CINCINNATI — Kyle Rudolph will fittingly retire in purple.
The longtime NFL tight end and 2008 Elder High School graduate announced his retirement from pro football on Monday morning.
Rudolph played 10 years in Minnesota before competing for the New York Giants in 2021 and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2022. He earned 4,773 yards receiving and 50 touchdowns during his career.
Rudolph will officially retire as a Minnesota Viking, a franchise he played for from 2011 to 2020.
"Couldn't be more excited for Kyle and his family to retire a Viking," Elder athletic director Kevin Espelage said. "He has impacted that community as much as he has the Elder community. Not all professional athletes accept the additional roles of role model and philanthropist. Kyle has and we are blessed to have him to be a part of the Elder Nation."
The 33-year-old Rudolph is transitioning into a media career as a Big Ten analyst for Peacock and a co-host for a Fox Sports radio show on Sunday nights.
Rudolph and his wife, Jordan, found a home in Minnesota during Kyle's career. He was a second-round draft pick of the Vikings in 2011 after his standout Notre Dame career.
Kyle and Jordan were instrumental in working with the University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital and creating Kyle Rudolph's End Zone, a family-centered space designed to help children and teenagers find a place to play, relax, engage in healthy therapies and socialize with other kids.
For patients with conditions that prohibit them from leaving their room, the Rudolphs made personal visits to their rooms. The Vikings said in 2018 that Rudolph’s year-round commitment allowed him to develop deep and meaningful relationships with patients and their families.
Elder football coach Doug Ramsey once described Rudolph as a five-star guy with a five-star heart.
"Our job as teachers and coaches is to put our students in position to strive for the higher things," Ramsey said. "I wish I could say that I am surprised by what Kyle has accomplished in his collegiate and professional career on the football field. Yet he was a guy that had a drive to always make himself better any way possible. What makes me so proud of him is how he took that drive and applied it to making the lives of so many people better."
Rudolph, a 2018 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year nominee, became the first Elder graduate to be a featured stag speaker at the school in 2019.
Rudolph, a LaRosa's High School Sports Hall of Famer,told the large audience at the school in February 2019 that he appreciated the fact that Elder prepared him not only athletically but academically. The ability to look a team official or chief executive officer in the eye during a meeting is poise he learned from his Elder and West Side upbringing.
When Elder announced in May 2018 the construction of the Panther Fitness Center, Rudolph was instrumental in the project. Upon signing a contract extension with the Vikings in 2014, Rudolph pledged during his press conference to help his high school improve its weight room facilities. Rudolph, who gave his financial support to the project, met with school administrators to discuss how to best meet the current and future needs of student-athletes.
"Kyle has been and will remain a great ambassador of Elder High School," Elder basketball coach Joe Schoenfeld said. "His reputation will always be a part of Elder High School for his accomplishments, leadership, and the positive role model he gave us."
Rudolph, a two-time Pro Bowl selection and 2013 Pro Bowl MVP, was an All-American football player and before a standout football career at Notre Dame. He was also a standout basketball player at Elder as a three-time Greater Catholic League player of the year with scholarship offers from the likes of Butler, Wake Forest and others.
Despite all the accolades, Rudolph always remembered how Elder helped to give him a foundation for success - in sports and in life.
"When people talk more about the great things that he has done off the field more than some of the amazing things he has done athletically - that will always make me most proud of what he has done and continues to do," said Ramsey. "He's a special person."
