Matt Birk helped the Ravens win Super Bowl XLVII (Mark
Rebilas/USA Today).
BALTIMORE, Md. – Former Harvard standout
Matt Birk '98 has announced that he is retiring from the National
Football League after 15 seasons playing for the Minnesota Vikings
and Baltimore Ravens.
Birk, who was named the NFL's Walter Payton Man of the Year in
2012 for off-the-field work and playing excellence, helped the
Ravens win Super Bowl XLVII earlier this month.
A sixth-round pick by the Minnesota Vikings in the 1998 NFL Draft,
Birk, a center, was a two-time All-Pro and six-time Pro Bowl
selection during his illustrious career. He played in 210
regular-season games and made 124 straight starts to end his
career.
A 1998 graduate from Harvard with a degree in economics, Birk
earned All-Ivy League and All-ECAC honors and was the first Crimson
lineman to be selected in the NFL draft since Roger Caron '85 in
1985.
