Bud Grant was leaving the Philadelphia Eagles at the same time John Michels was arriving to play 11 games as a rookie guard in 1953. Grant was an end for four seasons with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and Michels spent three years in the U.S. Army as a lieutenant after that one season with his hometown Eagles.
The Blue Bombers hired Grant as a 29-year-old head coach for the 1957 season. Grant knew of Michels for his All-America career at Tennessee, and that brief time with the Eagles, and brought the Army vet to Winnipeg as a player in 1957.