He was the sixth and youngest child of German immigrants Henry and Clara (Ortmeier) Tingelhoff.
He attended Lexington High School, playing center and linebacker for the football team.
Those Viking teams won four of the five NFL/NFC championships in which they participated, and played in Super Bowls IV, VIII, IX, and XI, losing all four games.
Tingelhoff was one of 11 players to have played in all four Vikings Super Bowl appearances in the 1970s,[8] and is generally considered to have been the premier center of his era.
[4][11] In 2011, Tingelhoff was named as that year's recipient of the Gerald R. Ford Legends Award.
[6] The notoriously rugged hall of fame linebacker Dick Butkus (and member of the NFL's 100th Anniversary Team),[13] said Tingelhoff was the “'toughest center I ever played against.
[1] Tingelhoff had been among the first group of former players filing a concussion lawsuit against the NFL, alleging they were misled about the long-term effects of head injuries, which settled in 2013.