4/29/2023 0 Comments The lost vikings blizzard![]() ![]() Though Grant was done with coaching then, his influence on his team and city remained. Grant returned for one season, a 7-9 finish, before longtime offensive coordinator Jerry Burns was promoted to the top job. Grant retired after the 1983 season, replaced by Les Steckel, whose fiery approach was the opposite of his calm predecessor and went 3-13. He strolled out for the pregame coin flip in a Vikings cap and a purple short-sleeved polo shirt, looking ready for a round of golf in defiance of temperatures of minus 6 degrees Fahrenheit and minus 25 with the wind chill. 10, 2016, when the Vikings staged the coldest game in franchise history in the first round of the playoffs against Seattle, at the university’s outdoor stadium while their building was being built, Grant served as an honorary captain. He infamously took the Vikings outdoors in the frigid winter for workouts and banned sideline heaters during games at Metropolitan Stadium. “That meant it was Bud calling my dad back for the postgame story, regardless of the outcome.”ĭisciplined to the core and insisting on sharp mental focus, Grant went so far as to have his players practice standing at attention during the national anthem. “I remember answering the phone as a young kid to silence on the other line, save for maybe the grunted word ‘Jim,’” Klobuchar said. She said in a statement released by her office that “no name loomed larger” in her house growing up than Grant’s. ![]() Amy Klobuchar’s late father, Jim Klobuchar, was a newspaper reporter who closely covered those Vikings teams. With such stars as Fran Tarkenton, Carl Eller, Alan Page, Paul Krause and Ron Yary - all Pro Football Hall of Famers - Grant led the Vikings to 10 Central Division crowns in 11 seasons. That sparked interest from the Vikings, who lured him back across the border in 1967. After starring as a two-way player for the Blue Bombers, once snagging five interceptions in a playoff game, he became their coach and took them to six Grey Cup games - winning the title in 1958, 1959, 19. He was second in the NFL with 56 receptions and 997 yards in 1952, before a contract dispute steered him to Winnipeg in the CFL. He pursued basketball first, playing two seasons for the Minneapolis Lakers and winning a title with them in 1950.īut it was football where Grant truly excelled, first for the Philadelphia Eagles. ![]() He learned early about the coaching business after enlisting in 1945, and played on a team at the Great Lakes naval station outside Chicago run by Paul Brown, who would go on to a Hall of Fame career as an NFL coach, executive and owner.įrom there, Grant played football, basketball and baseball at the University of Minnesota, a nine-time letterman who was drafted by both the NBA and NFL. ![]() He overcame a bout with polio as a child and became a three-sport high school star. was born on May 20, 1927, in Superior, Wisconsin, and given the nickname Bud by his mother. He won four league championships during his 10 years in Canada. You die every time you lose, but you’ve got to get over it.”Īn avid outdoorsman who spent many an offseason on fishing trips in Alaska or hunting expeditions in Arizona, Grant also was a successful coach in the Canadian Football League who became the first person elected to the Hall of Fame in both the CFL and NFL. “If you’re going to succeed, survive is maybe a better word,” Grant said during his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction speech in 1994 in Canton, Ohio. The heavily favored Vikings fell 23-7 to Kansas City, setting a tone for the infamous run of title game losses to Miami, Pittsburgh and Oakland from the perceived lesser conference following the 1973, 19 seasons. The line - whose motto was “Meet at the quarterback” - was joined by a powerful offense that helped Minnesota reach the Super Bowl in 1970, the final edition of the big game before the AFL-NFL merger. Underneath his outwardly stoic demeanor that some misunderstood as a coldness laid the warm heart of a man who truly loved his players and the sport of football,” Pro Football Hall of Fame president Jim Porter said.Īfter replacing another Hall of Famer, Norm Van Brocklin, Grant assembled the revered defensive line dubbed the Purple People Eaters. “There are so many adjectives appropriate to describe Coach Bud Grant: legendary, determined, successful. ![]()
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