Matthew Robert Birk was born on July 23,1976 and is a former American football center who played in the National Football League for 14 seasons.
41 Facts About Matt Birk
2.
Matt Birk spent most of his professional career playing for the Minnesota Vikings.
3.
Matt Birk was the Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota running alongside Scott Jensen in the 2022 Minnesota gubernatorial election.
4.
Matt Birk graduated from Harvard with a degree in economics and entered the 1998 NFL Draft.
5.
Matt Birk was drafted towards the end of the draft by the Minnesota Vikings.
6.
Matt Birk spent his first two seasons with the Vikings as a backup offensive lineman.
7.
Matt Birk became the starting center in 2000 and went on to be selected to six Pro Bowls and two All-Pro second-teams during his career with the Vikings.
8.
Matt Birk started a Catholic school in Burnsville, Minnesota in 2019.
9.
Active in anti-abortion causes and local Republican politics, Matt Birk joined Jensen's gubernatorial candidacy in March 2022.
10.
Jensen and Matt Birk faced incumbents Tim Walz and Peggy Flanagan in the general election and lost the race.
11.
Matt Birk attended Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St Paul, Minnesota, and was a letterman and standout in football, basketball, and track and field.
12.
Matt Birk was an All-St Paul Conference honoree, an Academic All-State honoree, and an All-State honoree in both football and basketball.
13.
Matt Birk attended Harvard University to play college football for the Harvard Crimson.
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Matt Birk attained All-Ivy League, All-New England and Division I-AA All-Eastern College Athletic Conference first-team football honors.
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Matt Birk graduated from Harvard University in 1998 with a degree in economics.
16.
Matt Birk started every game for the Vikings at center from 2000 to 2003.
17.
In 2004, Matt Birk missed the last four games of the season due to surgery to treat a sports hernia.
18.
Matt Birk missed the entire 2005 season with a hip injury that required surgery.
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Matt Birk returned to form in 2006, anchoring the Vikings offensive line from the center spot and earning his fifth career Pro Bowl selection.
20.
In 2007, Matt Birk was named Minnesota Vikings Man of the Year for the sixth year in a row.
21.
Matt Birk earned his sixth Pro Bowl selection, tying Mick Tingelhoff for most Pro Bowl appearances by a Vikings center.
22.
Matt Birk returned to the Vikings' home stadium, the Hubert H Humphrey Metrodome, for the team's final game in the stadium before its demolition for the construction of US Bank Stadium.
23.
An unrestricted free agent in the 2009 offseason, Matt Birk signed a three-year, $12 million contract with the Baltimore Ravens on March 4.
24.
In March 2012, Matt Birk signed a new three-year deal with the Ravens.
25.
Matt Birk won his first career championship during Super Bowl XLVII against the San Francisco 49ers.
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Matt Birk finished his career with the Ravens with two fumble recoveries and no fumbles.
27.
Matt Birk has been involved in politics in the Minnesota Republican Party.
28.
Matt Birk, who has had three concussions since high school, announced in February 2013 his intentions to donate his brain to the Boston University School of Medicine for research into chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
29.
In 2012, Matt Birk spoke out against same-sex marriage, filming a video in opposition to a new Maryland law legalizing same-sex marriage.
30.
Also in 2012, Matt Birk wrote an op-ed, published in the Star Tribune, calling for passage of the Minnesota Marriage Amendment that would amend that state's constitution to prohibit gay marriage.
31.
In January 2018, Matt Birk spoke at the 45th annual March for Life.
32.
The party endorsed the ticket in May 2022, with Matt Birk's selection appealing to Republican base voters.
33.
Scott and Matt Birk generally trailed in surveys of Minnesota voters.
34.
Walz and Flanagan released copies of their tax returns ahead of the election, while Jensen and Matt Birk declined to do so.
35.
Matt Birk said in the same speech that American culture "loudly but stealthily promotes" abortion by prioritizing women's careers over motherhood.
36.
Matt Birk's comments were criticized by opponent Peggy Flanagan as well as others.
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Matt Birk played an atypically large role on the ticket, maintained his own campaign website, campaign material, and yard signs separate from Jensen's.
38.
Matt Birk was named the sixth-smartest athlete in 2010 by the Sporting News.
39.
Matt Birk scored a 46 on the Wonderlic Test, the seventh-highest score in NFL history.
40.
Matt Birk established the HIKE Foundation in 2002, an educational nonprofit targeting at-risk Twin Cities' youth.
41.
Matt Birk received the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award in 2011 for his commitment to improving literacy among at-risk youth.