Viking’s Bud Grant Turns 95, ND You Aware He Was An NBA Champ?

Born Friday, May 20th, 1927...Bud Grant would go on to lead the Vikings for 18 years.

Bud Grant is a childhood hero of mine. A no-nonsense, no heaters on the sidelines, no excuses sorta guy. He led the Minnesota Vikings to four Super Bowl appearances in his 18 years as head coach.  I know my Vikings lost all four Super Bowl games; and it makes me sad. But Bud Grant always kept The Purple in contention- he's still the 3rd most successful professional football coach of all time.

How can that be? Well before the Viking's gig, Bud was a head coach in the Canadian Football league.  He coached the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for ten seasons and won four Grey Cup CFL Championships.  He has a statue in front of the Bomber's new stadium. He as a player played for the CFL Winnipeg Blue Bombers as well as the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL.  So Bud Grant's enjoyed a long storied career in the NFL.

OK, so tell us something we don't know.

BUD GRANT IS AN NBA CHAMPION- AS A PLAYER!

Bud Grant just turned 94 years old and one of the tribute pieces I came upon mentioned his NBA championship with the Minneapolis Lakers. Y'see, when the team moved to Los Angeles they kept the Lakers name although there are not 10,000 lakes around LA. But this was the 1949-50 season and Minneapolis was heading for a championship behind Bud's 2.5 points per game average. Sure, that's not a lot of points. But Bud Grant has one more NBA Championship than Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, John Stockton, and Bill Belichick COMBINED!

Bud Grant- NBA Champion.

Still, it was his football brethren that gathered to commemorate his 95th birthday.

Recently, Grant was surprised by more than 35 of his former players on a Zoom call to celebrate his 95th birthday. It was "pitched to Grant as a '60s and '70s Vikings Decade Call," but he quickly realized something was up. Players like Jim Marshall, Carl Eller, Alan Page, Ahmad Rashad, Sammy White, and many more were on the video call to share memories, laughs, and birthday wishes for their former coach.