Product Code Database
Harry Peter " Bud" Grant Jr. (May 20, 1927 – March 11, 2023) was an American professional football player and coach in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL). Grant was head coach of the NFL's Minnesota Vikings for 18 seasons; he was the team's second (1967–83) and fourth (1985) head coach, leading them to four Super Bowl appearances, 11 division titles, one league championship and three National Football Conference championships. Before coaching the Vikings, he was the head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for 10 seasons, winning the Grey Cup four times.
Grant attended the University of Minnesota and was a three-sport athlete, in football, basketball, and baseball. After college, he played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Minneapolis Lakers where he won the 1950 NBA Finals. Grant left the NBA to play in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles before leaving for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL. A statue of Grant stands in front of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers' current stadium, Princess Auto Stadium.
Grant is the most successful coach in Vikings history, and he was the most successful in Blue Bombers history until he was surpassed by Mike O'Shea during the 2024 season. He is the fifth-most winningest coach in professional football history with a combined 286 wins in the NFL and CFL. Grant was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1994. He was the first coach to guide teams to both the Grey Cup and the Super Bowl, the only other being Marv Levy.
In 1940, Grant and two friends were duck hunting on Yellow Lake in northern Wisconsin when the Armistice Day Blizzard occurred. Grant survived by sheltering at a gas station while his friends were at a farmer's house. Armistice Day Blizzard nearly claimed Bud Grant Star-Tribune, Accessed March 11, 2023
Grant played football, basketball, and baseball at Superior Central High School.
While at the University of Minnesota, Grant was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. 1947 Minnesota Gopher yearbook, p.311, accessed August 13, 2020.
Grant's contract expired at the end of the 1952 NFL season and the Eagles refused to pay him what he thought he was worth. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL had been interested in Grant while in college. Grant left for Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1953 and became the first professional player to "play out his option" and leave for another team. He played for the Blue Bombers until 1956 as an offensive end and was named a Western Conference all-star three times. He led the Western Conference in pass receptions for the 1953, 1954, and 1956 seasons and receiving yards for the 1953 and 1956 seasons. He also holds the distinction of having made five interceptions in a playoff game, played on October 28, 1953, which is a record in all of professional football. The Blue Bombers played for the Grey Cup in 1953, but lost to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the 41st Grey Cup game.
During his ten seasons as head coach in Winnipeg, he led the team to six Grey Cup appearances winning the championship four times in 1958, 1959, 1961, and 1962. He finished his Blue Bombers coaching career with a regular season record of 102 wins, 56 losses, and two ties and an overall record of 118 wins, 64 losses, and 3 ties. Grant was the CFL Coach of the Year in 1965. Grant took on additional responsibilities as a club manager between 1964 and 1966. Max Winter, the Minnesota Vikings founder, contacted Grant in 1961 and asked him to coach the new NFL expansion team. Grant declined the offer and remained in Winnipeg until 1967 when Winter and General Manager Jim Finks were successful in luring Grant to Minnesota.
Over his tenure as Vikings head coach, Grant was known for instilling discipline in his teams and displaying a lack of emotion during games. He believed that football is a game of controlled emotion and teams would not follow the coach's lead if he were to panic or lose his poise during the course of a game. He required his team to stand at attention in a straight line during the entire national anthem played before the game and even had national anthem practice. Grant required outdoor practice during the winter to get players used to the cold weather and did not allow heaters on the sidelines during games. As per the latter practice it goes that Grant posited that with the heaters present on the sidelines the players would gather around the source of the warmth but if the heaters were not present the players would be paying attention to the game.
In his second year, Grant led the team to a divisional championship and his first NFL playoffs appearance. In 1969, he led the team to its first NFL Championship and their first appearance in the Super Bowl. The Vikings lost in Super Bowl IV to the American Football League champion Kansas City Chiefs. Prior to the 1970 season, Minnesota released Joe Kapp. After starting Gary Cuozzo at quarterback in 1970 and 1971, the Vikings re-acquired Fran Tarkenton prior to the 1972 season. During the 1970s, the Vikings appeared in three more Super Bowls (VIII, IX, and XI) under Grant and lost each one, but he was the first coach to lead a team to four Super Bowl appearances. He retired after the 1983 NFL season and was succeeded by Les Steckel, who led the team to a 3–13 record the following season. Steckel was fired as head coach after the 1984 season and Grant returned as coach for the Vikings in 1985. After one season where he returned the club to a 7–9 record, he stepped down again. Grant retired as the eighth most successful coach in NFL history with an overall record of 161 wins, 99 losses, and 5 ties. As of 2021, he also remains the most successful coach in Vikings history. During his tenure with the Vikings, he led the Vikings to four Super Bowl games, 11 division titles, one league championship, and three NFC championships.
Grant was the first coach to lead his teams to both a Grey Cup and a Super Bowl, with the only other one being Marv Levy.
| 1947–48 | Minnesota | 12 | 8.2 | |
| 1948–49 | Minnesota | 21 | .737 | 8.5 |
| 1949–50 | Minnesota | 1 | 5.0 | |
| Career | 34 | 8.3 | ||
| 1949–50† | Minneapolis | 35 | .365 | .412 | .5 | 2.6 | |
| 1950–51 | Minneapolis | 61 | .288 | .627 | 1.9 | 1.2 | 2.6 |
| Career | 96 | .318 | .590 | 1.9 | .9 | 2.6 | |
| 1950† | Minneapolis | 11 | .400 | .500 | .6 | 3.9 | |
| 1951 | Minneapolis | 6 | .364 | 1.000 | .8 | .0 | 1.8 |
| Career | 17 | .393 | .588 | .8 | .4 | 3.2 | |
| Led the league | |
| Bold | Career high |
Until his death, Grant was still listed as a consultant for the Vikings and maintained an office at the team's headquarters at TCO Performance Center in Eagan, Minnesota.
In 2004, Bud Grant would be asked to return to the position of Vikings head football coach by Red McCombs, hypothetically replacing Mike Tice. However, the deal would break down over the salary Grant would receive. As Grant would state afterwards, "I would have come back...for a short time, anyway. It certainly would have been exciting to do at 78 years old."
In 2014, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers unveiled a statue of Coach Grant outside IG Field. In 2016, Grant was inducted into the Blue Bomber ring of honour.
Pat Grant died of Parkinson's disease on March 4, 2009, at age 81.
Bud Grant died at home in Bloomington, Minnesota, on March 11, 2023, at age 95.
|
|
