More than two months after legendary Minnesota Vikings head coach Bud Grant died, former Vikings quarterback Tommy Kramer shared what is believed to be the final video taken of the sports icon.
On Sunday, the day the Vikings invited fans into U.S. Bank Stadium to honor Grant with a memorial, Kramer tweeted a 52-second video of Grant talking about his brief career in the NBA with the Minneapolis Lakers. The video was taken March 10, one day before Grant died at the age of 95.
“So you were playing college one week and then they called you to play for the Lakers?” a man says to Grant, who was sitting in a chair and holding a framed newspaper clipping of the story that was published when the Lakers called on Grant to join the team in 1949.
The man, identified by Kramer as his friend Buddy, asked Grant if he played if George Mikan.
“Yep, world champion that year,” Grant replied. “This was Christmas Day that this game is being played. The first shot I took as a Laker was in the middle of the floor.”
“How come?” Buddy said.
“That’s the only time I got in,” said Grant, prompting a chuckle from the man.
We said good bye to my dear friend and coach, the great Bud Grant at US Bank Stadium today. My friend Buddy took this video the day before he passed, it was the last one ever taken.
We love you Bud. pic.twitter.com/E1BWfnWUYf— Tommy Kramer (@Kramer9Tommy) May 22, 2023
Memory as sharp as a tack, Grant was spot-on. His NBA debut was on Dec. 25, 1949 when the Minneapolis Lakers played the Fort Wayne Pistons. Grant took one shot in the game in made it. He also hit his only free-throw attempt and finished with three points, according to Basketball Reference.
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Forty-two days later he would score 14 points agains the Philadelphia Warriors, which marked the highest-scoring game of his two-year NBA career.
Grant coached the Vikings from 1969 to 1985 and brought the Vikings to four Super Bowls, the last in 1976. Minnesota hasn’t been back to a Super Bowl since.
Related: Honoring Bud Grant: The speech that saved the Vikings
