For 4 decades, Dennis Foy has painted commemorative Minnesota Vikings game footballs
CIRCLE PINES, Minn. — Any given Sunday, win or lose, coach Kevin O'Connell gives Vikings players a post-game speech. And if they're lucky, he gives them a game ball. But before Danielle Hunter or Justin Jefferson can display their football at home, Dennis Foy has to get his hands on it.
"During the season it's rush, rush, rush," Foy said.
For nearly 40 years, he has been on the receiving end of footballs from the Vikings. They send him dozens each season along with emails about whose name they want on the game ball, and what they want it to say.
"It's a full-time job, really," he said. "First, I shellac them and then I give them a couple coats of black-out white. Then I give them the shiny enamel."
Then he stencils, traces and paints them in his Circle Pines basement. His workspace is his laundry room. He's got a studio, a TV to watch Vikings games, and it's all next to his washer and dryer. After all, Sundays are for washing clothes, which makes his wife Dana Foy happy.
"I love the Vikings," she said. "I'm the one who gets the emails, so I have to print out the information for him that they send, from the Vikings."
She's also the one who has to tell her husband to take a timeout every once in a while. Each ball takes about two hours to make, and if the team has a good week, he can work on 10 game balls at a time.
His game balls often end up at team headquarters or U.S. Bank Stadium. He's made game balls for legends, but he's also done work for high schools, colleges, the Minnesota Lynx and even the New York Knicks.
The more purple paint he goes through, the better for the Vikings and their fans, and what comes out in the end is MVP-worthy. At 77, Dennis Foy admits he's slowing down a bit, but like the rest of us, he's an eternal optimist. Maybe this is the year one of his game balls is a Super Bowl-winning ball.
"I'd like to see that," he said.
When he gets done with the game balls, he ships them back to the Vikings, who hand them out to players or put them on display. He's become friends with former Vikings receiver Gene Washington, who is a big fan of his work.
