champion for mental health.’ ”
The first gift from the Thielen Foundation was a $100,000 pledge to the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital to support its mental health patients. It snowballed from there with the Thielen Foundation having donated nearly $3 million across the state to those in need.
“He’s still the same guy he was when he was here,” Detroit Lakes athletics director Rob Nielsen said. “He’s a really good football player. He’s an even better person. I think the thing our community is the most proud of about Adam is that he’s somebody that we can be proud of.”
How it’s going
There was a poignant moment about a year ago while Thielen was attending a ribbon-cutting ceremony at a local high school. As he stood awestruck by the newly renovated weight room, senior quarterback Jorge Irizarry uttered the words, “We ain’t never had nothing this nice before.”
That’s because this stuff doesn’t usually happen to Humboldt.
“We’re used to bad news,” Humboldt athletics director Matt Osborne said. “We’re used to, ‘Oh, sorry. This project is going to get delayed.’ We’re used to, ‘Oh, sorry. We ran out of funding.’ We’re used to, ‘Oh, sorry. This isn’t going to work out.’ To have somebody of Adam’s stature come through and do it for us is something the kids will never forget.”
That anecdote captures the essence of the Thielen Foundation at its core. If there is a community in need, the Thielens want to use their platform to make a difference. It transcends sports for them.
“I’ll never forget his first visit to the hospital when a patient literally asked him, ‘Why do you care about us?’ ” Engbloom said. “He was like, ‘Why wouldn’t I care about you guys?’ To have Adam and Caitlin show up and show that they’re here for them goes a long way. These kids feel like they have hope.”
The simple act of showing up is something Brooklyn Center athletics director Nate Gautsch highlighted when talking about his experience with the Thielen Foundation. As excited as the students were to have the Thielens replace the football stadium lights, there were even more moved by the interactions they got to share with them throughout the process.
“I think what resonates with these kids is the fact that Adam and Caitlin were actually there,” Gautsch said. “They didn’t just write the check and move on. They were at that first game when we got to turn the lights on. That personal touch goes a long way for these kids.”
There are so many other examples of the Thielen Foundation making an impact with their most sizable donation coming last year when they pledged $1 million to be shared among a number of local nonprofits.
That included a $250,000 pledge to V3 Sports to help purchase fitness equipment for its new facility going up North Minneapolis.
“They see value in showing up for the community that they’re connected to,” said Malik Rucker, the director of strategic partnerships and community engagement at V3 Sports. “That’s the big part about Adam and Caitlin. They’re not popping in and handing out some cleats and bouncing. They’re focused on that long term.”
There was also a $150,000 pledge to Nexus Gerard Family Healing, a residential treatment in Austin, Minn., that offers mental health services.
“They had done a lot of work in the Twin Cities metro area and this was an opportunity to do something in greater Minnesota,” said Joelene Evenson, the senior director of Nexus Foundation for Family Healing. “I think it goes back to his roots and recognizing the limited resources in some areas across the state.”
The connections to Minnesota will continue for the Thielens regardless of where they reside. Need proof? According to Dan Furry, communications director for the Salvation Army, they already have committed to helping out around the Twin Cities this holiday season.
“You can take the Thielens out of Minnesota,” Furry said. “You can’t take Minnesota out of the Thielens.”
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