Bud Grant led great Vikings teams

Like most Minnesotans, I was saddened to read that former Vikings Coach Bud Grant passed away last month. I never met the man personally, but felt near-bowing reverence. Like many fans, I’m sending my sincere condolences to his kids, grandkids and great-grandkids.

Grant was a tremendous athlete. Born and brought up in nearby Superior, Wisconsin, he was a three-sport high school letterman in football, basketball and baseball. Maybe he played hoops in the Cloquet gymnasium?

He entered the military straight out of high school, but soon World War II concluded. Grant asked for a deferment from the military, for which he was eligible, to attend the University of Minnesota. He became a Gopher, over a Wisconsin Badger, because the University of Minnesota was closer to home. Grant was an all-conference Big Ten player and eventually played for the NFL Philadelphia Eagles and NBA Minneapolis Lakers. He spent summers pitching for small Minnesota town baseball teams and also played and coached in the Canadian Football League for Winnipeg.

Sure, he lived to be 95 years old, long beyond statistical expectations, and he continued to be admired by Vikings fans, including me, long after he retired. With his being also a hunter and fisherman from northwestern Wisconsin, Carlton County locals felt a particular allegiance to Grant. He epitomized some of our crazy Northland cold weather values: no heaters for players on the sidelines at the old Metropolitan Stadium outdoors in Minnesota winters; he wore only a baseball cap on his head in the biting cold; and when the Vikings were in a playoff game outdoors a few years ago at the U of M stadium in about 10-degree weather, Grant came out to midfield before the game to inspire fans … in a short-sleeved shirt, at 90 years old.

His tendencies were to be very stoic and seemingly unassuming.

But he was a terrific coach — bringing the Vikings teams to four Super Bowls. I was a very impressionable 14 years old when the Vikings played the Kansas City Chiefs in 1969 in the fourth contested Super Bowl. The Super Bowl was big, but not as big of a deal as it is now. Commercials didn’t consume TV viewers’ attention.

Hank Stram, the Chiefs coach, a short, chubby and boisterous leader, virtually the opposite of Grant, was miked on the sidelines of the Super Bowl game. Well, the Vikings didn’t play their best game and lost 14-6 to the upstart Chiefs. Much to our chagrin, TV sports specials showed replays of Stram strutting the sidelines, barking out orders, over and over. I felt sorry for Grant and his players and loyal Vikings fans.

Joe Kapp was the Vikings quarterback that season. I just read he turned 85 on March 19 this year. Like Grant, he had transferred from the Canadian Football League.

Kapp was Grant’s type of player. He preferred to hit people on the field rather than to be hit. He was rough and tough, and his passes were often referred to as wounded ducks. But I recall Kapp putting a Cleveland Browns linebacker out of a playoff game by dislocating his shoulder when Kapp tried to hurdle him.

It wasn’t too long — when I was in college in 1973 — that the Vikings had a 12-2 regular season record, and returned to the Super Bowl. They played the undefeated Miami Dolphins. The Grant-coached team, with quarterback Fran Tarkenton leading the purple uniformed bunch, lost to the fish 24-7. The Vikings were outplayed, with Grant making no excuses.

Not a coincidence, but Bud Grant influenced Viking draft picks, with the team choosing players in line with his tough exterior mantra and personality. He believed that durability, physicality and reliability were nearly as important as just pure ability. Notably, four of Grant’s captains and regulars (Jim Marshall, Mick Tinglehoff, Alan Page and Paul Krause) are all in the Vikings Hall of Fame and in the NFL record books as leaders for most consecutive games played — no injury or illness stopped them.

Bud Grant so loved being in the outdoors that he’d even schedule Vikings practices for later in the day so he could go duck hunting in the morning.

Well, the next season, 1975, and two years later, 1977, the Vikings were in the Super Bowl again. Tarkenton and Grant were still there on the sidelines. The results for faithful Vikings fans were, unfortunately, the same, losing to the Terry Bradshaw-led Pittsburgh Steelers, 16-6, and the aggressive John Madden-coached Oakland Raiders, 32-14. Beer sales spiked in northeastern Minnesota.

For many faithful Vikings fans, the thought is we can’t be far from the next Purple Gang Super Bowl appearance. Surely, we had to think that in 1977. It’s now 2023, 46 years later. Bud won’t be able to be there physically, but I’m sure he’ll be there cheering (if you can hear it), when it happens.

Rest in peace, Bud Grant.

Steve Korby’s interest in writing goes back to when he was in fourth grade and editor of the Scan-Satellite school newspaper in Scanlon. He welcomes ideas for human interest stories and tales regarding Carlton County residents, projects, history, and plans c/o [email protected]