NGT- Former Vikings Head Coach Bud Grant passed

Was a big Vikings guy in 70s. Gmen stunk and I was like 10 yrs old
Loved tarkenton, foreman and the purple people eaters
Yeah, they sucked in super bowls
1975 was actually their best team that didn’t make it there, damn Hail Mary ( I was livid)
RIP bud grant. Lotsa great memories

Of the purple people eater teams.

.

Condolences to family and loved ones.

and he led an amazing life.

Great coach, always respected his vikings teams.
He was a good player and successful coach in the CFL before coming to the NFL. He won 4 Grey Cups with Winnipeg.

head coach, RIP. I vaguely remember as a kid seeing Bud Grant in a short sleeve polo on the sidelines in cold weather games.

He and his co-hosts were flabbergasted to learn Grant played basketball.

RIP to one of the greats.

Won a championship as a player with both the Lakers and Eagles. Three sport player at Univ. of Minnesota.

Still remember a few years ago he came out before the Minnesota playoff game in the freezing cold in a short sleeve shirt as the honorary Captain. Garage sales at his house and everyone was welcome.

...my first reaction was can't believe he's still alive.

And, he looked damn good for his age.

A great, iconic coach from the NFL.

RIP

When I was watching football as a kid in the mid 70s
Never could win the big one...
RIP

did just about everything in sports over his lifetime. Are there any others who played in both the NBA and the NFL? I know there are a few NBA/MLB guys (e.g. DeBusschere), but are there any other NBA/NFL players?

It's true he never won a Super Bowl, but he sure came close (four times) and he won a bunch of championships in the CFL before the Vikings persuaded him to come on board.

Bud Grants defense RIP

In comment 16060365 Del Shofner said:

Quote:

did just about everything in sports over his lifetime. Are there any others who played in both the NBA and the NFL? I know there are a few NBA/MLB guys (e.g. DeBusschere), but are there any other NBA/NFL players? It's true he never won a Super Bowl, but he sure came close (four times) and he won a bunch of championships in the CFL before the Vikings persuaded him to come on board.

Remember Gene Conley?

back in the day also Oscar Reed.....

Was his beloved Vikings losing another playoff game in pretty gut wrenching fashion. Bud saw a lot of that. Rip.

In comment 16060209 Payasdaddy said:

Quote:

Was a big Vikings guy in 70s. Gmen stunk and I was like 10 yrs old Loved tarkenton, foreman and the purple people eaters Yeah, they sucked in super bowls 1975 was actually their best team that didn’t make it there, damn Hail Mary ( I was livid) RIP bud grant. Lotsa great memories

Same here. Started watching them because of Fran Tarkenton. Those Viking teams were easy to like and Bud Grant always had them prepared. I used to laugh my ass off watching the Rams or other warm weather team try to play them in the cold. Moving indoors was a stupid decision. They haven't been to a Super Bowl since.

And Drew Pearson pushed off Nate Wright.

In comment 16060390 JimInKgnNY said:

Quote:

In comment 16060209 Payasdaddy said: Quote: Was a big Vikings guy in 70s. Gmen stunk and I was like 10 yrs old Loved tarkenton, foreman and the purple people eaters Yeah, they sucked in super bowls 1975 was actually their best team that didn’t make it there, damn Hail Mary ( I was livid) RIP bud grant. Lotsa great memories Same here. Started watching them because of Fran Tarkenton. Those Viking teams were easy to like and Bud Grant always had them prepared. I used to laugh my ass off watching the Rams or other warm weather team try to play them in the cold. Moving indoors was a stupid decision. They haven't been to a Super Bowl since. And Drew Pearson pushed off Nate Wright.

Yep. Drew pushed off! And a couple times Rams had better team. One time big snow in Bloomington. The other time rams had home field but it rained like crazy and fit right in with vikes style of play. Loved this games.

and a true gentleman in the old time mold of coaches.

In comment 16060378 Big Blue '56 said:

Quote:

In comment 16060365 Del Shofner said: Quote: did just about everything in sports over his lifetime. Are there any others who played in both the NBA and the NFL? I know there are a few NBA/MLB guys (e.g. DeBusschere), but are there any other NBA/NFL players? It's true he never won a Super Bowl, but he sure came close (four times) and he won a bunch of championships in the CFL before the Vikings persuaded him to come on board. Remember Gene Conley?

... and Chuck Connors, aka The Rifleman.

Apparently there are 13 who played in both MLB and the NBA (but I don't know the other 10 besides DeB., Conley and Connors). That said, I can't think of even one other besides Grant who played in both the NFL and the NBA.

One of my earliest sports memories I was 7.
Funny thing about that in seeing the replays over the years...the ref threw a flag and CALLED DEFENSIVE PI
WTF

Brain fart on Ainge, and I should have guessed Hamilton and Reed. Would never have guessed Dick Groat.

MLB NBA
1. Frankie Baumholtz, of1947-57 1945-47
2. Chuck Connors, 1b 1949-51 1945-48
3. Gene Conley, rhp 1952-63 1952-64
4. Dick Groat, ss 1952-67 1952-53
5. Steve Hamilton, lhp 1961-72 1958-60
6. Dave DeBusschere, rhp1962-63 1962-74
7. Ron Reed, rhp 1966-84 1965-67
8. Cotton Nash, of 1967-70 1964-68
9. Danny Ainge, 3b 1979-81 1981-95
10. Mark Hendrickson, lhp2002-061996-2000

I must admit. I thought he was already dead.

although Otto Graham of all people is possibly the other, if you give him credit for playing in the NBL the year before it became the NBA -

"After a brief stint in the military at the end of World War II, Graham played for the Rochester Royals of the National Basketball League (NBL), winning the 1945–46 championship. Paul Brown, Cleveland's coach, signed Graham to play for the Browns, where he thrived. Graham's 1946 NBL and AAFC titles made him the first of only two people to have won championships in two of the four major North American sports (the second was Gene Conley)."

In comment 16060493 SFGFNCGiantsFan said:

Quote:

I must admit. I thought he was already dead.

RIP died way too young

In comment 16060496 Del Shofner said:

Quote:

although Otto Graham of all people is possibly the other, if you give him credit for playing in the NBL the year before it became the NBA - "After a brief stint in the military at the end of World War II, Graham played for the Rochester Royals of the National Basketball League (NBL), winning the 1945–46 championship. Paul Brown, Cleveland's coach, signed Graham to play for the Browns, where he thrived. Graham's 1946 NBL and AAFC titles made him the first of only two people to have won championships in two of the four major North American sports (the second was Gene Conley)."

___________________________________
Rochester Royals were a pretty good team, predecessor to Cincinnati Royals. Gotta give Otto Graham that one.

In comment 16060496 Del Shofner said:

Quote:

although Otto Graham of all people is possibly the other, if you give him credit for playing in the NBL the year before it became the NBA - "After a brief stint in the military at the end of World War II, Graham played for the Rochester Royals of the National Basketball League (NBL), winning the 1945–46 championship. Paul Brown, Cleveland's coach, signed Graham to play for the Browns, where he thrived. Graham's 1946 NBL and AAFC titles made him the first of only two people to have won championships in two of the four major North American sports (the second was Gene Conley)."

Is in my top 5 QBs of all-time

In comment 16060496 Del Shofner said:

Quote:

although Otto Graham of all people is possibly the other, if you give him credit for playing in the NBL the year before it became the NBA - "After a brief stint in the military at the end of World War II, Graham played for the Rochester Royals of the National Basketball League (NBL), winning the 1945–46 championship. Paul Brown, Cleveland's coach, signed Graham to play for the Browns, where he thrived. Graham's 1946 NBL and AAFC titles made him the first of only two people to have won championships in two of the four major North American sports (the second was Gene Conley)."

Grant did play in the NBA, but it wasn't for Rochester. Bud played (and won a championship) for his local team, the Minneapolis Lakers (before they took off to LA).

Here's a detailed stat look at that team:

1949-50 Minneapolis Lakers Roster and Stats

The BAA (Basketball Association of America) and the NBL (National Basketball League) did merge in 1949, which is when the Lakers won a championship (Grant played the next year, but the Lakers lost to the Rochester Royals in the finals). The BAA/NBL merger is interesting (the BAA had raided the NBL years earlier, taking teams like the Lakers, Knicks, Chicago and others from the NBL), but economics of the time lead to a merger.

Here's an interesting article about that merger:

The Merger that formed the NBA: How and why it happened

Props to Grant, he was a great athlete and a great coach. Winning an NBA Championship and coaching in the Super Bowl will almost certainly never be done again in the modern era.

Below is the link to Bud's stats on NBA.com

Minneapolis Lakers, #20, Forward Bud Grant - ( New Window )

Even though I knew nothing about him except he coached the Vikings, and I liked their uniforms. Plus he seemed like a cool old guy. Tommy Kramer was an underrated qb. That was a fun offense.

From his obit in the Times:

Quote:

In 1951, he joined the Eagles. At 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, Grant played defensive end as a rookie and became a receiver his second season; he caught 56 passes in 1952, the second-most in the league.