Introduction by Mr. Cheer or Die: Harry Peter "Bud" Grant was born May 20, 1927. In honor of his upcoming birthday in five weeks, the VU will be paying homage by having special guest author Roger Wilk (aka Purplexing) present a five-part series on Grant. Each Friday, the VU will present one of the five Grant entries culminating on Friday, May 19.

Here now, is part three of his Grant essay.

Taken For Granted: Bud Grant Essay Part 3: Bud Grant: "Grant's New Team - Assembling and Assimilating the New Purple People" by Roger Wilk

Part One of this five part essay traced Bud Grant's life through his scholastic and pro-athlete years, and reviewed highlights of his ten years as coach of the CFL Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Part Two reviewed Grant's CFL career as a player and a coach in greater depth, and discussed his move back to the NFL to coach the Vikings in 1967….

Part Three continues the story of Grant joining the Minnesota Vikings in 1967 and building them into a winning team during the late 1960's and throughout most of the 1970's.

Bud Grant's arrival in Minnesota in 1967 was not the only change that yielded the Vikings later success in the late 60's and early 70's. Norm Van Brocklin and the Vikings front office staff had assembled a nucleus of quality players that earned an 8-5-1 record in 1964 and 7-7-0 in 1965. The addition of General Manager Jim Finks, before Grant arrived, would be the driving force behind the scenes which was needed to build upon Van Brocklin's sporadic success to yield a consistent winning team.

Key players on the roster who were retained when Grant took over as head coach were: Mick Tinglehoff on offense, kicker Fred Cox, and Jim Marshall, Gary Larsen, Carl Eller, Roy Winston, and Ed Sharockman on defense.

In Grant's first year, Alan Page was drafted in the first round, out of Notre Dame, to complete the Purple People Eaters defensive front four, and Bobby Bryant was added to strengthen the defensive backfield. Grant coerced Joe Kapp from British Columbia (BC) of the Canadian Football League to quarterback the Vikings. Gene Washington and Bob Grim were two new receivers added to catch Joe Kapp's ‘dying duck’ passes.

In Kapp, Grant had a proven, winning QB to lead the Vikings. Kapp lead his U. of California team to the Rose Bowl, his BC Lions to a 1964 Grey Cup Championship, and would later lead the Vikings to the team's first Super Bowl appearance, following their 1969 NFL Championship season. Kapp's competitive nature and will to win would be noticed much later in one of the most bizarre and memorable plays in college football history. In 1982, his first year as coach of his alma mater, the U. of California, Kapp diagrammed the five-lateral last play of the game to beat Stanford, …and it's marching band.

Importance of Assimilating the New Players

Equally important as the new players that Grant and Finks added to the existing nucleus of talent, was the new coaching philosophy Grant brought.

Without Grant's focus on discipline and error elimination, the Vikings growing talent base would never be fully realized. Grant introduced important changes to the team, such as practicing outdoors, to acclimate his team to Minnesota's frigid winter weather, and a pre-game routine which included a choreographed alignment of players standing at attention during the playing of the US National Anthem.

Like most aspects of Grant's leadership, he assigned authority and responsibility for these important tasks and routines to his coaches and players, and only intervened when things went awry. Grant set out rules for curfew, smoking, drinking, team practices, and probably dozens of other behavioral norms he expected players and coaches to follow. He treated the players not as college students, but as men with responsibilities. The respect was mutually returned.

Grant strove for, and attained a disciplined team where players and assistant coaches were responsible for much of the teams' success. This approach reduced barriers to winning consistently, such as penalties and turnovers. An area where Grant imposed his rule was practicing outdoors in cold weather, and not allowing heaters on the sidelines during cold weather games.

Grant's philosophy on heaters on the sidelines was that the players' attention would be more focused on playing and winning than returning to a warm sideline or bench. Not only would his players become acclimated to the adverse conditions, but they would also have the edge over most visiting teams. If faced with fatigue and the distraction of the harsh Minnesota weather, visiting teams might be more prone to the mental mistakes Grant wanted to reduce in his own team.

Since Max Winters and Jim Finks saw Grant succeed in the CFL, they must have trusted his judgement on the issues of discipline and practice techniques. And they likely gave him more authority to run the team as he felt necessary to succeed. Some players responded negatively, and some reacted positively to this new disciplinarian approach.

Grant's disciplinarian approach to coaching was not completely unlike Norm Van Brocklin, but Grant was different in other aspects. For example, Grant displayed a calm, stoic demeanor during tense game situations. Grant once explained that it was a behavior he adapted in reaction to a comment once repeated to him by one of his players. The player told Grant he felt more confident and relaxed, and able to perform better under stress, when he glanced over and observed Grant's calmness in a tense situation during a game. Grant explained it was of great value to his team for him to continue to display that type of poise. And he did so for his entire coaching career.

Having instilled in the revamped 1967 team his philosophy for practice, pre-game routines, and player behavior off and on the field, Grant was ready to improve upon a seemingly meager 3-8-3 record. In fact, Grant projected to Max Winter and Jim Finks, when he was hired in 1967, a playoff appearance and championship within two or three years. And he fulfilled that projection, within his timeline. He and Jim Finks did so by adding a number of key players that would form the nucleus of the successful Viking teams of the early 1970's. Among the additions in 1968 were: first round draft pick, and future hall of fame tackle Ron Yary, Dave Osborne, Gary Cuozzo on offense, and Wally Hilgenberg, Charlie West, and future hall of fame safety Paul Krause on defense.

The Vikings 3-8-3 record in 1967 under Grant was misleading in that a number of the losses were close games, and the three ties could have been a few more wins if the players had more poise and experience under Grant's system. In 1968, things came together, and an 8-6-0 record resulted, along with a divisional championship.

The 1969 Vikings continued the success of the prior season, won the 1969 NFL Championship game, and advanced to the Super Bowl, which they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs. In the off-season, Joe Kapp was involved in a contract dispute, and a hold out, which resulted in him being traded to the Boston Patriots. The next few seasons resulted in playoff appearances but no playoff wins under QB Gary Cuozzo.

Jim Finks and Bud Grant realized they needed to get Fran Tarkenton back from the NY Giants. Tarkenton was traded to New York in a huge deal that yielded two first and second round draft picks that laid the foundation for much of Minnesota's success under Grant. But, without him, Grant and Finks felt Minnesota would not reach their ultimate goal. Minnesota traded Bob Grim (who was obtained via one of the picks acquired in the original trade of Tarkenton to the Giants in 1967), Norm Snead, and first round picks in 1972 and 1973, for Tarkenton.

After re-acquiring Tarkenton in 1972, Minnesota finished with a disappointing 7-7 season. Without the draft picks they lost, it would only be a momentary pause before they began a very impressive run in the mid- to late- 1970's. Chuck Foreman was drafted in the first round, out of Miami, in 1973, and a few other key offensive players, such as John Gilliam were added, all of which resulted in three more Super Bowl appearances, but, unfortunately, no wins.

Sadly, Grant, and the Vikings players, management, and fans would not know this would be their last chance under Grant to win the Super Bowl……

Coming Friday, May 12 will be Part Four which will discuss Bud Grants' years in Minnesota leading up to his retirement(s), and will review some of his key career accomplishments and won loss records.