KARE 11: Gopher greats Bud Grant and Rickey Foggie weigh in on '19 team

[BleedGopher]

per KARE 11:

Bud Grant may be best known as coach of the Minnesota Vikings, but he was Gopher too -- a four-year starter -- from 1946 to 1949. And he's been waiting to see a season like this year's.

"It's been a long time since we've had something to crow about," Grant said. "They started out a little slow by winning some close ballgames, but they have progressed as the year's gone on, and as a coach or a fan you like to see that. You don't want to see a stagnant team. This team has gotten better as the year has gone on."

Rickey Foggie was another four-year starter for the Gophers, from 1984 to 1987, who has continued to follow the team through some pretty lean years.

"The one thing I am glad about, is the wait is over," Foggie said. "That's the exciting part, to be able to witness this, because you know we've been waiting a long time."

Gopher greats Bud Grant and Rickey Foggie weigh in on '19 team

Both four-year starters believe the caliber of players is better now than in many years, leading to outstanding season

www.kare11.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[cemba99]

per KARE 11:

Bud Grant may be best known as coach of the Minnesota Vikings, but he was Gopher too -- a four-year starter -- from 1946 to 1949. And he's been waiting to see a season like this year's.

"It's been a long time since we've had something to crow about," Grant said. "They started out a little slow by winning some close ballgames, but they have progressed as the year's gone on, and as a coach or a fan you like to see that. You don't want to see a stagnant team. This team has gotten better as the year has gone on."

Rickey Foggie was another four-year starter for the Gophers, from 1984 to 1987, who has continued to follow the team through some pretty lean years.

"The one thing I am glad about, is the wait is over," Foggie said. "That's the exciting part, to be able to witness this, because you know we've been waiting a long time."

Gopher greats Bud Grant and Rickey Foggie weigh in on '19 team

Both four-year starters believe the caliber of players is better now than in many years, leading to outstanding season

www.kare11.com

Go Gophers!!

At the risk of being “nit- picky” - unless there was some special compensation after WWII, freshman were not allowed to play varsity sports until the late ‘60s - early 70’s. Thus question whether Bud could have been a four year starter - but I have been wrong (many times) before.

 

[dpodoll68]

At the risk of being “nit- picky” - unless there was some special compensation after WWII, freshman were not allowed to play varsity sports until the late ‘60s - early 70’s. Thus question whether Bud could have been a four year starter - but I have been wrong (many times) before.

I was curious about this, so my research produced the following:

"He played for the University of Minnesota at the collegiate level and earned four letters in football, three in basketball and two in baseball."

From this article: https://www.superiortelegram.com/news/1963275-grant-reminisces-about-superior

I have no idea whether the statement re: the sport-by-sport breakdown of letters is accurate, but the total number of letters mentioned (9) does line up with what is mentioned in a plethora of different sources.

 

[RodentRampage]

Did Minnesota have a freshman football team back then?

 

[cemba99]

Was able to verify that there were freshman exemptions during WWII (probably because of a general lack of players). Bud played for a navy service team during the war, so he was certainly ready to play at a varsity level as a freshman in 1946. Bud’s teammate - freshman Billy Bye - was the 1946 team MVP.

 

[e.bigelow]

Went to high school and college with Lou who did this report. He's a couple years older than me. He always does an excellent job.