Bud Grant-A Three Sport Star and Member of Two Halls of Fame

Bud Grant was much more than just a football coach. An exceptional athlete, Bud Grant was actually voted the Minnesota Male Athlete of the Half Century in 1950. Bud Grant played professional basketball with the Lakers and pro football with the Eagles before starring in the Canadian Football League. Bud Grant then became a coach there and in the National Football League and made both circuit's Halls of Fame. Bud Grant retired after the 1985 season, and the Vikings have never been the same.

Harry Peter "Bud" Grant was born in Superior, Wisconsin in 1927, the first born of Harry Sr. and Bernice Grant. To avoid the confusion of having two Harrys in the house, his mom took to calling him "Buddy Boy" and that was shortened to Bud. Grant had a pair of brothers, but he was seven years older than the middle boy and wound up babysitting quite a bit. Bud Grant took an old baseball glove his dad gave him and began to get involved in the game, but he actually played more basketball and football because of the harsh winters up north. There were no grade school sports where Bud Grant grew up, so he would organize football games between the neighborhoods in the area.

It was during this period of his young life that Bud Grant began a love affair with the outdoors. Grant would take a bus every Saturday and Sunday to be dropped off during hunting season so that he could hunt rabbits with his .22 rifle. More often than not Bud would spend hours outdoors by himself. In high school, Bud Grant became a star athlete, dominating on the gridiron and basketball court as well as the baseball diamond.