Former Minnesota Vikings Hall of Fame coach Bud Grant waves a final goodbye to the Metrodome during ceremonies following the Vikings NFL football against the Detroit Lions, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2013, in Minneapolis. 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, has died. He was 95. (AP Photo/Jim Mone, File

Legendary former Minnesota Vikings coach Bud Grant passed away on Saturday.

A sad day in Minnesota Vikings’ territory for sure.

Several fans of the Purple today became passionate about Viking football because of Bud’s teams of the 1970s, myself included.

In my mind, Bud Grant should be mentioned in the same breath as the Dolphins’ Don Shula, the Cowboys’ Tom Landry, the Steelers’ Chuck Noll and the Raiders’ John Madden.

To Vikings’ fans, he most definitely is.

In the national NFL landscape, I always felt that Bud got slighted in the great coach category because he never won a Super Bowl.

To a point, I get it. The bottom line in the NFL is winning the big game and Bud and the Vikings were 0 for 4 on Super Bowl Sunday.

But Bud Grant wasn’t a failure as a coach just because he didn’t win the big game.

Bud Grant was still influencing Viking football in his 95th and final year on this planet.

Ask current Viking coach Kevin O’Connell.

KOC said in a statement that Bud Grant was one of the first people to greet him at the Vikings facility after he was hired. KOC said he and Bud met almost weekly at the facility to talk football and life.

While the older generation of Viking fans have fond memories of Bud’s teams dominating the NFC Central in the 1970s, the younger generation got a glimpse into the toughness and greatness of Bud Grant at a home playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks in 2016.

In one of the coldest games in NFL history, Bud came out to midfield for the ceremonial coin toss in a short-sleeved polo shirt. Yes, short sleeves.

That was classic Bud Grant.

That was the Bud Grant of the 1970s that wouldn’t allow space heaters on the Vikings’ sidelines at Metropolitan Stadium.

There are stories that Grant had a no gloves and no sleeves rule.

It all led to a record of 158-96-5 and 11 division titles.

Bud Grant was not about flash. He was cut from the score a touchdown, act like you’ve been there before, hand the ball to the official cloth.

Yes, the Vikings had a few flashy players in his tenure, the legendary Purple People Eaters, Chuck Foreman with his patented spin move with the ball in one hand and the scrambling quarterback Fran Tarkenton quickly come to mind.

While the above mentioned had their own personalities, they all had mad respect for their head coach and played the game the way it was meant to be played.

I challenge anyone to find someone who has ever said a bad word about Bud Grant.

And if the only thing negative that anyone comes up with about the iconic coach is that he never won a Super Bowl, well, that means the guy led a pretty darn good life for almost a 100 years.

If anyone that bleeds Purple deserved to see the Vikings win a Super Bowl, it was Bud Grant.

Coach, one of them is coming soon.

And coach, thanks for the memories and turning me into a die-hard Viking fan for life.

Skol!

Kirk Hardcastle, a 1987 Fort Dodge Senior High graduate, is a former sports writer at The Messenger.