Bud Grant, longtime Minnesota Vikings coach, dies at 95

Bud Grant, the energetic Hall of Fame coach who led the Minnesota Vikings for 18 years, built a team that went to four Super Bowls and was one of the best teams of the 1970s, died Saturday at his home in Bloomington, Minnesota. He was 95.

the The Vikings announce Grant’s death.

A gentleman in private, Grant often appeared silent and distant at work. Wiry and suave, with a prematurely flat gray haircut, he had the air of an ascetic field general in an era when many coaches were known for their hard driving and often theatrical personalities.

In 1967, after 10 years of successful coaching in Canada, Grant took over a forlorn franchise that ran through him. The first six seasons of existence. It quickly made it a winner and, along with the Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Rams, dominated the National Football Conference through most of the 1970s.

He had a regular season record of 158-96-5, for a . 621 winning percentage, the second-most winning percentage for a Vikings coach. The Vikings won eleven division titles and reached four Super Bowls, but never won one; They lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in 1970, the Miami Dolphins in 1974, the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1975, and the Oakland Raiders in 1977.

His teams were led by the famous defensive line known as the Purple People Eaters, headed by Alan Page and Carl Eller, and by an offense that included quarterback Fran Tarkenton and running back Chuck Foreman. He was named the NFL Coach of the Year in 1969 and was He has been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1994. He won 10 or more games seven times between the 1969 and 1976 seasons.

Grant was popular with his players because, unlike his contemporaries, he rarely yelled. “They start yelling at them when they’re in the Little League,” he said of his team. “The people who have made it this far are very good at turning it off.”

At the time, the Vikings were playing outdoors in Bloomington, Minnesota, just south of Minneapolis, and Grant used the wintry weather to help create a home advantage. He would practice for his team and play games there without gloves or side warmers. The players were not happy, but they understood his reasoning.

He often trained lightly so that his players could save their physical and mental energy for the games. Other coaches did two and sometimes three workouts a day during training camp; Grant assembled his team one week later than most, and they rarely squabbled. If the older player looks tired, he may get the day off.

Grant’s laissez-faire attitude extended into the regular season. He left the office just in time to go home to dinner, which is anathema in a league full of workaholics. An avid hunter and hunter since childhood, he would get up at 4 in the morning, be in a duck blind after 20 minutes, stay up until 7:30 or 7:45, and then go to his office.

“A good coach needs a patient wife, a loyal dog, and a great quarterback, but not necessarily in that order,” Grant wrote in The New York Times in 1984. I just happened to have any extra time that I didn’t spend with the quarterback.”

However, some players saw Grant as uptight and cold. He had a reputation for telling players only what he thought they needed to know, and he didn’t think they needed to know much. Some of them learned, for example, that they would start on Sunday not from Grant but from the reporters.

“Budd was a coach who wouldn’t get too close to the players, but he was a coach to the players,” Paul Krause, the Vikings’ longtime safety guard, wrote in The Times in 1990. Work hard, but let’s have fun at the same time. Existing players are missing out on such experiences with their coaches and teammates, because big money has made it a bitter business.”

Unlike the most famous coaches of his era, including Don Shula, Tom Landry and Chuck Noll, Grant left quietly. He retired after the 1983 season at the age of 56, apparently eager to see what life was like outside of football.

“I’ve spent every August since 1951 at boot camp,” he said. “August is empty. I have no idea what people will do in August, but I will find out.”

But after his successor, Les Stickell, led the team to a disastrous 3-13 finish the following year, the team’s longtime owner, Max Winter, persuaded Grant to return, offering him a lifetime contract and control of football operations. Grant said he came back not because he missed training or needed the money, but because he wanted to repair the Vikings’ image, which he helped build over two decades.

After finishing with a 7-9 record in 1985, he retired for the second time. He finished with his eighth career total coaching victories.

Despite retiring with the dubious distinction of losing four Super Bowls, Grant said he has no regrets. “I’m not sure it bothers me as much as it might bother some other people,” he said.

Harry Peter Grant Jr. was born on May 20, 1927, in Superior, Wisconsin, the eldest of six children. His father is a firefighter, trained with the Duluth Eskimos, one of the first NFL teams. His mother, Bernice Evelyn (Kelly) Grant, a homemaker, called her son Buddy Boy to distinguish him from her husband. Over time, the nickname was shortened to Bud.

After contracting polio as a boy, Bud strengthened his legs by shooting baskets and catching passes. In seventh grade, he was organizing soccer games between neighborhoods; In high school, he was the star of football, basketball, and baseball. Between high school and college, he served in the Navy. In the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, playing football for Paul Brown and basketball for Weeb Ewbank, both of whom coached in the NFL

At the University of Minnesota, Grant was a two-time Big Ten receiver in football, a two-time baseball star, and a three-year regular basketball player. He never finished his degree, choosing instead to work in sports.

Despite being a first-round selection for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1950, Grant delayed his NFL debut to play for the Minneapolis Lakers of the NBA midway through his senior year of college. He played two seasons as a backup He was part of the title-winning team his rookie year.

In 1951, he joined the Eagles. At 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, Grant played defensive back as a junior and became a receiver his sophomore season; He caught 56 ​​passes in 1952, second in the league.

After a contract dispute, Grant joined the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League, He became the first professional player to play his own choice And he left for another team. A receiver and cornerback with the Blue Bombers, he led the Western Conference in pass receptions in three of his four seasons with the team. In one playoff game, he intercepted a record five passes.

At 29, Grant was named head coach of Winnipeg, and in 10 seasons (1957-1966) compiled a 102-56-2 regular season record and won four Gray Cup championship games. He was named CFL Coach of the Year in 1965 and He was elected to the CFL Hall of Fame in 1983.

Grant’s wife, Pat, died in 2009. He was survived by two daughters, Kathy Fritz and Laurie Tangert, and three sons, Harry (known as Peter), Mike and Dan. Another son, Bruce, died in 2018. He is also survived by his brother, Jack. 20 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren.

In a sport dominated by technocrats and strongmen, Grant has shown that there is another way to train.

“I don’t know Bud can draw five plays, but with goodness, do people know?” Fran Tarkenton is quoted as saying in “Bud: The Other Side of the Glacier,” a biography written by Bill McGrane published in 1986. “He excels at managing people and making their decisions.

“There is no committee. There is only Bod. He makes more sense than any human being I know.”