Bekannt ist er vor allem durch seine Erfolge als Head Coach der Minnesota Vikings, mit denen er 1969 Meister der NFL wurde und dreimal den Super Bowl erreichte. Throughout the game, Bud didn’t say one thing about him playing, and starring, in the 1949 game the Gophers won at Columbus. He was 70. The browser you are using is no longer supported on this site. Bud Grant’s long-range plan was to coach the Vikings until his youngest son, Danny, now a high school junior, was ready to enroll in college. “I’m not a bird watcher,” Grant will say. High School: Superior Central As Player: 2 Yrs More bio, uniform, draft, salary … Outdoors: Legendary ex-Vikings coach Bud Grant, 93, reflects on his lifelong avian affinity ... the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League and the Vikings, Grant … He came to the Vikings after a 10-year tenure (102-56-2) with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Canadian Football League. I took a shot and it went down awkwardly on the other side of a small bay. In Bud Grant's 18 years as head coach of the Minnesota Vikings from1967 through 1983 and a one-year final stint in 1985, his teams compiled a .620 winning percentage (158-96-5) in regular-season play. It was time to do the things I liked to do.”. Ten coaches will make the cut. Keen eyesight was one reason Grant was MVP of the Gophers basketball team during his 1946-49 tenure at the U. But, of course, all grouse are the same size.”. Grant was named the university’s top athlete in the first half of the last century, topping Bronko Nagurski and Bruce Smith for the honor. Bud Grant (* 20.Mai 1927 in Superior, Wisconsin) ist ein ehemaliger US-amerikanischer American Football-Spieler und -Trainer in der National Football League (NFL). Grant was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame … And that’s happened in my lifetime.”. Bud's son, Mike Grant, has been the football head coach for Eden Prairie High School in Eden Prairie, Minnesota since 1992. © Star Tribune/Star Tribune/Photos by DENNIS ANDERSON dennis.anderson@startribune.com/Star Tribune/TNS. In 28 seasons as a head coach, Grant won a total of 290 football games. “Just to be here is enjoyable.”. Positive as well is his relationship with Smith, a good-humored partner who isn’t afraid to audible when she suspects the coach has made a wrong call. “We had a plan before we got married to have four kids,” Grant said. But unless he’s asked about football, he doesn’t talk about it.”. I don’t know if we’re poisoning them or what’s happening. Oftentimes he depends on Smith, who is also a hunter, to alert him about incoming birds. Bud Grant was head coach of the Minnesota Vikings from 1967 to 1983 and 1985. Below: Mark Hamilton, right, of Minot, N.D., is a longtime friend and hunting partner of Bud Grant’s. “I used to come to North Dakota and love the sound of meadowlarks,” Grant said. “I love every minute of this,” Grant said. Grant’s retirement from coaching at age 58 surprised everyone but him and his late wife, Pat, who died of Parkinson’s disease in 2009. I’m interested in all of them.”. “Still, it was a great morning,” Grant said. The blackbirds are also gone. Ex-Vikings coach Bud Grant talked to the Des Moines Register about his former player. Grant is the most successful coach in Vikings history, and the third most successful professional football coach overall (behind Don Shula and George Halas ), with a combined 290 wins in the NFL and CFL. Except for the death of his wife and the passing of his son, Bruce, in 2018, Grant’s memories of his long life are almost entirely positive. Connect with friends faster than ever with the new Facebook app. Grant took the Vikings to the … Mick Tinglehoff, Minnesota Vikings' offensive center about to snap the football to quarterback Fran Tarkington. Unfortunately, he and the Vikings were 0-4 in those games. Afterward we returned to my house to watch the Gophers play Ohio State at Columbus. And, of course, ducks. “Now, there aren’t many blackbirds or ducks. They’re just not here. Alert and keen for the sun to bruise the eastern sky, foreshadowing the prairie’s first duck flights, Grant, with two fake knees and a cane-assisted gait that befits his age, is as happy, it seems, as the proverbial lark. Finally, at the end of the game, when Christensen showed an old clip of Bud running back an interception for a touchdown in the 1949 game, I said, ‘You played in that game?’ All he said was, ‘Yup, that’s me.’ ”. Now 93 years of age, Grant has been retired from football for more than three decades. Former Vikings head coach gets street named for him in Harrisburg, PA. ... (61 percent), and playoff game appearances (12), coming in behind only Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Bud Grant. Sometimes he’d fish. Bud married Pat (formerly Patricia Bellew; born March 28, 1927) in 1950, and they had six children. Legendary coach Bud Grant and his players recall special days away from football and hunting pheasants together. Now, as night yields grudgingly to an unusually still North Dakota morning, a few dozen decoys have been spread into the field, and Grant, who sits in a type of lawn chair whose convertible top can be flipped open when he wants to shoot, has tucked in with Smith against giant barley bales that will nourish pastured cattle in the coming cold winter. But he can’t look out his cabin window and see the purple martins that once returned to his yard every spring, or the bluebirds or the swallows or even the crows. Grant was asked if he wanted to pick up the decoys and go for breakfast. The two have traveled to Africa together, among other places, to hunt. He amassed a 158-96-5 record, making the postseason 12 times and the Super Bowl four times. Swallows. Grant coached from 1967 to 1985, all with the Vikings. Higher in the sky now, the midmorning sun had replaced the moon over the North Dakota prairie. “I don’t have to kill ducks to enjoy it. Mike Grant has coached Eden Prairie to eleven state championships since 1996. Bluebirds. College: Minnesota. Crows. Hall of Fame head coach Bud Grant, a Minnesota icon and one of the best NFL coaches of the 1970s, turns 93 today. “I can’t ever remember shooting a clay pigeon. Show full articles without "Continue Reading" button for {0} hours. Then without comment or movement, he shifts his focus to a pintail duck that darts through the decoys and disappears. Grant and his team handled cold weather differently than other clubs. Wrens. Bud Grant was the Head Coach for the Vikings from 1967-1983 and in 1985. “Then one day a mallard came by, and mallards on Lake Superior were very rare. Other times he’d train a raven to come to his call and sit on his shoulder. Famous as a coach for his sideline stoicism, Grant lifts his eyes toward the honk, honk of the big birds long enough to calculate their distance and direction. Bud Grant'… Other articles where Bud Grant is discussed: Minnesota Vikings: …the hiring of head coach Bud Grant in 1967. “Afterward, in a tavern where the men gathered, they extolled my prowess as a hunter, and said my grouse was the biggest one taken that day. His NFL regular season coaching record is 158-96-5. “It was a game the Gophers won for the first time in 51 years at Columbus, and it was the last year Ray Christensen called the Gopher games. The following browsers are supported: Chrome, Edge (v80 and later), Firefox and Safari. “My dad was not a big hunter, but he was a gregarious guy who was invited once to tag along with some friends on a grouse hunt, and bring me along,” Grant said. Bob Lessard, 89, has hunted and fished with Grant since 1967, when Grant moved from Winnipeg to the Twin Cities to coach the Vikings. Heralded for his triumphs at the U, as well as with the world champion Minneapolis Lakers pro basketball team, the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League and the Vikings, Grant at each stop played hooky whenever he could. Sometimes he’d hunt. I can remember when we had to wait until all the blackbirds left a slough before we could hunt ducks, there were so many of them. Grant, who turns 93 on May 20, said he was saddened by the death of Shula, the winningest coach in NFL history with 328 victories. Learn about Bud Grant (Football Coach): Birthday, bio, family, parents, age, biography, born (date of birth) and all information about Bud Grant Their son Mike Grant has been the football head coach for Eden Prairie High School in Eden Prairie, Minnesota since 1992. Football is alive and well, and he could watch a game on TV almost any day of the week, if he wanted to. Former Minnesota Vikings Coach Bud Grant once said, “A good coach needs a patient wife, a loyal dog and a great quarterback. Pat was a great influence on the kids and she insisted they all go to college, which they did, and they all graduated with no student loans. “I remember Bud was here in North Dakota to hunt ducks in the fall of 2000,” Hamilton said. He’s lived longer than he thought he would, and all but a handful of his close friends are dead. It’s part of the aging process.”. Grand reminisced about his friend and rival Don Shula, who died Monday, May 4. As a kid growing up in Superior, Wis., while delivering newspapers door to door, Grant’s curiosity was piqued by the fittings of sparrows and the comings and goings of barn pigeons. Former Minnesota Vikings head coach Bud Grant says Skol to the fans during a half time event honoring the 1969 Vikings team during the Sept. 22, 2019, football game at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. Both are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame; Grant … Grant’s 2013 biography is titled “I Did It My Way.” A more recent retrospective is called “I’ve Been Lucky.’’. Production-wise, the outing had been a bust, with just two mallards on the ground. Harry Peter “Bud” Grant, Jr…..who was a former coach and player of American football and Canadian football. Seagulls. Hamilton isn’t sure whether Grant is more intrigued by his day job or by his adventures outdoors. Top: North Dakota’s vast western prairies and croplands have been visited regularly each fall by Bud Grant during the 35 years or so since he retired as Vikings coach. “Later, Dad’s friends said to him, ‘Why don’t you let the boy carry a gun?’ and Dad said, ‘We don’t have a gun for him.’ Well, one of the men gave me his gun and the first grouse — this was a sharptail, which we used to have in northwest Wisconsin — that got up in front of me, I shot on the wing. There were a lot of ducks then, too. He led the Blue Bombers to 6 Western Conference championships and to 6 Grey Cups. He came to the Vikings after a 10-year tenure (102-56-2) with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Canadian Football League. “But I am a bird observer. On the second morning of hunting, a moon-brightened sky again welcomed Grant, Smith and Hamilton, along with local friends Scott and Trevor Tranby. “Pat might say, ‘There they are!’ and I’ll say, ‘Where?’ and she’ll say, ‘Right in front of you!’ ” Grant said. Or play fetch with one of his Labrador retrievers. “But it doesn’t bother me. Coach Grant was inducted into the Vikings Ring of Honor on November 8, 1998. “And he knows the names of every brook trout creek between the Twin Cities and his cabin in Wisconsin. Minneapolis -- Former Michigan State University star Clinton Jones, right, meets new Minnesota Vikings' head coach Bud Grant in the Twin Cities Tuesday after the National Football League club picked him second in the combined NFL-AFL college player draft today. Any time you talk Minnesota Vikings football or hunting, it's fun to get the opinion of Bud Grant. Bud Grant was the Head Coach for the Vikings from 1967-1983 and in 1985. “I said I’d speak if I could go hunting while I was there,” Grant said. He led the Vikings to 11 NFC/NFL divisional championships, claiming titles in 1968-71, 1973-78, and 1980. His Vikings teams played in Super Bowls IV, VIII, IX, XI. © 2019 Minnesota Vikings Football, LLC , All Rights Reserved. Former Minnesota Vikings head coach Bud Grant was a wild man. Appearing first, high overhead, is a smattering of geese. Vikings legend Bud Grant held some mementos of his coaching career out of his garage sale, but he's not sentimental about it, writes Ben Goessling. 1967 Press Photo Vikings football coach Bud Grant with new player, Clinton Jones This is an original press photo. Former Vikings coach Bud Grant is one of 20 coaches nominated to make NFL’s 100 All-Time Team. With a museum’s worth of taxidermied mementos, the home’s decorating motif is hunting and more hunting. your own Pins on Pinterest Because the Vikings played outside at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minnesota cold, they practiced outside in the cold. “If he wouldn’t have been hurt in college, no question, he would have been one of the top three players selected in the draft,” former Vikings coach Bud Grant said. Grant, a future member of the Hall of Fame, guided the Vikings to all four of their Super Bowl appearances over the course of his career. Like us on Facebook to see similar stories, Cuomo crisis recalls Northam’s; supporters say no comparison, White supremacist propaganda nearly doubled in US in 2020. Discover (and save!) In 28 seasons as a head coach in Canada and with the Minnesota Vikings, Grant's teams reached the playoffs 20 times, played in 10 championship … “We had a great morning, killing 10 drake mallards and two pintails with 12 shots. This was the opening of North Dakota’s nonresident duck hunting season, and Grant and his partner, Pat Smith, were guests of their friends, Mark and Penny Hamilton of Minot, N.D. Kindred spirits, Grant and Mark Hamilton met in the mid-1980s when the latter asked Grant to travel to Canada to speak to the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation. The … Blackbirds. Perhaps due to his experience in the Navy, Bud Grant was the very symbol of discipline as an NFL coach. He said he could see the seams of a baseball turn when it came toward him, which is why he was such a great hitter and why in World War II and later in the Korean War he was also a great fighter pilot.”. No gloves, no sleeves, no heaters, and smearing blood. Hunting stories, not football memories, have dominated the former Vikings coach's 34 years of retirement. “Then, after we had four, we decided to have a couple more. The Minnesota Vikings hired Harry (Bud) Grant as their head coach on March 11, 1967. Blue Bomber quarterback #12 Hal Ledyard & Head Coach Bud Grant discuss strategy during the 1962 Grey Cup at CNE Stadium in Toronto. His Vikings teams of the 1970s featured a tenacious defensive line known as the “Purple… The great Vikings coach Bud Grant ! That’s fine if you want to do it. “I was talking to Ted Williams once, the baseball great, who had better than 20-10 vision. There he’d watch bluebills, the area’s dominant duck, trade back and forth, and he’d occasionally crack off a round. Grant was still peddling papers when he bought a shotgun of his own for $5, and in October he’d stuff the single-shot 12 gauge Mossberg into his paper-route sack and ride the city bus to the Lake Superior shoreline. Bud Grant. Bud Grant's Bloomington, Minn., basement reveals his life's passion: the outdoors. Dec 29, 2015 - This Pin was discovered by Ricky George. Prior to coaching, he played 6 years of professional football, 2 with Philadelphia Eagles (1951-52) and 4 with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (1953-1956). John Autey / … He did not allow gloves or sideline heaters during games. The things that Grant “liked to do” hadn’t been entirely set aside during his playing and coaching days. “I spent a lot of time by myself as a kid just watching ducks and trying to get close to them,” Grant said. But the part of hunting I enjoy is the anticipation, the planning, the participation, the birds you see and the company you keep. “He’ll talk all day about birds and deer and ravens, especially ravens and how smart they are,” Lessard said. Linebacker Matt Blair, who played with the Minnesota Vikings for 12 seasons, died on Thursday. The same with insects. ... Football and pheasants once brought Vikings together in … “I’m not a shooter,” he will say. In the years since, Grant has become a regular autumn visitor to North Dakota, where he is hosted by the Hamiltons, whose log home graces a convergence of tree-filled draws that divide the prairie starkly. Ducks were again fairly scarce, but by 10 a.m., when the day had turned warm and the birds had stopped flying, the five hunters had somersaulted 10 mallards. These many years later, Grant’s eyesight has diminished, and he isn’t the deadeye he once was. It is highly recommended that you use the latest versions of a supported browser in order to receive an optimal viewing experience. Below: Ducks seen on the opening weekend for non-resident North Dakota hunters included drake mallards, like these, as well as pintails, gadwall and wigeon. Harry Peter “Bud” Grant, Jr. is a former American football and Canadian football head coach. Bud married his wife Pat (formerly Patricia Bellew), a fellow Wisconsin native, (born March 28, 1927) in 1950, and they eventually would have six children. But of regrets, he has none. Position: E-DE 6-3, 199lb (190cm, 90kg) Born: May 20, 1927 in Superior, WI. Mike has coached Eden Prairi… “They see so well that they essentially slow the ball down as it comes toward them, allowing them to time their catches in ways most people can’t. “Now I never hear a meadowlark. Harold Peter Grant Jr. Bouncing in his truck over a harvested barley field, the retired Vikings coach peered into the shadowy edges of the vehicle’s headlights for the wetland near which he and others with him would hunt.