The Football Hall of Famer, famed for his stone-faced demeanor and steely sideline gaze, also was a successful coach in the Canadian Football League.
MINNEAPOLIS — Bud Grant, the stoic and demanding Hall of Fame coach who took the Minnesota Vikings and their mighty Purple People Eaters defense to four Super Bowls in eight years and lost all of them, died Saturday. He was 95.“No single individual more defined the Minnesota Vikings than Bud Grant. A once-in-a-lifetime man, Bud will forever be synonymous with success, toughness, the North and the Vikings,” owners Zygi Wilf and Mark Wilf said in a joint statement distributed by the team.
After replacing another Hall of Famer, Norm Van Brocklin, Grant assembled the revered defensive line dubbed the Purple People Eaters. The line — whose motto was “Meet at the quarterback” — was joined by a powerful offense that helped Minnesota reach the Super Bowl in 1970, the final edition of the big game before the AFL-NFL merger.
Harry Peter Grant Jr. was born on May 20, 1927, in Superior, Wisconsin, and given the nickname Bud by his mother. He overcame a bout with polio as a child and became a three-sport high school star. He learned early about the coaching business after enlisting in 1945, and played on a team at the Great Lakes naval station outside Chicago run by Paul Brown, who would go on to a Hall of Fame career as an NFL coach, executive and owner.
That sparked interest from the Vikings, who lured him back across the border in 1967. With such stars as Fran Tarkenton, Carl Eller, Alan Page, Paul Krause and Ron Yary — all Pro Football Hall of Famers — Grant led the Vikings to 10 Central Division crowns in 11 seasons. On Jan. 10, 2016, when the Vikings staged the coldest game in franchise history in the first round of the playoffs against Seattle, at the university’s outdoor stadium while their building was being built, Grant served as an honorary captain. He strolled out for the pregame coin flip in a Vikings cap and a purple short-sleeved polo shirt, looking ready for a round of golf in defiance of temperatures of minus 6 degrees Fahrenheit and minus 25 with the wind chill.
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Minnesota Vikings Hall of Fame coach Bud Grant dies at 95Grant coached the Vikings for 18 seasons from 1967 through 1983 and again in 1985. He was the engineer of the Vikings vaunted 'Purple People Eaters' defense that won 10 division crowns in 11 seasons starting in 1968.
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Minnesota Vikings Hall of Fame coach Bud Grant dies at 95Grant coached the Vikings for 18 seasons from 1967 through 1983 and again in 1985. He was the engineer of the Vikings vaunted 'Purple People Eaters' defense that won 10 division crowns in 11 seasons starting in 1968.
Read more »
Minnesota Vikings Hall of Fame coach Bud Grant dies at 95Grant coached the Vikings for 18 seasons from 1967 through 1983 and again in 1985. He was the engineer of the Vikings vaunted 'Purple People Eaters' defense that won 10 division crowns in 11 seasons starting in 1968.
Read more »
Minnesota Vikings Hall of Fame coach Bud Grant dies at 95Grant coached the Vikings for 18 seasons from 1967 through 1983 and again in 1985. He was the engineer of the Vikings vaunted 'Purple People Eaters' defense that won 10 division crowns in 11 seasons starting in 1968.
Read more »
Minnesota Vikings Hall of Fame coach Bud Grant dies at 95Grant coached the Vikings for 18 seasons from 1967 through 1983 and again in 1985. He was the engineer of the Vikings vaunted 'Purple People Eaters' defense that won 10 division crowns in 11 seasons starting in 1968.
Read more »
Bud Grant, former Minnesota Vikings head coach, dies at age 95Legendary Minnesota Vikings head coach Bud Grant has died at age 95 in his home, the team announced in a tweet Saturday, adding that it is 'absolutely devastated' about the loss.
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