Bud Grant has passed away at 95. RIP Bud

On Thursday afternoon, Twin Cities real estate agent and businessman Buddy Becker visited legendary Vikings coach Bud Grant at his home in Bloomington for what he had expected to be a routine meeting.
Becker, who shares a home in Blaine with former Vikings star quarterback Tommy Kramer and is involved in setting up many functions involving former players, had been talking to the elderly Grant and his live-in partner Pat Smith, about whether Grant might be better served moving into a one-level residence rather than being at his multi-level home.
“The last couple of weeks, we had been talking,’’ Becker said Saturday. “On Thursday, I talked to him and he said, ‘I appreciate everything that you are doing, but this is my home.’ He said, ‘I want to die here.’ He said, “I’ve lived a good life, and my kids are all taken care of and my grandkids are all taken care. I made sure of all of that.”’
On Saturday morning, Grant died at his home at the age of 95. Becker said that on Thursday, despite what Grant had said about dying, he had no inkling that the end was near. But Becker said he learned Friday that Grant had begun to feel ill.
Becker said his visit with Grant on Thursday was not unlike some of his previous recent meetings. He said he talked to Grant, who coached the Vikings from 1967-83 and in 1985, about sports, including basketball. Grant had once played in the NBA with the Minneapolis Lakers.
“We started talking about the Timberwolves and the Lakers and he brought me into a side room and showed me an article,’’ Becker said of a framed clipping from Grant’s NBA days from 1949-51. “I made a little video of him talking about it and then I took a picture. … It was the last picture that anybody took of him.”
Bud Grant’s son, Mike Grant, the football coach at Eden Prairie, said Saturday the picture of his father “probably is” the last photo taken of him.
Mike Grant said he last saw his father Wednesday and last spoke to him on the phone Thursday. Despite his father’s advanced age, he called his death “a shocker.”
Mike Grant said no official cause of death has been listed to his knowledge, and there won’t be an autopsy, but that it was related to his heart.
“He was awake and he was up and just had a heart attack,’’ said Mike Grant, who said that occurred at about 9:30 a.m. and that his father was pronounced dead by paramedics at 10:14 a.m. “His heart stopped working. I think it just wore out. He was not in pain.”
Grant had been scheduled to attend a retirement party Thursday night for Vikings public relations official Bob Hagan but ended up not going. Becker had expected Grant to attend the Minnesota Deer and Turkey Classic on Saturday at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, and said he was going to be involved in an event with Kramer and former Vikings defensive tackle Henry Thomas.
“On Friday, Pat called me and said, ‘Bud’s not feeling well,’’’ Becker said. “So he didn’t go to the Thursday (event) and she said, ‘I don’t think he’s going to make it (Friday). Don’t worry about it, he’ll be fine.’ And then (Saturday) morning I called to see how he was doing, and Pat was in tears and the paramedics were there, and it’s sad.”
Becker said there had been discussions about how it might be easier for Smith to help take care of Grant if he moved into a “one-level place.” Mike Grant said he never got any indication his father wanted to do that.
“My dad was going to stay where he was comfortable,’’ he said. “I’m sure you like to have familiar things around you, all his family.”
Becker said it made an impact on him that Grant on Thursday spoke so openly about death.
“He said (about moving into a one-level place that), ‘I don’t want to do that. This is where I want to die. This is where I want to be,’’’ Becker said.
Becker said Grant said “all my friends are gone, they’ve all passed.” But he emphasized that the legendary coach was “happy and content” on Thursday and talked about having “lived a great life.”
Mike Grant said the family is planning soon to have a private service for Grant. Then he said the plan is for the Vikings to have a “public celebration.”
“We just haven’t figured out a lot of things, when things are available, what venues are available to make it so more people can go,’’ he said. “I think our family’s view is we shared our dad with everyone.”
https://www.twincities.com/2023/03/11/local-businessman-visits-legendary-vikings-coach-bud-grant-two-days-before-death-takes-final-photo-of-him/

I must say, I think he had one of the most amazing Pro Sports careers of all time. NBA Champion, Grey Cup champion as both a two-way player (Has Pro Football Playoff record of 5 interceptions!) and a Coach, He led the Western Conference in pass receptions for the 1953, 1954, and 1956 seasons and receiving yards for the 1953 and 1956 seasons. As an NFL player -  In his first season with the Eagles, Grant played as a defensive end and led the team in sacks (an unofficial statistic at the time). He switched to offense as a wide receiver for his second season with the club and ranked second in the NFL for receiving yardage, with 997 yards on 56 catches, including seven touchdowns. And of course we all know his NFL coaching career for our Vikings. Stud Fisherman / Hunter - he was an amazing man, and we were so fortunate to have him as the leader of our beloved Vikings. 

Here is to a tough old bastard that finally got called home.

RIP Coach Grant

@"NorthernCalVike" said: I must say, I think he had one of the most amazing Pro Sports careers of all time. NBA Champion, Grey Cup champion as both a two-way player (Has Pro Football Playoff record of 5 interceptions!) and a Coach, He led the Western Conference in pass receptions for the 1953, 1954, and 1956 seasons and receiving yards for the 1953 and 1956 seasons. As an NFL player -  In his first season with the Eagles, Grant played as a defensive end and led the team in sacks (an unofficial statistic at the time). He switched to offense as a wide receiver for his second season with the club and ranked second in the NFL for receiving yardage, with 997 yards on 56 catches, including seven touchdowns. And of course we all know his NFL coaching career for our Vikings. Stud Fisherman / Hunter - he was an amazing man, and we were so fortunate to have him as the leader of our beloved Vikings. 

if you think his sports career was legendary, you should hear his interview with Dan Barreiro a few months ago where he talked about all the times he cheated death,  from the time he was a boy on Bud was lucky to be alive on many many occasions.  

I think this might be it,  dont have time to listen right now,  but the timeline is right.  Great stuff from Bud here.  

https://player.fm/series/dan-barreiro/bud-grant-in-studio-ahmad-rashad-bumper-to-bumper-12622-hour-one-and-two

Mike Grant on Bud: 'The older I have become, the more I hear my dad's voice in things that I say'Mike Grant went with his dad to a doctor's visit not too long ago. Bud Grant was explaining his theories on how he had made it to his 95th birthday when he offered up something that sounded odd.
"And I chew my food," Bud told them.
"We're sitting there going, really Dad?" Mike recalled Sunday night. "He looks at me and says, 'You don't chew your food.' I said, 'How would you know if I chew my food?' He said, 'I'm an observer of men.' "
His dad used that phrase a lot in the final months of his life whenever expressing his thoughts or opinions on a particular topic. I'm an observer of men, he'd say.
Guess what?
"Now every time I eat," Mike noted, "I'm like, did I chew my food enough for what my dad thinks?"
Forever his dad, forever a coach.

Minnesota lost a giant with Bud Grant's death on Saturday. As a friend reminded Mike in a text later that day, "You're going to hear all about your dad and what he accomplished, but to you, he's dad."
Mike shared both tears and laughter during an hourlong conversation as he reflected on being the son of a Hall of Fame coach and legendary figure.
He followed his dad into coaching, not as a preordained career path, but as something of a secondary interest. Mike's ambition was to teach at a high school. When he landed that job, he accepted an invitation to coach multiple sports.
His dad never pushed or even encouraged him to pursue coaching. Mike says they never even discussed football when he was a kid.
"Noon game, he'd be home by 4," he said. "We had dinner on the table at 5:30 and we never talked about football or the game. Sid would be there half the time. Sid might want to talk about it, but my dad would be like, 'Sid, we don't talk about it here.' "
The sideline stoicism that made Grant so endearing to Vikings fans was ever-present at home, too. Mike can't remember his dad ever raising his voice. Never yelled at the kids, didn't use profanity. He kept his words to a minimum in the house as well.
So what made Bud laugh?
"A practical joke," Mike said. "A snake in Jerry Burns drawer at the office would make him laugh."
Apparently, Bud loved April Fools pranks.
Here's one: His daughter Laurie had a yellow canary as a pet that she kept in a cage in the kitchen. One day Bud trapped a sparrow in the garage and switched the birds.
"My sister was freaking out thinking her bird had changed colors," Mike said. "My mom probably got mad so I don't know how long he laughed."
Bud brought up that story with Mike recently. They had a good laugh remembering it.
His dad was supportive but not overbearing throughout Mike's own stellar coaching career. There were a few things that stirred a reaction though.
As a young assistant coach at Minnetonka in 1980, Mike called a quarterback sneak at the 1-yard line late in the game. The quarterback fumbled into the end zone. Bud was at the game and afterward told his son to never call a sneak from the goal line, rattling off several instances when that decision backfired in his career.
"I go, 'Dad, it would have been nice if you mentioned something before now,' " Mike recalled.
Nothing bothered Bud more than watching high school punt returners not catch the ball, allowing it to bounce and roll for extra yards. That message got relayed often to the special teams coach.
"You know it travels downhill," Mike would tell his assistant. "I'm getting it from up above. We've got to catch the punts."
Mike built a dynasty at Eden Prairie with 11 state championships, so he proved himself to be a mighty fine coach as well. His last name never felt like a burden.
"There was a lot of pressure being Bud Grant's son but there were a lot of benefits to being Bud Grant's son," he said. "There were so many positive things that it outweighed any of that pressure."
He made sure to observe his father in action as a training camp ball boy during his teenage years. The way he interacted and listened to his players and never embarrassed them with his critique. Mike has tried to incorporate those qualities into his coaching method.
"The older I have become," he said, "the more I hear my dad's voice in things that I say."
Those memories are providing him comfort right now. The fact that his dad got one final deer hunting trip last fall and a surprise gathering at his cabin over Fourth of July a few years ago. The entire family, including more than 20 grandkids and great-grandkids, pulled up at once with Bud sitting outside. He wept over that one.
As a kid, Mike didn't know his dad was capable of crying. He saw his emotions pour out all the time in his final years. Especially on Christmas Day when the whole family would visit his house. Bud loved that occasion every year.
Said Mike, "He would tell us, 'You are my best friends now.' "
Mike went to buy a copy of the paper Sunday morning. The sight of his dad's photo spread across the Star Tribune's front section made him pause.
"It showed me that he was all of Minnesota's coach," he said. "People loved him."
That realization makes him proud. That was his dad who everyone loved.
https://www.startribune.com/bud-grant-dies-mike-grant-vikings-eden-paririe-chip-scoggins/600258511/?refresh=true

@"1VikesFan" said: https://twitter.com/PhilMackey/status/1634606506262896644?t=EGMdKGUYMfS6MX-HG7Q1Lg&s=19

#Legend

Bud Grant died on a Saturday at 11 a.m..
It was the same day he was hired with an 11 a.m. press conference on a Saturday exactly 56 years prior.

A free public celebration of @ProFootballHOF Head Coach Bud Grant's life will be held at @usbankstadium on Sunday, May 21.

This free ticketed event will be general admission seating in the stadium.

🎟: https://t.co/JDNG714mwT pic.twitter.com/cKHGzVChiQ

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) April 20, 2023

Celebrating late Minnesota Vikings coach Bud Grant: No smoke(ing), no mirrors, just a singular legendThe former Vikings coach's remarkable life will be remembered Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium.The first time the Vikings honored Bud Grant for his exceptional work as their head coach was on Sept. 2, 1984, in Year 3 of playing in the Metrodome.

Grant was an energetic 57 years old on that day, and it had been a shock to all Minnesotans in late January, when Sid Hartman had delivered the news in the Star Tribune that Bud was retiring after 17 seasons as the Vikings coach.
On that first Sunday of the '84 season, Grant was joined for the ceremony by his family and a number of Vikings, with Jim Marshall and Matt Blair being the most noteworthy.
As Grant was offering his remarks and the crowd announced at 57,276 was preparing for a final ovation, Bud concluded with his immortal words: "I just want to say thank you for not smoking.''
Vince Lombardi: "Defeat is worse than death, because you have to live with defeat.''
Bud (underlying message): "If you smoke you will kill yourself, and worse yet, you might kill me.'' 
As it turned out, the events on the Metrodome turf that Sunday would have considerable impact on the security Grant would enjoy in his eventual retirement.
This was Les Steckel's head coaching debut. San Diego's Air Coryell came in and lit up the Vikings for 526 yards and a 42-13 victory.
Come season's end, the Vikings were 3-13, local football fans were still in a lather over Gophers coach Lou Holtz in spite of a 4-7 debut, and Mike Lynn started lobbying Grant to return and replace Steckel.
Which is what happened. Lynn gave Grant a 10-year contract to either coach or consult. Bud coached only the 1985 season (7-9), then remained in a Winter Park office as his longtime assistant Jerry Burns became the head coach.
There was no public sendoff for Bud that time — in fact, the scoop on his yet-unannounced departure in December 1985 came not from longtime friend Sid, but from a mysterious character titled "Dark Star'' in a phone call to a local sports radio show known for breaking news on Monday nights.
Grant stayed a relevant figure to the local media and sporting public for almost four decades after coaching his last game — one reason being, obviously, there have been no other Super Bowls to distract us since those four played in the '70s.
Whether it was the outdoor life or sports in general, you only had to look at an old photo of that wondrous, steely gaze at Met Stadium to say: "I wonder what Bud thinks about this?''
The news of Grant's death on that Saturday morning, March 11, came as a surprise blow, even though he was 95. And now, at noon Sunday, there will be another sendoff for Bud from the Vikings — a celebration of his life that carries a title that's 100% valid:
"Bud Grant — He Did It His Way.''
The public was asked to claim tickets for this event at U.S. Bank Stadium. Tears are not necessary. He still was the most comfortable in his skin and logical person you could meet.
Bob Hagan, long in charge of Vikings media relations before a recent reassignment, was at Grant's cabin in Gordon, Wis., a few months ago with a video photographer for a three-hour interview that figures to live in the team's archives.
"I stayed overnight there and we were just talking,'' Hagan said. "I asked Bud, 'What's the best day you've ever had, anytime?' He thought for a few seconds and said:
" 'Today. I'm sitting here, it's a nice day, I look out and see the lake, I'm here with people I enjoy, I'm 95 and I feel pretty good. So, it's today.' "
Pause. "Who else would say that?'' Hagan said. "We'd all look back. But Bud … you enjoy what you have. You don't live just on memories.''
Dennis Ryan, recently retired as Vikings equipment manager and an employee for 47 years, was asked last week for some Bud moments. We talked for a while and then he called back with this:
"We went to London to play a regular-season game last fall. It was our fourth or fifth trip over there. The Vikings have a team of sports scientists now … and they went to work on a schedule that would give the players the optimum for adjustment to long travel, a much different time zone, sleep, everything we should be doing at a certain time to be ready as possible physically for the game.''
Pause.
"The first time we went to London was for an exhibition game in 1983,'' Ryan said. "And the schedule our sports science team came up with was exactly the same as Bud sketched out in '83, just using his common sense.''
Common sense = logic = Bud Grant.
And that includes not smoking.
https://www.startribune.com/celebrating-late-nfl-minnesota-vikings-coach-bud-grant-singular-legend-patrick-reusse/600276531/

Vikings and fans celebrate Bud Grant, who loved family, football, the outdoors ... and cashOne of Bud Grant's sons told the group gathered indoors at U.S. Bank Stadium: "My dad would have wondered why you were here on this beautiful day in the spring. He would have said, 'Why aren't you at the cabin?' "The subject of the Bud Grant memorial service would have approved of the tenor of the ceremony. The dress code was casual, as were the conversations.

Scott Studwell wore one of his best pairs of cargo shorts. Mike Grant, one of Bud's sons, looked at the sunshine beaming through the clear plastic roof panels and said: "My dad would have wondered why you were here on this beautiful day in the spring. He would have said, 'Why aren't you at the cabin?' "
For about 90 minutes at U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday, Bud Grant's family, friends, former players and colleagues reminisced about the Hall of Fame Vikings coach, portraying a man who was hypercompetitive yet hardly single-minded.
They said he loved his family, the Vikings, the outdoors and old-fashioned cash, sometimes even in that order.
Emcee Mark Rosen, who covered Grant as a local television star, introduced video clips from Fran Tarkenton, Jim Marshall and Ahmad Rashad. Senator Amy Klobuchar, whose father, Jim, covered Grant and the Vikings for the Minneapolis Tribune and Star Tribune, presented Mike Grant with a framed congressional statement honoring his father.
The theme of the event was titled "Bud Grant — He Did It His Way." Former players Carl Eller, Chuck Foreman, Stu Voigt and Studwell sat on a couch and comfortable chairs to tell stories about Grant, portraying a coach who could command a room with a stare and a team with a nod.
PaulWiggin, the longtime Vikings defensive line coach, told a story about Pete Carroll, then a young defensive backs coach, showing up to practice early one day, eager to please. Grant strolled in on time. Carroll eagerly asked Grant what the plan was. Grant said, according to Wiggin, "You're the defensive backs coach. Go coach the defensive backs.''

• Photos from the celebration of Bud Grant's life

Wiggin said that at training camp Grant once assigned Carroll to go to the Mankato library and prepare a report on the Kyber Pass. "I never knew why he did it,'' Wiggin said. "It didn't make sense to me. That was Bud's way of doing things."
Carroll remains the Seattle Seahawks coach. He has won a college national title and a Super Bowl.
Wiggin compared Grant to "some ancient philosopher." Rosen remembered standing on the sidelines at a practice, and Grant wandering over, pointing to a monarch butterfly, and explaining that it was migrating to Mexico.
Grant's best friend was Star Tribune columnist Sid Hartman, who died in 2020. Sid's son, Chad, joined a media roundtable with WCCO anchor Mike Max, Star Tribune columnist Patrick Reusse and KFAN host Dan Barreiro, and recalled Grant telling Sid that he would give Grant's Hall of Fame induction speech.
Sid drove to Chad's house with tears in his eyes, one of the few times Chad saw him cry. Chad admitted he also helped edit Sid's speech, to include more about Bud and less about Sid.
Chad said that his father and Grant had little in common, other than the Vikings and roots in the depression. Both, late in life, took to hiding cash in their houses.
Of all the kind and fond words uttered about Grant on Sunday, the most poignant came from his son Mike.
Mike is the legendary football coach at Eden Prairie High School. Sunday, he displayed the wry sense of humor that few were privileged to see from his father.
In his later years, Bud delighted in holding a garage sale, and charging to autograph the items he sold. "He did enjoy driving down 169 to Mankato, because he was always looking for deals, things on the side of the road," Mike said. "Which, most likely, would show up later at his garage sales.
"I want at this time to say that if you bought an old weed trimmer or trolling motor that never worked, know that you put a smile on my dad's face as you walked down the driveway and he had gotten rid of some useless piece of junk."
Mike said his father's character was formed in the depression, that Bud's entertainment as a child was shooting rats at the junkyard, that he honed his pitching arm throwing rocks at telephone poles.
Sunday, fans and friends said goodbye to Grant in a billion-dollar stadium that houses the team that he made popular. At the end of the ceremony, as Frank Sinatra's "My Way" played over the sound system, Rosen told fans that they would receive ice cream, Bud's favorite snack, as they exited.
Sunshine, ice cream and old friends. Grant might have put off a trip to the cabin for this kind of gathering.
But probably not.
https://www.startribune.com/bud-grant-remembered-with-fondness-humor-paul-wiggin-chad-hardman-mike-grant-sid-hartman/600276701/

Olde Hub Meade pays his respects on Sunday...