RIP Bud Grant
- Thread starter RUtix4me
- Start date
Took his team to the Super Bowl four times: not one win. And he was the coach when the Vikings lost a playoff game to the Cowboys on Roger Staubach's Hail Mary pass to Drew Pearson in 1975 -- a play on which Vikings fans believe to their dying day that Pearson pushed off.
I remember that play being very controversial at the time, but after watching replays of it, I think it was a good no call. Anyway a great coach with some great players and teams. Just couldn’t get over the hump.
You probably saw the game live on TV just as I did. I just looked at the replay again and I think you're right. The ball was underthrown and Pearson came back for it --perhaps the defender lost track of it. There was a crucial play just before, when Staubach completed a 4th and 17 pass to Pearson on the sideline to keep the drive alive. There's no replay, and it's not clear whether Pearson came down with both feet in bounds. Whatever you can say about the refs, the no-call was not home cooking -- the Cowboys were on the road.
Bud Grant always looked so grim on the sidelines. But I saw an interview with him (perhaps by Phyllis George) and he lighted up with an attractive woman across from him.
Bud was very impactful to my childhood. I'm a lifelong Vikings fan who grew up in New Jersey and became a fan thanks to Bud Grant and his teams of the 1970's. I got my introduction to NFL football on a 13 inch black and white TV and was captivated By Fran Tarkenton, Ahmad Rashad, Sammie White and the purple people eaters playing on the frozen tundra. People think it's strange that a kid from NJ roots for the Vikings, but those teams from my childhood were a different breed and got me into the game of football.
They were very good teams with exciting players on offense and tough dudes on defense.
I never was a Vikings fan, but I can understand how you feel. I might also mention Alan Page, the first defensive player to be named NFL MVP, who went to law school while a player and became a justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court.
Pretty much same story for me, but I even go back a little more to the late 60s following them
Loved the Vikings as a kid. Fran Tarkenton was my childhood hero. Grant let Tarkenton call his own plays. Grant did not allow heaters on the sideline, and Metropolitan Stadium was an icebox come December. But he was also known for having an easy training camp. I was always upset following each Super Bowl loss. I kept following the Vikings after Tarkenton retired.
1998 was the year the Vikings should have won the Super Bowl. They were 15-1, and played the Atlanta Falcons at home in the NFC Championship game. The Vikings' kicker, Gary Anderson, had not missed an extra point or field goal all season. 35 for 35 on FG's, 59 for 59 on EP's. With two minutes to go, the Vikings had a 7 point lead, 27-20, and were at the Falcons 22. Anderson lined up for a 39 yarder to give the Vikings an insurmountable 10 point lead. He missed. The Falcons drove down, tied the game, and then won in OT.
I had moved to MA at that time so I gave up on the Vikings and became a Pats fan.
Well you can't blame Bud for 1988.
I'm very interested in listening to Boomer and Gio as Gio is a lifelong Vikings fan because of an older cousin growing up in Long Island.
He may not have won the Super Bowl but he was the oldest living player on an NBA championship team,winning the title with the Minneapolis Lakers in 1950.The big star of that team was George Mikan.
That was the year Randall Cunningham was QB, right? As I recall, he would throw the ball up for grabs, and his tall receivers would come down with it. I was rooting for the Vikings to go to the Super Bowl. Atlanta went, and Denver, the defending Super Bowl champions, beat them decisively.
Correct. Randy Moss, in his rookie year, made a lot of those catches. Dennis Green was the coach but Bud Grant consulted with the team that year.
Bud Grant was an amazing athlete in addition to a great coach. Three sport star at Minnesota (football, basketball, baseball). Played professional basketball for two years, then switched to football. Played for the Eagles, first as a defensive end, led the team in sacks. Next season he switched to WR and was second in the league in receiving yards. Pretty amazing.
Oh he's certainly a legend with an amazing coaching tree.
For now I was mostly thinking of those greats that were established in the 70s (maybe Walsh was later?).
Monday Night Football debuted in 1970, and for me that's when NFL started to dominate sports/culture.
Namath was first modern NFL celebrity according to coaches, players, writers from that period
Baseball was perfect game for radio but football was about the TV (and color only got widespread in latter 60s).
Otherwise there were the earlier coaches like Lombardi, Paul Brown et al
NFL came together with color TV, MNF, Super Bowl and middle class rise that could afford stuff (like color TVs) around the country.
One of Bud Grant's unforgettable moments. Out for the coin toss in 6 below zero temps wearing just a polo
Similar threads
