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Minnesota '50

Bud Grant

Legendary Football Coach

Harry Peter “Bud” Grant, Jr. (born May 20, 1927) is a former American football and Canadian football head coach. Grant served as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL) for eighteen seasons; he was the team’s second (1967–83) and fourth (1985) head coach. Before coaching the Vikings, he was the head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL) for ten seasons, winning the Grey Cup four times. Grant is the most successful coach in Vikings history, and the third most successful professional football coach overall (behind Don Shula and George Halas), with a combined 290 wins in the NFL and CFL. Grant was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1994. He was the first coach in the history of professional football to guide teams to the Grey Cup finals and the Super Bowl.

Grant attended the University of Minnesota and was a three-sport athlete, in football, basketball, and baseball. After college, he played for the Minneapolis Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL, and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL. To date he is the only man in history to play professionally in both the NFL and the NBA.

On October 23, 2014, a statue of Grant was unveiled in front of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ new stadium, Investors Group Field.