REFLECTIONS

As the Minnesota Vikings head into new territory with new coach Jeff McConnell, there's one Vikings coach we will never forget.
This football immortal is none other than Bud Grant, also known as Harry (Peter) Grant. I believe he could still coach today at 94.
Grant took the Vikings to four Super Bowl games but came away winless in each game. Some Vikings fans have severely criticized the Vikings for never winning a Super Bowl game. Other fans thank Bud for providing some historic moments in football.
Many of us will sit back in our easy chair on Sunday, Feb. 13 and remember the thrill it was to be a Super Bowl team. It has been 46 years since the Vikings played in the 1976 Super Bowl IX against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
During my journalistic career, I have been fortunate to have interviewed some small-town community leaders, sports heroes of the past and our friends and neighbors in a small town.
Yes, I did claim Sid Hartman as a close, personal friend. I also got to the point of knowing Bud Grant as a close friend. Grant still lives in Bloomington and has lived the dream of being a Hall of Fame football coach. He was enshrined in 1994.
Always a Vikings fan and at the same time a cub reporter, I had a chance to be credentialed during the Vikings' successful football seasons in the late 1960s.
I remember freezing my fingers and having the film in my camera broken off because it was so cold when I covered the championship game against the Cleveland Browns in 1969.
This was at the time when Grant did not allow players to have heaters on the sideline. He was said to be cold hearted.
I remember reading a news article in the Christian Science Monitor about Grant and his thing about sideline heaters. He addressed a Monitor reporter about the issue: "Pat (Grant's wife), tell them how warm I am."
He led the Vikings to the National Football League's title in 1969. They then lost to the Kansas City Chiefs.
I recall attending a Grant press conference after they had earned a spot in the Super Bowl for 1970. He treated this cub reporter just as he would have answered Pat Summerall or Tom Brookshier, national broadcasters.
My first actual person to person contact with Coach Grant came when I moved to Forest Lake from Winona to be the Forest Lake Times' news editor.
I learned that Grant had lived in Forest Lake when he was attending the University of Minnesota and playing basketball for the Gophers. I called the Vikings and asked if Coach Grant would agree to calling me back and telling his connection with Forest Lake.
Grant called me back within the hour and gave me a great interview. He stayed with Art and Lucille Kistler. I also interviewed the Kistlers.
The Kistlers said Grant was a three-sport athlete at the University of Minnesota. He also played for the Minneapolis Lakers of the NBA, the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL.
A second telephone call was received from Grant when I called him to get some comments about the passing of Rush City's superintendent of schools, C. E.Jacobson. Jacobsen played baseball against Grant. "Jake was a tough competitor," Grant said.
I got to know Grant even better when I spotted him sitting in the last row of the football bleachers in Forest Lake. He was there to see his son Mike coach the Rangers. Grant was very unassuming by becoming one of the crowd.
My favorite interaction with Grant came when he was speaking to an athletic banquet at Rush City High School.
Grant agreed to speak at the banquet at a reasonable rate because Rush City was on his way to his cabin in Gordon, Wisconsin.
Grant never really got along with world renowned sportscaster Howard Cosell. "He acted on tips for his sports stories,"said Grant. "Cosell didn't know whether a football was stuffed or pumped up" Grant remarked.
I would bump into Grant from Time to time. My son Troy and I attended an autograph signing party featuring Grant. Troy had a photo of Grant holding him at Mankato Training Camp. Grant signed the 8x10 photo and thanked us for all of our support.
I met Grant a couple more times, once when he participated in a celebrity party for the announcement of a new stadium to be built. "Thanks for coming," said Vice President Lester Bagley. "Don't forget, I still work for the Vikings."
I then met him again at groundbreaking ceremonies for US Bank Stadium. "Are you still in Forest Lake?" Grant asked. I answered in the affirmative.
Grant was all class, treating everyone the same.
His record as a coach stands tall. He had a career coaching recording in the Canadian Football League at 118-64-3, and in the National Football League at 168-105-5.
Grant was often spotted in the Owatonna area, having been a close friend of Buzz Kaplan.