Chris Kluwe #2
Chris Kluwe #2
Minnesota Vikings, Tripping Icarus
Chris Kluwe is a punter for the National Football League's Minnesota Vikings, member of the rock band Tripping Icarus, and an outspoken equal rights activist.
He was originally signed as an undrafted free agent by the Seattle Seahawks in 2005 but he was released by the Seahawks for the final roster cutdown and was picked up the next day by the Vikings. Kluwe became one of the most surprising pickups for the Vikings, finishing the season with an average of 44.1 yards per punt, ranking second in the NFC and sixth in the league. He punted 71 times during his first season.
Kluwe developed into one of the top punters in the Pac-10 while playing for UCLA, graduating in 2003 with a double major in political science and history. He set school records for both total punt yardage and total number of punts in a season in 2003. In his senior year, he ranked 4th in the Pac-10 and 26th in the NCAA in yards per punt (42.9).
In addition to his full-time job as punter for the Vikings, Kluwe, an avid Guitar Hero 2 player, is the bassist for the local Minneapolis alternative/progressive rock band, Tripping Icarus. He formed the band in 2009 with friends Andrew Reiner (guitar) and Matthew Marshall (drums), and later recruited Jesse Revel to join on lead vocals.
Kluwe publicly lobbies for equal rights across the country and has become an outspoken LGBT activist. Recently (1/18/2013), on THE ELLEN DEGENERES SHOW, he became the first inductee to Ellen's Hall of Fame for his support of Marriage Equality.
He talks almost every week in the sports section of "The Half-Assed Morning Show" on Minneapolis-Saint Paul's KXXR 93X.
He's writing a book (looking at a June 25th release date) he describes as "a collection of uncensored essays and stories about whatever I feel like."
Kluwe and his wife Isabel had their first daughter in July 2008 and their second in 2010.
Chris Kluwe (ChrisWarcraft) on Twitter