There's a special locker in the locker room at the Vikings headquarters at Winter Park. I've walked by it so many times that I forgot that it's something that isn't even known to exist by most of the team's fanbase.
Tucked in the southwest corner of the team's locker room is a locker that's gone untouched for nearly 17 years. It was the former locker of the late Korey Stringer.
Stringer died on August 1st, 2001 after his body temperature rose to unsafe levels at the teams training camp in Mankato, MN. A tragedy that will never be forgotten inside the organization and surrounding the Minnesota Vikings team.
Stringer's locker went untouched the rest of that season following his death and before the next season started it was encased in plexi-glass with Korey's stool, his jersey and a photo of him encased inside. On the top, Stringer's #77 placard still labels it. It's been this way since 2002.
Today, as the Vikings toured the media through a mostly empty Winter Park facility in preparations for this weekend's move to their new headquarters in Eagan, the team locker room was all packed up. Dozens of pallets, a bunch of bins and some wooden lockers were all shrink wrapped and ready to be loaded onto trucks. But one locker remained untouched.
Just as it was left after his passing, still encased in glass, Korey Stringer's locker stands alone.
Eventually, the locker will be transported, as is, over to Eagan where it will be placed on public display in the team's Hall of Fame that will be added to the complex in the near future. But for now, it remains a tribute, the last memory standing of 37 years of Vikings at Winter Park.