Jim Finks Vikings Bears Saints Signed 3x5 GPC PSA/DNA Signed/Dated Government Post Card James Edward Finks (August 31, 1927 – May 8, 1994) was an American sports executive, primarily for American Professional Football. In 1964, Finks was named the general manager of the Minnesota Vikings. In 1968, Minnesota won its first NFL Central Division Championship, marking the start of a dynasty that produced 11 division championship teams and four Super Bowl appearances in the following 14 years. In 1969, the Vikings won 12 of 14 games and claimed the NFL championship before losing to the American Football League's Kansas City Chiefs 23–7 in Super Bowl IV. Finks joined the Chicago Bears, as general manager and executive vice-president. He spent the remainder of the 1974 season studying the Bears player talent as well as opposition players from all around the NFL. The next year, he began employing the same formula he used so well in Minnesota to improve the Bears' talent pool. The Bears under Finks improved. By 1977, they reached the playoffs for the first time since 1963. They were a playoff team again in 1979 with a 10–6 record, best-ever for the Finks-led Bears. After leaving the Bears, Finks joined the Chicago Cubs as president and chief executive officer in September 1983. He remained through the 1984 season when the Cubs captured the 1984 National League's Eastern Division crown. On January 14, 1986, Finks took charge of a New Orleans Saints team that never had experienced a winning season in its 19-year history. His first move was to hire a new coach, Jim Mora. Success came more quickly for Finks in New Orleans than it had in either Minnesota or Chicago. In just his second season, the Saints won 12 games for their first winning season ever. Finks was named NFL Executive of the Year for the second time. Finks died in 1994 in Metairie, Louisiana from lung cancer. He was selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1995. Finks became the first person whose enshrinement was based substantially on achievements with the Saints franchise, though he had also previously built the Vikings and Bears into Super Bowl teams and spent his longest tenure with the Vikings.
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