Joe Kapp was named the "Toughest Chicano" by Sports Illustrated in July, 1970.

He spent the majority of his NFL career as the Minnesota Vikings Quaterback.

After his retirement, he was named head coach at his alma mater, University of California, Berkeley. He played both football and basketball at UCAL. Though he never made it to the much coveted Rose Bowl as the coach of UCAL, he is known for calling The Play, a lateral pass strategy which lead to the Bears defeat of arch rivals Stanford in 1982.