He led the Minnesota Vikings to 11 divisional titles, an NFL championship and three NFC crowns in 17 memorable seasons. In 1994, Bud Grant, one of football's greatest coaches, was inducted as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Last week, he said there's another football icon from Minnesota who has been passed over for enshrinement for too long. Duluth's Ole Haugsrud, Grant said, deserves to join him in the hallowed halls of Canton, Ohio.
"As one of the founders, absolutely," Grant said in an exclusive interview with the News Tribune editorial page. "He had almost as much impact and credentials as [Chicago Bears' owner and coach George] Halas. If he had been in a bigger city, he'd have been another George Halas."
Haugsrud grew up in Superior, where the university's football field still bears his name. He went to high school there with Ernie Nevers, an All-American in football for Stanford University.
In the summer of 1926, Nevers was pitching for baseball's St. Louis Browns and Haugsrud was the owner of a National Football League team in Duluth. But the NFL was in trouble. The "Galloping Ghost," Red Grange, had started a rival league. The NFL needed a player who could bring in fans the way Grange could. Haugsrud landed his old friend, Nevers, a coup that caused NFL President Joe Carr to announce to Haugsrud that, "Young man, you've just saved the NFL."
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The Duluth Eskimos barnstormed the country after that, bringing respectability and revenue that helped keep the NFL afloat through the dark days of the Great Depression.
Three decades later, Haugsrud became a football pioneer of two eras as a founder of the Vikings.
Grant, who's 82 now and still about as fit as when he played professional basketball and professional football, knew Haugsrud after his days with the Eskimos. Haugsrud ran a canteen service in Duluth. He was a supplier of tobacco, candy and other confections.
"I knew Ole quite well. He was a friend of mine," Grant said. "I remember he had a truck that he used when he sold candy" and when he stocked concession stands, including the ones at Duluth Dukes and Superior Blues baseball games, stands that Grant's father operated.
"My dad knew Ole from the football days, too," Grant said. "He played for Ole. He worked out with the teams and practiced with them. But he couldn't travel."
That was because, unlike many players of the early 20th century, Harry Grant enjoyed gainful employment. He was a Superior firefighter for 36 years, including as assistant chief.
"Ole was a promoter all his life," Grant continued. "He liked sports. And my dad was pretty active in sports. He played football and baseball and basketball. Ole and my dad had that common interest. They were friends. That's mostly how I knew Ole -- but it was mostly through free candy bars."
Grant would welcome the opportunity to know Ole another way: as a fellow member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. After being a finalist in 1973, Haugsrud was nominated this year as a senior inductee. Senior selectors meet the third week of August. The hall's newest class is announced Super Bowl weekend.
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Should Haugsrud be on the final list?
"Absolutely," Grant said one more time.
