Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings historian and author Chad Israelson talks about Bud Grant's incredible legacy

Episode Date: March 11, 2023

Matthew Coller is joined by Vikings historian and author of the book "Kings of the North" Chad Israelson to talk about the passing of Bud Grant, why his players respected him so much, how his philosophy for coaching was way ahead of its time, how he made the Vikings a successful franchise and the way he stayed connected to the Vikings after he was done coaching. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello and welcome to a very special episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar joining me, author of Kings of the North, a tremendous history book about the Minnesota Vikings. Chad Israelson, second time on the show, but I thought, Chad, that you would be the perfect guest to talk about the passing of Bud Grant. And of course, having covered the team myself since 2016, I am very familiar with Mr. Grant and his legacy,

but I've spent a lot of the day going back through NFL films and through your book and through the great history of Bud Grant. And it's a very sad day for everyone in the entire state of Minnesota, but I have to say, 95 years old and left a legacy as the greatest coach in history as an all-time great CFL coach, an all-time great CFL player. And I just learned today, he was the oldest living NBA champion. Just an incredible life and legacy of Bud Grant. Yeah. Yeah. He's a remarkable individual. And like you said, it's a sad day in Minnesota. I mean, he is the Vikings. You know, if you were to distill it down to one individual, he would be the guy. So, and on top of that, if I remember correctly, I believe he also won 12 letters at the University of Minnesota. So just, you know, tremendous athlete, things that will never be done again. Oh, that's absolutely true. I mean,

I don't know if anybody will be drafted in the NBA and the NFL ever again and play in both of them. And then it was actually a contract dispute that sent him to the CFL where he put together that legacy. And I was just learning today that when he was 29 years old, they asked him to coach the Winnipeg Bombers because of his leadership on the field that everybody knew he would be great if he coached the team. And then they had a ton of success. And there's even a statue in Winnipeg representing him as a coach. So even beyond what he did for the Vikings, he's got that legacy in Canada as well. Yeah, yeah. Actually, my family and I went to a Blue Bombers game last summer. We took a vacation in Winnipeg. And I mean,

obviously, I knew that he had coached there, but I had no idea there was a statue to him outside the stadium. So, you know, I was very cool seeing that. And, you know, when you think about it, I mean, this guy, you know, as I said, you know, without a doubt, he's the greatest Minnesota Viking, you know, whether he played or not, but, you know, he would be on the short list of greatest Winnipeg Blue Bombers. You know, if he's not number one, I mean, I can't speak to their history as well as I can the Vikings, but, you know, he's on that short list there as well. So again, I mean, like wherever he went, he had an incredible impact. You know, won championships in Winnipeg, took obviously the Vikings to four Super Bowls,

just tremendous success in what he did, wherever he did, you know, in whatever it was in. I mean, profession, as you mentioned, he's a professional basketball player. So yeah, I mean, you know, in whatever it was in. I mean, as you mentioned, he's a professional basketball player. So yeah, I mean, you just, you look at a guy like Bud Grant and, you know, he should have been writing books like, you know, how to succeed, you know, rather than, I mean, but that was also Bud Grant, right? He didn't want to do that. He wanted to be out hunting or spending time with his family. So, you know, good for him. Yeah. I was always amazed at the humility of Bud Grant as well, because like you said, I mean, there are very few people, not just in football, but in the state of Minnesota, it's almost like comparable

to Prince in a way where it's like Prince and Bud Grant are the two people you never speak ill of in the state of Minnesota. And yet he always talked about the most important thing to him was his family. And I wonder if you could speak to this as well, that he was not known as the coach who stayed at the facility at all hours. He was known as get our work done and go home and spend time with my family. And he was known for practices that weren't that long. And yet the man exuded so much toughness and his teams exuded so much toughness. And I think that there's just maybe should have been more coaches that learn from Bud Grant about his mentality toward handling players, because I think he was way, way ahead of his time as far as the understanding of the players needing to have a life beyond football

and understanding that you could only push them so far and how to criticize players, how to get them to respect you. All of his philosophies on that are basically the same ones that like Kevin O'Connell is trying to use now. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's a great analogy. You know, I mean, O'Connell has that sort of laid back approach, although I'm sure he spends a heck of a lot more time at the office. But you're exactly right. You know, I was watching. I've got a little library of NFL films, Vikings things. So I was watching the the 83 season recap, which is really they they do this 83 season about 15 seconds. And then it's all about Grant, you know know because that was the first time that he retired and uh they talked about exactly that where you know he didn't stay in the uh you

know sleep at the office like a dick for a meal or whatever and you know you you look at it and say well you know would they have won a Super Bowl had he done it no uh you know I mean that they weren't they didn't lose those games due to, you know, lack of preparation. You know, they wouldn't have gone to six Super Bowls or anything like that. You know, I mean, he got the most out of that team, you know, and it wouldn't have mattered how many more hours. The guys respected him. And that's one thing that you see over and over again, when any of those old players talk about him. You know, he essentially had two rules. Do what we tell you and don't do anything to embarrass the team.

You know, and Frank Tarkington said, you know, if you couldn't play for Bud Grant, you couldn't play for anybody. You know, I mean, he just, he was that guy. And he wasn't the human iceberg that he was made out to be of course you know national media likes something easy uh and you know they just want a a cliche to hang their you know hat on or whatever and um you know they talk about uh you know he used to pull pranks where he would uh leave fish in a guy's car he would would hide a fish in a player's car. And, of course, you can imagine how bad that would smell after a while.

So, you know, practical joker, warm human being, all that kind of stuff. But, you know, I remember as a kid, routinely, the Vikings were the last team to report to training camp. You know, Bud, you know, didn't think that, you know, two extra weeks was very valuable. And in fact, you know, probably wore a guy down because what Grant also knew was, you know, availability and durability were a player's greatest ability, he used to say. And so, you know, you know, why grind them down in training camp? And that was a time where, you know, there were six preseason games on top of training camp and two a days and all of that stuff. So, no, he got it. I mean, he clearly got it. He, you know, he knew it was a job and he treated his players like adults. They appreciated that.

They obviously responded to it. You know, there was a time where Bud Grant was the second winningest professional coach. If you added in Canada and Minnesota, he was only behind George Hallis when he retired. So, yeah, I mean, his record speaks for itself. And I live on the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin, and I've lived in Wisconsin for better or for worse for chunks of my life.

And I will say this, I know a lot of Packer fans, and all of them like Bud Grant. And they, yeah, and I think that goes for the entire NFL. And also we won't mention that bud actually was born in wisconsin the only yeah the only blemish on the man's uh on resume but uh no but seriously i i mean it it was i think that it was influential to him that he was such a great athlete himself to understand how athletes wanted to be talked to. And the other thing that was interesting to me is just that he was for a stoic man and a quiet man, a great communicator

who took lessons from other people. He talked about in one of those NFL film pieces, how he had spoken to the Gophers head basketball coach, and they had discussed philosophy of criticizing players. And he said that he made a point to not criticize players in front of everyone and also try to say something positive first to them before criticizing, which again is things that a lot of the more modern coaches have sort of studied and thought through. And there's been books written about leadership and everything else, but Bud knew these things intuitively. And I think that they did play into his success and I would love to hear you talk about just as having researched this team and and where Bud was when they first started coming from the CFL to the Minnesota Vikings I mean this was the NFL in transition

to becoming the NFL that we know now when he took over and then he was just at the forefront of them becoming a dominant franchise over that time. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, you break the Vikings history up into chapters. Chapter one is Norm Van Brocklin. You know, that 1961 and 1966, they had one winning season, 1964, 85 and 1. So, you know, they were by no means anything special. And Van Brocklin, kind of the opposite of Bud Grant. Fiery, you know, he and Tarkington couldn't get along, certainly didn't have the opinion of, you know, you don't criticize first. You know, I would probably be fortunate if Van Brocklin had anything nice to say to you at all. I remember talking to a guy that was in Vikings training camp in the mid-60s.

I think he was like the 17th round pick in 1965. And he said, ah, the guys hated Van Brocklin. Which I don't mean to besmirch Norm Van Brocklin at this point or anything like that. But just to contrast that with Bud Grant. So, you know, he comes down from the CFL. And keep in mind, Bud Grant was actually their initial first choice as head coach in 1961. But I always kind of figure he was smart because, you know, he didn't necessarily want the expansion team, take your lumps, you know, not have a winning record, get fired, you know, which, you know, happened to Van Brocklin, but yeah, okay, some of it was on him as well. So he comes

in 67. And there's a story about one of the vikings uh you know front office people has to pick him up at the airport and this is of course pre-internet so he said well how will i know and the answer was what's the guy that looks like a u.s marshal uh you know so just just get him uh and apparently you found him pretty easily uh and uh so you know, first season, 3-8-3. So, you know, not a smashing success as you obviously ascertained by the record. But then 8-6 in the playoffs, his second year, 12-2, Super Bowl, third year. And of course, we know it just went from there. So, you know, he started off instilling discipline, which the early Viking squad lacked. And one of the things that he did before, you know, even some of the finer points of

playing was having him line up for the national anthem. And if you see the old NFL films, they're all perfectly in a row. Helmet is under the right arm, facing forward, you know, and his basic philosophy was if you didn't have the discipline to do that, well, then you didn't have the discipline when the game was on the line. And, you know, again, that is something that the Vikings just excelled at. I mean, making the big play at the end of the game and just go through and see how many one score games. And if I would have had time today, I suppose I could have, you know, went and added it up. But, you know, that his philosophy was, you know, just don't make

mistakes, play the game and make let the other team make those mistakes. And then you turn it in their favor. So, you know, whether it was a blocked extra point and, you know, I mean, how often do you get those, but boy, they pulled them out, you know, numerous times. So, yeah, that whole philosophy of Grant just was pervasive through the franchise. And, you know, the players appreciating playing for him, then they're going to do what he wants. And even though they chided him that first time, you know, the players appreciating playing for him, then they're going to do what he wants. And even though they chided him that first time by singing the Mickey Mouse song, you know,

because they thought this lining up for the national anthem was kind of Mickey Mouse. Hey, you know, I mean, they, they fell in line and they did it. And you know, they went out and what gosh gosh eight ten uh division championships so um you know i'll try to do it quick in my head at some point but it was you know it was right around there so i i loved uh just going back through some nfl film stuff and listening to him talk about evaluating players and picking the players and which guys that he most liked. And he talked about how he never had them run a 40 or a 60 yard dash because he could tell if they were fast enough to play, but he would always evaluate by their toughness and what he saw in them, which, you

know, at this point in the NFL, um, toughness is still very, very necessary to make the NFL back in the day, though, it was a little bit of a different world, a very different world when it came to the toughness. And you see that the mud bowl, which you wrote about in your book and all the different weather that they were playing through. And Scott Studwell told me, I think it was maybe two years ago when he released his book about all the players kind of had this rumor within themselves that bud had hand warmers in his jacket but nobody else was allowed and so they would uh they like nobody wanted to say hey bud like don't you have hand warmers in your jacket uh and that they took the heaters off of their sideline as

kind of an intimidation thing so the players when they'd run off the field would try to run by the other sideline to get a little heat on them as they went by. But stuff like that is just so like kind of insane, of course, but also so like classic NFL. And I love that he has this part of his legacy as being so much of a part of all those great NFL films and, and having his team be thought of as the most intimidating, the toughest, the most disciplined. I mean, they kind of took on his personality. You know, I'll start with Jim Marshall playing 282 games, Mick Tinglehoff 240. You know, I mean, these are among the most, I mean, Favre broke Jim Marshall's record, but it, you know, it's Favre,

Marshall, Tinglehoff for most consecutive games played not by a punter or kicker. So, you know, but, you know, so there's that element to it. And, you know, like I talked about before, the durability, availability, but, you know, you mentioned the mud bowl and, you know, and that was classic Grant. Like he knew that this field was going to turn to slop. So I actually have watched the entire mud bowl on YouTube and they were throwing the ball to start the game because he knew it's going to be impossible soon enough. And so they got quick scores in that game, got up 14, nothing and held onto a 14-7 win against a Rams team that really should have beaten them. You know, at that point, the Rams were a more talented, younger team.

You know, and the cold, oh, I mean, if you live in Minnesota, you love that. I mean, that's, you know, we, U.S. Bank is beautiful, whatever. We all want to be able to take the roof off in December. You know, I mean, it mean, that's in our heritage. And I just think about those two games, the Monday night game against the Bears when we were playing in TCF, and then the playoff game against the Seahawks at TCF where Bud is in a polo. You know, he's on the sidelines, no coat, and it is ridiculously cold out. And, you know, that Bears game, that Monday night game, the former players carry him off the field.

And, you know, I mean, if you've got an octogenarian in a polo shirt, as a player, you know, you can't, you know, not give it your best out there and complain about the cold at that point. So, yeah, that was always really cool. And, you know, he always told that story about the people working on the Alaska pipeline and just simply, well, they knew it was going to be cold. There's nothing you can do. You're going to be cold. You can't beat it, but the cold isn't going to hurt you. You're not going to get a cold from it. You know, that comes from germs. So just go out and concentrate on football. And, you know, he didn't want the players running back

to the sidelines thinking oh I can get warm there you know it's just as miserable on the sidelines as it is on the field so I might as well play well and you know win the game uh as a result of it we don't we'll warm up afterwards we'll be cold no matter what. Let's just win. So yeah, I love that stuff. I mean, the Rams coming to Minnesota, nothing was better than that. And just knowing, oh, we had them. And Jim Marshall always tells that story where they were standing on the sidelines, Odin, Odin. and what manner of men are these uh because you know what what Jim Marshall said about that so again from Bud Grant I mean that mystique didn't exist prior to him coming of course it helps when you win uh you know that ups the factor but it was never like, oh, Minnesota, December game 1964, they can't be beat. No. So yeah, Bud Grant is the Vikings. I mean, there's not even a Mount Rushmore in this case. It's one solitary individual. Yeah, and I think that the relationships and lifelong relationships that he had with all of those players,

I was watching a video. I mean, you could tell I went down the rabbit hole today, but just of him talking about Jim Marshall and how he wouldn't be in the Hall of Fame without Jim Marshall, who absolutely deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. I think everybody knows that. Don't get me started on that one. Well, it strengthens the case, by the way, not to get sidetracked, but that pro football reference actually used old film to go through and calculate the number of sacks. And of course, Jim Marshall is up among the all time leaders and kind of proving and strengthening his case.

That seems to be a bit forgotten, but not forgotten so much by him. And Carl Eller put out a beautiful statement, Tommy Kramer, all those guys. And you talked about how well Tarkinson talked of him. But I was also watching an interview with, you know, Joe cap. I don't know how you feel. I'd love your opinion, but about his best coaching job that he ever did. And I feel like the Joe cap season is one that stands way out just because Joe cap didn't have any success any other time. And it was such a great and successful team that they put together. And also Joe Cap kind of, even though Bud Grant was so hard in his approach,

but also he had a big personality. Tarkenton ran around with the ball and had a personality. Like those guys were kind of allowed to do that. But I don't know what you think his best coaching job is. I would probably look at the Joe Capp season. Yeah, so yeah, I mean, 69 would definitely be one of the first ones that comes to my mind. You know, I might look at some of those sort of tail end years of the great teams, you know, where they, 1977, for instance, they finished nine and five,

but made it to the NFC Championship game after upsetting the Rams in the Mud Bowl. You know, because that was a team that had aged out pretty significantly. And, you know, it almost seemed like smoke and mirrors, you know, to get them into the playoffs and then win in the playoffs as well. So, yeah, you know, when you talk about the 69 team and Joe Cap, I mean, you know, they used to say not much more on the ball, but the commissioner's signature, you know, I mean, it just, boy, I mean, I don't have that kind of toughness, but my arm wouldn't have been too much worse than Joe Capps, it seems like at that point, you know, but no, I mean, he was a leader, you know, I mean, that, no doubt about that, and Joe Capp was

a guy that people rallied around on that team, and I think that was kind of what you were getting at, too, is that part of the key to Bud's success is he just let them be who they were. Joe Capp didn't have to throw the prettiest spiral, but he's going to knock out that Browns running back in the NFL championship game, knock him out cold. He's going to do the, the bootleg to score the touchdown against the Rams or, you know, whatever it took, you know, to win the game. You know, I always remember hearing stories about,

like the guys would race from Mankato when training camp broke, you know, go up 169, you know, which again, a, a per, you know, person with a little bit more, you know, which, again, a person with a little bit more, you know, control freak in him might have, you know, disallowed that sort of thing. But yeah, I think the Vikings had a lot of colorful characters. And, you know, one of the NFL films things that I saw today was an interview with Jim Klobuchar, and he was saying that Chuck Foreman did a kind of a poll on the bus one time, you know, on the way out of a game from Detroit. And, you know, like if you were in the jungle or, you know, life and death situation, who would you want? Grant, you know, Bud Grant was the guy that the players chose. So, yeah, I think, you know, from from again, top to bottom, that team fit his mold, you know, didn't didn't have a tremendous amount of, you know, like flash on the field, you know, and they weren't a super flashy team but they were dependable they got the job done and um they had personality uh i i wonder what you think about when you think of the

end of his career because it was kind of strange right he wanted to retire and the whole thing and then les steckel was one of the biggest disasters in nfl history and and then and then bud came back to coach for that one more year. I mean, I don't, I don't know what you know about that. Cause I don't know a whole lot about that year that he came back, but I kind of imagine it being like, I can't let this, I can't let this go as a complete disaster. So I have to come back and coach it for one more year to just get it on the right track with Jerry Burns, which is also a part of Bud's legacy as well, that he had Pete Carroll on his staff and Pete Carroll had done articles about this and tweeted

about it today that he was one of the people that their energy matched up. And you can see the Bud influence in Pete Carroll. He doesn't have the hugest tree because it didn't work the way that it does now. I think coaches stayed a lot more with their teams. But I think it is part of it that Jerry Burns took a lot of his same type of philosophies and ran with them. So I wonder what you think of sort of the end and then his legacy after he retired. Yeah. And I throw in Buddy Ryan. He was a Vikings coach. So, but yeah, so I was 13 when Bud retired the first time and, you know, that was like end of the world, right? I mean, you know, just like death in the family kind of thing to my friends and I, because we were fanatics at that age.

And so obviously, 84, total disaster. We don't need to get into that, right? More Bud, less Steckle. And then that return, one of the great stories of that for me is, well, A, it was just so exciting. It's like, oh, thank, you know, thank God he's back and he's going to save us from, you know, this debacle. But they played the defending Super Bowl champion 49ers in the first week of the season and beat them. You know, I had no business beating that team. I mean, we all know the 80s 49ers are one of the greatest football teams in NFL history. 28-21, it was in the Metrodome. Rufus Best just went nuts. I have the stat line in my book of what he did that day.

But it's crazy with fumble recoveries and forced fumbles, interception. I mean, he was just a machine. And, you know, you just thought, wow, you know, we're going to the Super Bowl now. Of course, they didn't have the talent level to quite get that. But, you know, Bud, I mean, you know, he loved the Vikings enough, you know, whether he wanted to go out and hunt. He knew it couldn't be like this. You know, I mean, they're just he had to right the ship, you know, the Viking ship. Right. And and everyone realized, yeah, we should have hired Bernsie in the first place and gone from there. So, yeah, in a lot of ways, I'm thankful for that year because it also then helped to set up one of the most exciting periods in my viewing ship of the Vikings. Keep in mind, I was born in 1970.

I only actually remember watching one of the Vikings. Keep in mind, I was born in 1970. I only actually remember watching one of the Super Bowls. But that late 80s Vikings, Millard and Dolman, Henry Thomas, Browner, Studwell, just filled with talent and dominant defense. And man, they were so close to the Super Bowl in 87. But, you know, I mean, I don't think that would have happened without Bud's return. You know, because I think and I vaguely remember that, you know, Bud came back with the understanding that Burns would come back because Burns would not have stuck around as offensive coordinator for another coach. And, you know, since we're talking about it, there is a guy who was also underappreciated in NFL history. You know, the West Coast offense, whatever. I mean, Chuck Foreman was leading the league in pass receptions in the mid-1970s.

You know, that was a rarity. He had, I think, 73 catches in 1975. So Burns was very innovative. And he'd been on the staff. He'd been on Lombardi's staff prior to coming with Grant. So the guy had been in like five, six Super Bowls in his career. So again, you know, that was Bud, you know, recognizing talent and Burns was it. So yeah, that, that comeback year of, of Bud's was so exciting. I mean, that was just

something from heaven for a Vikings fan. Yeah. And then just a couple of years later, like you said, playing in the NFC championship game and we won't rip open old wounds, but I think that's the one that if they had made the Superbowl, they probably would have won of all of them. Or you could say, I'm pretty certain that that would have been the case, just considering what Washington did in that Superbowl with Doug Williams. So anyway, but I've ended a lot of sentences with how well anyway. Well, right. We won't get into it, but you know, I will say that in that same NFL films interview and I tweeted this out, people can go back and find it or just search Bud Grant NFL films into

YouTube. But he was talking about losing the Superbowls and how it didn't really keep him up at night. I mean, he said, he kind of made a joke about, you know, if you think too much about your regrets, you'll have gray hair, which he had gray hair like his whole life. But, you know, I thought that that was interesting that he basically thought I kind of did the best that I could and got him to four Super Bowls and don't have regrets and kind of saw his family as something he wanted to spend time with. But he always had such an unbelievable passion for the Vikings. One thing that I put in my article kind of writing up about him is that he late in his life had a cart that he would go

around in and he always had, and I'd see him at games and sometimes a training camp. He always had a Vikings hat on and the cart was purple. Like everything about him was Vikings. And one of the cool stories that Kevin O'Connell told the other night when their PR man, Bob Hagen, announced his retirement and had a retirement party, Kevin O'Connell spoke a little bit and talked about how he had lunch every week this year with Bud Grant, that Bud had an office in TCO Performance Center and Winter Park before that. And he would have lunch with the coaches and get together with them. And what an

incredible experience for Kevin O'Connell. And I just think that Bud stayed in town. He did not go live in Florida or Arizona. He loved the cold. He loved the outdoors here and just kept such a close connection to this organization. And, you know, you would expect from somebody who coached them for a long time, but it was really in his blood, the Vikings organization. I thought that was just such a cool story that 95-year-old Bud Grant came to the facility each week to sit down with the head coach and still talk ball. And he still did great interviews, even until he was 95 years old, that he was going on radio and everything else. But I can't imagine what a cool experience that must have been for Kevin O'Connell. Oh, you know, just the knowledge that you could glean from, you know, probably just osmosis, you know, I mean, Bud wouldn't even had to say much.

So, yeah, I mean, you know, what a what a towering figure in the world of coaching. Just success again, Winnipeg, Minnesota. Yeah, that's very cool. I mean, I would love to hear, I hope I hear in the coming days a little bit more of what O'Connell has to say about his time with Bud. I remember as a teenager, my mom lived in Woodbury. And she would take me over to Winter Park from time to time. And that was in the day you would just walk in. You just walk in the front door, get met by the secretary, and she'd say, oh, yeah, Bud's in the office today.

You know, if you want to stick around, you know, and whatever. He was busy and I never got that interaction, but he just always seemed so extremely approachable because I don't think he looked at it like, I'm an NFL coach, which is one tier down from deity. I mean, he was humble. He looked at it as a vocation. And, you know, I think when you're really, really good, you don't need to act any other way than humble. You know, I mean, he just very comfortable. It's always seemed who he was, like you said, and I've seen that NFL films where he said, yeah,

you know, what would I have gotten, you know, a little bit more money or something, you know, like I've got enough. Everything's fine. You know, in that that 83 season, he talks about, hey, yeah, my kids, you know, I've got one kid going to college yet. That's, you know, got everything I need. It's all taken care of. So, yeah, I think, you you know the league will never probably be that again you know I mean it's just too big but

I think we all agree that if it was a little bit more Bud Grant like people would appreciate it you know for more than just sort of the spectacle that it is you know there there's, there's been a human element that's lost to the game. Cause I know, you know,

talking to my uncle, like, you know, he would go to the Albatross and Mankato and, you know, watch them chug pictures of beer and, you know, his contest after training camp, you know, I mean, I think we would all like a little bit more of that uh you know so so bud certainly represents you know now with him passing it's sort of like a bygone era for sure oh yeah definitely i mean we're in the world of self-promotion and who's the loudest and everything else which i you know i'm not saying about kevin o'connell because i think they actually

have some very similar philosophies about the ways to approach players that would have matched up quite well. But just in general, who can point the most fingers at themselves and things like that and draw the most attention often gets rewarded. That's kind of the way it is. But definitely Bud fit the state of Minnesota so brilliantly kind of because of his mentality and being from the Midwest and everything else. I think that worked. I wanted to talk about the,

make sure we talked about his hall of fame speech though, which I'm sure that you've run across. Even though it is true that he treated it like a job and he wanted to separate family and everything else. It was that moment that you really understood what it meant to him. And, uh, I think it was John Michaels was their offensive line coach. And he talked to a local news station that they, again, YouTube, uh, and said, that's the most emotional I've ever seen it. But I, he said, I think that was the real Bud Grant that we just saw. And he talked about his parents and everything else. And I just, I wish I could find the whole speech. I've only been able to find clips. So if you know a place, pass it along. But it is, it's just beautiful in the way that he talked about it and how emotional he got, which was never what you ever saw from Bud Grant,

but kind of that one opportunity to show everyone how much football mattered to him and how much his career and all the players and all the people that helped him there he got emotional talking about his offensive line coach and everything I mean it was just it was just really special and Sid Hartman was the one that introduced him and those two had the long long time relationship going back to the Minneapolis Lakers I mean just there's just so much in that speech from Bud Gray. Yeah, you know, gosh, I remember kind of getting choked up, you know, seeing that, you know, at one time. And I haven't had a chance yet today to go, you know, research everything I'd want. But, you know, I remember the gist of it was something like, you know, my dad told me, you know, stand up tall, you know, tall enough so they can see you speak louder, you know, but then basically keep it short enough so they don't get sick of you.

You know, I don't remember exactly the words that he used, but that was the gist of it. And, you know, I mean, it was just such a classic sort of old school, you know, mentality. But, yeah, his emotion, I mean, none of us had seen Bud Grant respond in that way. I mean, you know, whatever, four Super Bowl losses, and you know, he looked like the same guy, you know, remarkable wins, hey, look like pretty much the same guy, you know uh, yeah, that, uh, that really shows you, you know, like kind of the reward of a, a career well-lived, uh, you know, that, that he got obviously what he deserved, Hall of Fame, no question about it. Um, but yeah, it meant a lot to him and I'm sure he was thinking about obviously his parents and, you know, the dad who gave him that great advice you know wishing he

could have been there to see his son uh you know receive the the highest honor a person in his position you know position could get um so yeah you know and just with with Bud passing today you know I mean it's made me think about you know some, you know, my grandfather, my father-in-law, whatever, you know, that I've lost that, you know, kind of still represented sort of that old school sort of thing. So, you know, yeah, there's absolutely Viking fans of all ages can relate to Bud Grant. I mean, a kid who's nine, you know, if he watches that speech or she watches that speech, you know, they're going to get it. You know, they're going to understand what this guy meant to the state of Minnesota. Yeah. The way that he finished off the speech was he said that if his father was still alive, he would have said the kid made it. He finally

made it. And it was just such a great, have said the kid made it. He finally made it. And it was just such a great, just, and he said it with so much emotion, his voice is so great. And just all the people that I've gotten to know in the media, and this includes people who work for the Vikings. Sometimes there are younger people who are coming in and they're going to cover the yard sale or something else like that. And they don't know Bud and they've never met him and yet end up forming relationships with him that lasted throughout his lifetime. And I think that's really spoke to his kindness. He let people into his life and opened himself up to people he didn't know very well. But if it was the Vikings, Vikings.com reporter, Lindsay Young did a great

piece about letters that had been sent to Bud Grant. He gave her those letters that he had and she wrote about them and things like that. So he was very open to a lot of people and treated people with graciousness and kindness all the way through his life. I mean, all of these things. What a legacy to have, not just that you're one of the most successful people ever, but also everybody can speak to the experience that they had with Bud Grant's as well. I wanted to, before we wrap up, Chad, I want to read this quote from, again, one of the NFL films things. It was just so good. And Steve Sable and all of his stuff, it's just, you know, this incredible, but Steve, it's amazing. And he had to sit down with Bud and he said, Bud is one of my favorite of all time. So he put a little extra into this, but he read a quote that had influenced Bud Grant. And it was from a Chinese philosopher from 500 BC, because of course it was right. And I'll, I'll read you the quote and you can react and that's how we'll, we'll finish it. The quote was a leader is best when people barely know he exists. Not so good when people obey and acclaim him worse when they despise him, but a good leader talks little when the work is done, his aim fulfilled. They

will say we did it ourselves. Perfect. Just perfect. Bud Grant. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. You know, he never drew attention to himself on the sidelines. You know, I'm not knocking, say, a Mike Ditka, but, you know, he was clearly the coach of the Bears. Right. You know, I mean, it was like waving stuff around, whatever. So, yeah, I mean, a good leader, you barely know he's there. And I think, you know, again, to a player, they would walk away with that sentiment that, you know, Bud sort of provided the foundation, the groundwork, whatever you want to say, for their success. And, you know, we did it ourselves. So, you know, not a micromanager, obviously, you just, you know, anywhere any of us have ever worked, wouldn't you want a manager, a president, a leader, whatever coach, you name it, that had those kind of qualities. And they're obviously rare because, you know, there's more flame outs than there are Bud Grants. So it's, you know, it's a heck of a epitaph to have. So, you know, with the, you know, for my money, the greatest sports figure in Minnesota history. I agree. Yep. I think hands down.

And it is a sad day because of his passing, but also an opportunity to celebrate Bud Grant. But I feel like we never missed that opportunity in Minnesota, which is a good thing that no matter what it was, if there was a chance to write more or interview him or celebrate something he did for his legacy, people did that. Your book, Chad, Kings of the North is great. I have it in the house. And if you are watching on YouTube, you see it right behind me. But I really enjoyed it. I thought you were a great person to get together

with, with your incredible knowledge of Minnesota Vikings history. So thanks so much. And you know, I said in my article that it's rare that you have to send condolences to an entire state when someone passed away. Not just friends and family, but an entire state. That feels like what it was today is condolences to everyone in Minnesota for losing Bud Grant. But, Chad, thanks so much for your time doing this on short notice. I really, really appreciate it. Great to get together. Absolutely. If you don't mind me saying, if you see over my shoulder, there is a – whoops.

Wrong shoulder. Yeah, there we go. Right there where the blue thing is on, that is actually a light from Met Stadium. When they were tearing it down when I was 15, my mom took me there, and I've got bricks and stuff. And, you know, I just wanted to point that out because, you know, those early Viking teams meant so much to me. And Bud Grant as a coach, you know, I mean, he was, you know, one of my heroes as a kid. So, yeah, I just, you know, just wanted to point that out. So, yeah, again, I mean, your, your passion for Vikings history is exactly why I thought of you when, when this happened of

someone to talk with. So thanks so much again. And thanks everybody for listening to our tribute to Bud Grant.