Former Vikings head coach Bud Grant has died at the age of 95, Minnesota announced on Saturday. Check out his Cause of death here.
Bud Grant : Death | Cause of death | Net worth
Grant was born on May 20, 1927, in Superior, Wisconsin to Harry Peter Sr. and Bernice Grant. His mother called him “Buddy Boy”, which later became “Bud”.
As a child, Grant was diagnosed with poliomyelitis and a doctor suggested he become active in sports to strengthen his weakened leg muscles over time. He started with baseball, adding basketball and football as he got older.
Due to a lack of organized school teams, he arranged football games between neighborhoods and contacted kids from other schools to participate. During weekends, he spent time outdoors alone hunting rabbits.
In his late teens and college years, he played organized baseball in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Death
Bud Grant, the stoic and demanding Hall of Fame coach who took the Minnesota Vikings and their mighty Purple People Eaters defense to four Super Bowls in eight years and lost all of them, died Saturday. He was 95.
The Vikings announced Grant’s death on social media.
“No single individual more defined the Minnesota Vikings than Bud Grant. A once-in-a-lifetime man, Bud will forever be synonymous with success, toughness, the North and the Vikings,” owners Zygi Wilf and Mark Wilf said in a joint statement distributed by the team. “In short, he was the Vikings.”
Wearing his trademark purple Vikings cap and a stone-faced demeanor, Grant displayed a steely sideline gaze that became synonymous with his teams.
He was a mainstay among coaches of his era, a decorated group that included Don Shula, Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, John Madden and Hank Stram. Grant, however, had little interest in accolades.
“The only reason I can see for a head coach getting credit for something good is that he gets so much blame when something is bad,” Grant once said. “The whole secret, I think, is to not react to either the good or the bad.”
He guided the Vikings from 1967-85, with a one-year hiatus in 1984, on his way to a 158-96-5 record with 11 division championships in 18 seasons. He went 10-12 in the playoffs. When he retired, Grant was eighth on the NFL’s all-time victory list.
Bud Grant cause of death
Becker, who shares a home in Blaine with former Vikings star quarterback Tommy Kramer and is involved in setting up many functions involving former players, had been talking to the elderly Grant and his live-in partner Pat Smith, about whether Grant might be better served moving into a one-level residence rather than being at his multi-level home.
“The last couple of weeks, we had been talking,’’ Becker said Saturday. “On Thursday, I talked to him and he said, ‘I appreciate everything that you are doing, but this is my home.’ He said, ‘I want to die here.’ He said, “I’ve lived a good life, and my kids are all taken care of and my grandkids are all taken care. I made sure of all of that.”’
On Saturday morning, Grant died at his home at the age of 95. Becker said that on Thursday, despite what Grant had said about dying, he had no inkling that the end was near. But Becker said he learned Friday that Grant had begun to feel ill.
Becker said his visit with Grant on Thursday was not unlike some of his previous recent meetings. He said he talked to Grant, who coached the Vikings from 1967-83 and in 1985, about sports, including basketball. Grant had once played in the NBA with the Minneapolis Lakers.
Bud Grant’s son, Mike Grant, the football coach at Eden Prairie, said Saturday the picture of his father “probably is” the last photo taken of him.
Mike Grant said he last saw his father Wednesday and last spoke to him on the phone Thursday. Despite his father’s advanced age, he called his death “a shocker.”
Mike Grant said no official cause of death has been listed to his knowledge, and there won’t be an autopsy, but that it was related to his heart.
Bud Grant Net worth
According to our sources, Bud Grant has an estimated net worth of about $1.5 Million at the time of his death.
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