Bud Grant

Bud Grant was an excellent receiver, who went on to become one of the best coaches in the CFL and the NFL.  Grant played two years in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles (1951-52) before coming to Canada.  In 1952 with the Eagles, Grant had a more than respectable 56 catches for 997 yards.  Grant had a relatively short CFL playing career of only four years, from 1953 to 1956, all with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.  In those four seasons, Grant led the West in receiving in three of them (1953, 1954 and 1956), and was a West All-Star in those same years (there were no CFL All-Stars until 1962).  Grant was also an excellent two-way player, playing defensive back and recording 7 interceptions in those four years, with a career high of 4 in 1953.  In 1957, at the age of 30, Grant took over the head coaching job with the Bombers and took the Bombers to the Grey Cup final where they lost to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Grant's old coach from Philadelphia, Jim Trimble.  That 1957 match-up was a harbinger of things to come as the Tiger-Cats and the Bombers met four more times in the next five years in the Grey Cup (1958, 1959, 1961 and 1962), and Grant and the Bombers won all four of them.  After 10 years as the Bomber head coach, Grant went back to the NFL to become the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings.  Grant coached the Vikings for 18 seasons (1967-1983, 1985).  Currently he is the winningest coach in Vikings history and the third winningest in NFL history.  Grant was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1994.

NFL Stats for Bud Grant 
Wikipedia Article on Bud Grant

Games Played, Rushing and Receiving
Year Team GP TC Yds Avg Avg TD Rec Yds Avg TD Long
1953 WPG 16 1 9 9 9 0 68 922 13.5 5
1954 WPG 16 0 0 0 0 0 49 752 15.3 5 62
1955 WPG
0 0 0 0 0 36 556 15.4 2 62
1956 WPG
0 0 0 0 0 63 970 15.3 1 52
Kickoff and Punt Returns
Year Team KOR Yds Avg TD Long PR Yds Avg TD Long
1953 WPG 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1954 WPG 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1955 WPG 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1956 WPG 1 29 29 0 29 1 5 5 0 5
Interceptions
Year Team Int Yds Avg TDInt Long
1953 WPG 4 10 2.5 0
1954 WPG 1 5 5 0 5
1955 WPG 0 0 0 0 0
1956 WPG 2 6 3 0
Fumbles
Year Team F FL
1953 WPG 0
1954 WPG 3
1955 WPG 1
1956 WPG 1