Death of Bud Grant Impacts Golden Valley Sports Collectible Shop
To Mark Hochstaetter, Harry Peter “Bud” Grant was someone he could sit and have coffee with.
“You could have a conversation with him. He’d talk football or he’d talk basketball, but he’d really like to talk hunting and fishing. That was Bud,” said Hochstaetter.
The Minnesota Vikings Hall of Fame coach died Saturday at age 95. Despite his age, news of Grant’s death was still a shock.
“Most people never thought he’d leave this earth because he always was so energetic and full of life,” said Hochstaetter.
Hochstaetter, who now owns Papa Hawk Sports and Collectibles in Golden Valley, got to know Grant through his days running a security company at the former Met Stadium where the Vikings once played. He said Grant was always willing to talk to kids and would never push anybody away.
“Never walked past somebody that had a question,” recalled Hochstaetter. “He signed a lot of autographs over his time.”
Bud Grant was a three-sport athlete in football, basketball and baseball for the Minnesota Golden Gophers
Hochstaetter’s store has several pieces with the coach’s signature on it, including framed photos and an old leather helmet. After a legend’s passing, Hochstaetter said memorabilia prices don’t usually spike right away.
“Down the road it will, but right now, things have maybe moved a little bit, but not to the extent you’re going to make a fortune off of it by selling it today,” he said.
For Hochstaetter, however, memories of his conversations with the football coach will forever be priceless.
“When you got five or 10 or 15 minutes with him, you enjoyed every minute of it because he would tell you things you never even thought of.”
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