Gopher Great Bud Grant Passes Away at Age 95

University of Minnesota great Harry "Bud" Grant passed away on March 11, 2023 at the age of 95. Grant was a three-sport athlete for the Golden Gophers and competed in football, men's basketball and baseball during his collegiate career. He earned nine varsity letters from 1946-49 and was inducted into the M Club Hall of Fame in 1991. Grant, who would later coach the Minnesota Vikings for parts of three decades, was one of the state's most beloved figures. 

Grant was born and raised in Superior, Wis., and came to the U of M in 1946 after serving in the Navy at the Great Lakes Naval Station outside Chicago. As a Gopher, Grant was a legend, excelling in three sports and earning nine letters from 1946-49. He was a two-time All-Big Ten end on the gridiron under coach Bernie Bierman; he starred as a forward and was the team MVP on the basketball team; and also played center field and pitched for the baseball team - where he led the team in hitting as a freshman. He would go on to graduate as one of Gold Country's best ever (In fact, he would later beat out Bronko Nagurski and Bruce Smith to be named as the "Top Athlete at the U of M for the First 50 Years of the Century.")

From there, he joined the Minneapolis Lakers' dynasty where he averaged 2.6 points per game in each of the two years he played for the club, both of which were NBA championship teams. 

Anxious to try something different, Bud then joined the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles, who had made him their No. 1 draft pick that year. So talented was Grant, that in 1952, after switching from linebacker, where he led the team in sacks, to wide receiver, he finished second in the league in receiving and was voted to the Pro Bowl.

After two years in Philadelphia, he headed north of the border to play for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League. Then, in 1957, after only four years in the league, and at the prime of his career, the front office offered the 29-year old the team's head coaching position. He accepted and proceeded to lead the Blue Bombers to six Grey Cups over the next 10 years, winning four of them. Ten years later, Grant came home to take over as the head coach of the NFL's Minnesota Vikings. It would be the beginning of one of the greatest coaching sagas in all of sports as he went on to coach for 28 years, winning a total of 290 regular season and postseason games, 122 as coach in Winnipeg from 1957-66 and 168 as coach of the Vikings from 1967-83 and 1985. In Minnesota, his teams made the playoffs 12 times, and won 15 championships: 11 Central Division, one NFL and three NFC. They also made four Super Bowl appearances as well.

In 1994, Bud was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. With it, he became the first person ever to be elected to both the NFL and Canadian Football League Hall of Fames. Following his coaching career, Grant became a champion of preserving the environment for future generations.