Bud Grant, now 95, reflects on the journey of a lifetime

On Tuesday afternoon, the phone rang at Bud Grant's house.

He picked up after a couple of rings, and after some pleasantries and re-introductions, an invitation was extended to come on the Daily Delivery podcast for an interview and celebration of his 95th birthday Friday.

Once we cleared up what a podcast is, exactly, Grant graciously accepted and thus began what usually is a complicated process of setting up a good time to record with busy schedules being what they are.

"Michael, here's the thing about me," Grant said, with a sly wind-up. "I'm retired."

While that shouldn't be confused with sitting idle since there are 13 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren nearby, the suggestion was clear: I'm free if you're free.

So an hour later, after hastily assembling some questions to serve as guideposts on a journey through 95 years of a legend's life, the conversation began. You can hear it in its entirety on Friday's podcast.

But I was particularly struck by a few things that I will share here:

*Living to see your 95th birthday — and still living well — is an accomplishment we should all aspire to achieve. Grant was in a reflective mood when we talked.

"Aging is an interesting progression, particularly if you live as long as I have," Grant said. "I had adolescence, I went in the service, had a job, got married, had a family, retired, grandchildren, that's a whole progression of time frames that you go through. Now I'm in the last phase of that lifetime and it's been enjoyable. I can't complain about anything. I'm retired. I'm still (good) cognitively, so I can talk to you. I can interact with my children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. So life has been wonderful."

*As amazing and wonderful as it is to live a good and long life, it's equally amazing how much of Grant's life was shaped in a one-week span when he was 29.

First, he almost died. Second, he decided to take an opportunity that changed the course of his life.

The near-death experience is a tale he has told before, but it will stop you every time: He was a player with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the CFL and had traveled to an all-star game in Vancouver.

He and some fellow players were supposed to depart Vancouver on a flight late the next day after the game, but Grant was antsy to return to Winnipeg and find out why executives there wanted to talk to him. He found out there was a 7 a.m. flight, but it was full. So he gave the airline his phone number at the hotel where they were staying in case spaces opened up.

"I'm walking out of my hotel to get on the bus to go to the game and the phone rings," Grant recalled. "It's Air Canada, and they said we can get your whole party on that flight. ... Late that night I get a call that the flight we were supposed to be on, that plane took off, hit a mountain and everyone was killed. If I hadn't picked up that phone, we wouldn't be talking today."

One of Grant's teammates, Cal Jones, overslept and was on that fateful flight.

How do you not think about that every day?

"I don't because I've had so much happiness and success in my life that I don't think about things that could have happened," Grant said.

*Grant returned to Winnipeg and found out they wanted him to be the head coach even though he was 29 and at what he felt like was the peak of his playing career.

"[Coaching] was the farthest thing from my mind," he said. "I had to retool my mind."

But Grant ended up accepting the job. He eventually coached four Grey Cup champion teams and then of course took the Vikings to four Super Bowls.

And then stage after stage of life, all of which he has cherished.

"If you've had a lifetime of good experiences, it sustains you in later life. You have a lot to look back on and rely on," Grant said. "I haven't had any major traumas. I've had close calls like the airplane and experiences like that, but other than that … all my life experiences have been good."