David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Lurtsema: Grant Deserving of Top 10

Posted on May 31, 2013May 31, 2013 by David Shama

Is Bud Grant the 15^th greatest coach in NFL history?

That’s what a group of voters including Chris Berman, John Clayton, Mike Ditka, Herm Edwards, Mike Golic, Bill Polian and Rick Reilly have decided. ESPN, in recognition of the late Vince Lombardi’s 100^th birthday, are counting down the 20 best coaches in NFL history and have the former Vikings’ head coach at No. 15. Grant is ahead of Tony Dungy, Mike Shanahan, Sid Gillman, Marv Levy and Hank Stram but behind Tom Coughlin and Jimmy Johnson. The remaining 12 coaches haven’t been announced.

Grant’s assignment at No. 15 won’t win popularity contests in the Northland including from former players like Bob Lurtsema. “That’s really, really low. He is without a doubt in the top 10,” Lurtsema told Sports Headliners.

Lurtsema also played for coach Don Shula, probably a cinch top-10 selection. Lurtsema said it’s “tight” when comparing Shula and Grant. The two coaches knew how to communicate with their players and get the best from them.

“Bud, all he had to do was look at you and you knew something was wrong,” Lurtsema said. “…And when Bud spoke, you hung on every word, man, cause what he was saying was true. Same with Shula.”

Lurtsema said the coach never spoke to him during his first days with the Vikings after leaving the Giants. Then after the first game Grant came up to Lurtsema and delivered an unexpected message: “He says don’t rock (back and forth) so much during the National Anthem.”

Great coaches sort through different approaches with their players. “I personally think a coach should know how to handle each individual, and not have a generic type talk,” Lurtsema said. “Like Allie Sherman (former Giants head coach) was just horseshit. He was just brutal but he had the horses with Sam Huff and those guys in the sixties. The players made Allie Sherman a winner but as far as being a coach, I wouldn’t put him in the top 100.”

Grant’s expectations included for players to focus on their jobs and make minimal mistakes. Focus during a game stimulated adrenaline and helped players block out distractions including cold weather, when Grant’s teams were often at their best.

“I bought into it (playing in the cold),” Lurtsema said. “Believe it, still believe it.”

It never seemed like there was any wasted energy or direction with Grant. He could get angry but mostly he was controlled no matter the situation. He just acted and looked like the town marshal, an authority who did his job and was watching to see how you behaved.

“His philosophy was he never cut anybody (from the team),” Lurtsema said. “Players cut themselves.”

Although Grant’s stoic image was deserved, those close to him saw his sense of humor. He enjoyed practical jokes including April Fools’ Day pranks at the Vikings’ offices when workers wondered if a reptile or other creature might pop out of their desk drawers.

Sid Hartman recalled in his book, Sid, how he and an auto dealership couldn’t figure out why his new car smelled so bad. “Finally they found a couple of decaying crows in the car,” Hartman wrote in his book. “It was no mystery where they came from. It had to be Grant.”

Grant was famous in Minnesota before he ever coached here but his tenure with the Vikings made him a legend. He was one of the Gophers greatest athletes and a key player on the 1949 team that almost qualified for the Rose Bowl. Grant played for coach Bernie Bierman, also a quiet, stern disciplinarian who won five national championships at Minnesota.

Grant played in the NBA for the world champion Minneapolis Lakers before coaching the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Canadian Football League. His success in Canada was his ticket to the Vikings job in 1967. In 18 seasons his Vikings teams won 11 division titles, one NFL championship and three times were NFC champs. He has a franchise best record of 158-96-5.

His 0-4 record in the Super Bowls has cost him admiration and rating points in any national rankings of the NFL’s greatest coaches. Truth be told, Grant probably could have done a better coaching job in at least some of those Super Bowls. How could that not be true when his teams went to the big game four times and didn’t win? The Vikings sometimes seemed short on emotion in the Super Bowls and maybe lacked the fire of players on the other side.

Grant retired after the 1983 season but was convinced to return as head coach after Les Steckel’s disastrous 3-13 record in 1984. Lou Holtz had taken over as Gophers coach in 1984 and had the Vikings on the run in a popularity contest for Minnesota’s favorite football team.

The presence of Grant gave the Vikings not only credibility and popularity, but a better season at 7-9. Since 1986 the Grant name mostly surfaces in connection with the famous coach’s outdoor adventures. He retired more than a quarter century ago to hunt and fish in various parts of the United States and world. He’s had fun doing it, and if you know Grant he hasn’t spent time worrying about his place in coaching history.

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Greenway: Henderson to be ‘Great’

Posted on May 29, 2013May 29, 2013 by David Shama

Opinion, news and notes from Chad Greenway, Rene Pulley and Joel Maturi.

Chad Greenway said after practice this afternoon at Winter Park he expects Erin Henderson will be “great” at middle linebacker during the 2013 season. Henderson is moving from weakside linebacker to middle linebacker and the transition will be among the most scrutinized Vikings moves between now and the end of the season.

Greenway said learning pass coverage responsibilities will be a challenge but Henderson has “great instincts.” Greenway, the Vikings’ Pro Bowl strongside linebacker, will be surprised if Henderson doesn’t play well. “He’ll be on it and will be great,” Greenway said.

Henderson, 26, knows there are doubters but said he isn’t upset with them. “It doesn’t anger me. I can’t get mad at people for having their opinions and having their beliefs and how they view things.”

Henderson has been dedicated to his conditioning during the offseason. He knows he will be on the field for three downs at a time and doesn’t want a lack of conditioning to interfere with his “technique.”

Greenway, 30, said his offseason included activities to make him more effective within the “10-yard box” that he so often plays in during games. “Worked on little things that can make my game a lot better. Just balance, footwork.”

Youth basketball authority Rene Pulley told Sports Headliners prep point guard Tyus Jones is already an extraordinary player. “He is like a pro now,” said Pulley who is executive director and CEO of Howard Pulley Basketball.

The Apple Valley High School junior is a target of new Gophers coach Richard Pitino, along with Robbinsdale Cooper shooting guard Rashad Vaughn and DeLaSalle forward Reid Travis who are other members of the state’s super class of 2014. Pulley said it’s difficult for a young coach at a new school to recruit against coaching legends like Michigan State’s Tom Izzo and Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski.

Pulley doesn’t know if the Gophers will land any of the Big Three but Vaughn might be the most likely to play at Minnesota. “He has always wanted to embark on his own trail,” Pulley said. “Since the U is down on talent, he could trail blaze.”

Former Gopher Rodney Williams, trying to interest NBA teams, was scheduled to workout for scouts today at Target Center. Pulley has observed the high potential, low performance four-year career of Williams at Minnesota.

“I think he was way under his potential, and I am not placing blame anywhere,” Pulley said. “He has the athleticism of the LeBron Jameses, Kobe Bryants and Michael Jordans. He can be a very fantastic player.”

Pulley expects his Pro City League at the High Performance Academy in Eagan to begin its schedule in late June. Jones, Travis and Gophers players are among those expected to participate. As in the past, the public is welcome.

Joel Maturi has spoken to new Texas Tech basketball coach Tubby Smith. “He feels good about another opportunity,” the former Gopher athletic director told Sports Headliners.

How does Smith feel about his six seasons at Minnesota and being let go in March? “He has nothing but good things to say about Minnesota,” Maturi said.

Although Smith was a national championship coach at Kentucky, he struggled at Minnesota winning just one NCAA Tournament game and had a losing record in the Big Ten. Maturi, who hired Smith, declined to talk about why he believes the coach wasn’t more successful here. “I have my own feelings but I don’t want them in print,” Maturi said.

Smith will have a more difficult time winning at Tech than he did at Minnesota. The Red Raiders were 11-20 overall, 3-15 in the Big 12 Conference last season, and counting Bobby Knight employed five head coaches since 2007.

Smith has been a head coach at Tulsa, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota and now Texas Tech. In a mid-May story by the Amarillo Globe-News he was asked how the Tech job compares to the others. “It’s tough. This is probably the toughest,” he said.

Smith has yet to complete his staff and recruiting seems to be off to a slow start. Former Gopher assistant Joe Esposito, who has connections in Texas, is on the Tech staff.

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Tapemark Golf: Good Stories, Great Cause

Posted on May 24, 2013May 24, 2013 by David Shama

Okay, trivia fans, answer this one:

Who is the only golfer to win the British Open, Scottish Open and Tapemark Charity Pro-Am?

I bet my typewriter more than one of you answered correctly with, “Tom Lehman.”

Minnesota’s pro-am hasn’t been around as long as the British Open and Scottish Open, but in more than four decades the event has commanded a lot of attention including memories of Lehman winning the 1990 Tapemark.

That was before Lehman, the Alexandria, Minnesota native, made it big on the PGA Tour. Bob Klas Sr., who along with Tapemark company partner Tom Cody started the charity tournament, remembers Lehman was “flat broke” in 1990.

“He asked how long it would take to get a check, if he could win one,” Bob Sr. said. “He was very concerned about his lack of funds. It was interesting. That was really the launching of his pro career. That was the pint of blood that kept him going.”

Klas said he thought Lehman earned a check for about $3,000 by winning the 1990 tournament. Years later Lehman made a commercial promoting the event with this message: “Who won the British Open, the Scottish Open and the Tapemark Charity Pro-Am?”

This year’s Tapemark will be the 42^nd and involve men and women — pros and amateurs — in early June at Southview Country Club in West St. Paul. Golfers, volunteers and spectators are all welcome at the event that raises funds for agencies serving Minnesotans with developmental disabilities. Through the years nearly $7 million has been donated to nonprofits. More about the tournament online at tapemarkgolf.org.

Klas and Bob Jr. shared stories with Sports Headliners about the famous and not so famous figures associated with the Tapemark. Tournament followers from the 1990s remember Denny Hecker was the major sponsor for two years. He contributed about $70,000 in cash, plus promotional considerations. “I will say for all the things he was in the news for, everything he promised that he would do for us, he actually delivered on,” Bob Jr. said.

Hecker’s promotional assistance included bringing baseball great Pete Rose to town. Rose played golf on a Friday afternoon and that night Hecker hosted his famous guest and a large group of Tapemark supporters at Manny’s Steakhouse.

Rose was the attraction after drinks and dinner, and his remarks were not exactly boring. As a former player and manager for the Reds, Rose was well acquainted with franchise owner Marge Schott — a controversial figure even now after her death.

“She thought…Adolph Hitler did some pretty good things,” Bob Jr. recalled Rose saying about Schott. “He improved the roads in Germany. He started off okay but maybe toward the end (of his regime) he wasn’t so good.

“Pete tried to defend her (saying) ‘you need to understand that Marge has no friends. The only thing that might be close to a friend is her dog. Marge likes to drink. Night games are particularly hard because she spends most of the day drinking before the game.’

“Basically the defense of Marge Schott from Pete Rose was she’s not really a bigot. She’s a drunkard.”

Through the years there has been some great golf played at the Tapemark. For championship consistency nobody was better than Don Berry who won the tournament six times. George Shortridge won five times. Last year’s men’s and women’s pro champs were Craig Brischke and Martha Nause.

Long time Tapemark followers have fond memories of four-time champion Dave Tentis who first won the tournament in 1998 with his “miracle shot” at Southview. The final day Tentis trailed Aaron Barber by one shot on the last hole, No. 9. The hole is surrounded by challenges including a pond, parking lot and road. Despite the tight fairway, Tentis pulled out his driver, hit the ball about 330 yards and made it stick on the green. “The best shot I’ve ever seen in Minnesota tournament golf,” said Gregg Wong, the former golf writer for the Pioneer Press.

Tentis two-putted for birdie and went on to win the tournament in a playoff. No doubt he never looked back on his decision to use a driver, and not the five iron he contemplated.

Skill sometimes encounters luck at the Tapemark. When those two forces meet, the result could be a hole-in-one and winning a new car. Among the winners over the years has been Phil Johnson, son-in-law to Bob Sr. Johnson’s hole-in-one on No. 15 was reported the next day in the Star Tribune along with these somewhat painful words: “On his way to shooting 104.”

Sometimes there’s no avoiding a tough day on the course, particularly when the strokes pile up for amateurs. Years ago the tournament was on local television and the late Pete Boerboon, a great friend of the event, was really struggling on the course.

“His ball was in a bunker near the green and on his first shot he could not get out,” Bob Jr. said. “On his second shot he knocks the ball across the green and into another bunker.

“By his ninth shot he was on the green. Pete thought his saving grace was that the TV cameras had only been covering him from the start of playing No. 17, not all the way through his shots near and on the green.

“A few days after the tournament, he was taking the garbage outside when a neighbor said, ‘Hey, Pete, I saw you on TV and you had a rough time.’

“Pete replied, ‘Yeah, I had nine blows.’ The neighbor disagreed and countered, ‘No, you had 11.’ ”

Television coverage, other publicity and simply word of mouth has helped tell the Tapemark story over the years including the important purpose of the event. The inspiration for the tournament was Frances Klas, born in 1951 and mentally retarded. Her dad and mom, Bob and Sandy Klas, learned about organizations available to assist children like Frances, and they wanted to help.

Today society is much more aware and accepting of those with developmental and learning disabilities than decades ago. “The aware factor can’t be overemphasized because when we started out 42 years ago mental retardation was still in the background,” Bob Sr. said. “We’ve done a lot of good. Much of it has to do with the publicity we generated.”

Done a lot of good including fundraising…and had a lot of fun.

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