Keith Millard and Chris Doleman stormed opposing quarterbacks for years.

Occasionally, they also hit up the press box.

Millard (18) and Doleman (21) helped the 1989 Vikings set a franchise single-season record with 72 sacks.

There also were times when each lobbied Dan Endy, Sr., to boost their numbers before leaving the Metrodome.

Endy was tasked with recording every ounce of havoc brought forth to foes by Vikings defensive players from 1969-2019. He relied on binoculars and attentiveness without the modern convenience of video reviews for so many years.

Endy recently passed away at age 95. He died of pulmonary fibrosis but not before leaving an incredible legacy across the NFL and local landscapes.

The Philadelphia native helped co-found NFL Films with "Big" Ed Sabol. Together, they secured rights to the 1962 NFL Championship. The finished film resonated with Commissioner Pete Rozelle, eventually delivering players personas into living rooms. As general manager, Endy made the decision to hire John Facenda for the generational voiceover narration that enhanced the iconic imagery.

Instead of relocating to New York when NFL Films established its shop, Endy headed to Minnesota to raise his family of six. He began working with the Vikings in 1969, a season that featured Joe Kapp's record-tying seven touchdown passes in the home opener and the dawning of the dynastic Purple People Eaters.

Endy chronicled the dominance of Alan Page, Carl Eller, Jim Marshall, Gary Larsen and others, as well as future waves of formidability. On the lighter side, Endy also recommended Bob Lurtsema for the Benchwarmer Bob ad campaign (four of Endy's children have cameos in the light-hearted commercials).

Dan Endy, Jr., who previously worked in communications and operations for the Vikings, this week offered memories of games shared with his father from over the years.

"[The stats] were never official, because the coaches would always take it [and change them]," Dan recalled. "I can remember guys like Keith Millard coming up through the press box in the Metrodome when they exited. They would look at the sheet and say, 'I had two sacks,' and we'd have to say, 'Those are just for Sunday and for reporters to use.' The coaches are going to do the final — they're going to go in and determine if that's one-and-a-half or two sacks. They'd give Dad shit, and he would roll with it. But, yeah, he enjoyed that. He obviously enjoyed being around the game of football."

I reply, "I mean Millard wants his numbers, man."

"Oh, for sure, and Doleman was no easier," Dan laughed.

Dan and his five siblings grew up in Minnesota. He began helping out at Vikings games as a teenager and was working Dec. 14, 1980, when Tommy Kramer and Ahmad Rashad combined for the Miracle at the Met.

"Normally my brother and I would be in a back room with mimeograph machines," Dan said. "But we kind of thought, 'Well, let's go watch.' So ordinarily, I wouldn't really be watching from the stats booth. I just happened to be standing in there when they threw it."

The Endys also were working in the press box when Case Keenum's pass to Stefon Diggs resulted in the 61-yard Minneapolis Miracle to send the 2017 Vikings to the NFC Championship.

That team fell one game shy of becoming the first to participate in a Super Bowl in its home stadium, but it also meant the Endys were able to work their second Super Bowl together (XXVI at the Metrodome in 1992 and LII at U.S. Bank Stadium in 2018).

One game that will always stand above others occurred Dec. 8, 2019.

Prior to the game, Bob Hagan, who retired in 2023 after 32 years with the Vikings (and had been hired by Dan, Jr.) arranged for a surprise No. 50 jersey presentation for Endy. Always a relationships guy, Hagan made sure Dan, Jr., was able to attend but kept it a surprise.

"Bob made a point of calling me and saying, 'You need to come to this game.' He hadn't really told me why, so as much of a surprise as it was for my dad, it was a surprise for me, too," Dan said, becoming emotional. "A kind, kind gesture by Bob and the Vikings.

"I have that jersey, and it's hanging in my bedroom right now," he added. "It had been on the wall of my parents' house, and when we moved them into assisted living in June, you know, a lot of things couldn't go, so I glommed onto that quickly. It meant a lot to my dad, and more than that, it meant a lot to me and my siblings, to my mom."

The defense dominated in the 20-7 victory that day, with safeties Harrison Smith and Andrew Sendejo recording interceptions and Danielle Hunter tallying three sacks and hitting 50 for his career.

The 2019 campaign wound up being the final one for Endy but Hagan noted his impact and how much his vision for NFL Films has been enjoyed for generations.

"I always appreciated how he got to know everybody up there, whether it was the stats booth or just some of the different workers in the press box that worked for the Vikings, or maybe other media, or maybe the people running the food service," Hagan said. "He always had a story for everybody, and he always treated everybody with the utmost class — just a really special person, somebody that spent 50 years just doing a side job with the Vikings, something he loved, which was pro football.

"He was very passionate about it," Hagan added. "He had a keen eye, and he was very good at what he did for a very long period of time."

Hagan, who was born in 1968 and grew up in a Vikings household also appreciates what Endy was able to do with the co-founding of NFL Films.

"Dan was there at the very start of being one of the guys that helped found, put together NFL Films as we know it today," Hagan said. "I think some of his work is legendary, and it just goes to show just how much the public wants that and loves the great storytelling. And that's what Dan Endy did. He was a storyteller.

"They wanted to find the ways to make the NFL become the number one sport in America," Hagan said. "When NFL Films was starting, that really was when football overtook some of the other sports and became the No. 1 sport in America because they got to see these players up close and on the sidelines and hear them speak, and hear the noises being made, and see them with their helmets off, and that that was a huge change from what people had known before about the players and coaches in this league."

Dan said he and his family have an "unimaginable amount of pride" in the role Dan, Sr., played in launching NFL Films.

"He was pretty humble. It never really seemed to irk him [that his role wasn't publicized], or at least I never heard him say so, so God bless him for that," Dan said. "Because I'm pretty sure if it were me, I'd be banging a drum from a rooftop somewhere.

"The way the game is broadcast today, or we wouldn't have shows like Quarterback or [Hard Knocks] without the NFL Films legacy," he added. "So it's impossible not to be proud of that."