A Big Birthday

Four Packers share July 21 as their birthday. Former Minnesota Gopher tackle Lou Midler was the first. He appeared in seven games for the 1940 Pack.

Defensive back Dale Hackbart turns 81. He was drafted out of Wisconsin in the fifth round by Vince Lombardi in 1960 and was a reserve on the Western Conference champs that season. In 1961, Lombardi dealt Hackbart to the Redskins for a sixth round pick in week three. The pick was later used to select John Sutro. Hackbart went on to have a 12-year NFL career with Washington, Minnesota, St. Louis and Denver before broken bones in his neck ended his career in 1973. He also played minor league baseball and pro football in Canada.

Center Bob Hyland turns 74. He was the ninth overall pick in the 1967 draft out of Boston College and had an 11-year NFL career with the Packers, Bears, Giants and Patriots. Hyland won a Super Bowl ring as a rookie but was unable to dislodge Ken Bowman from the starting lineup in three years and was included in a trade that sent him, Elijah Pitts and Lee Roy Caffey to Chicago for the second overall pick in 1970 that netted Green Bay Mike McCoy. A year later, Hyland was with the Giants and on opening day in Lambeau Field plowed into new Packer coach Dan Devine and broke the coach’s leg. He was reacquired the week before the 1976 season after the Giants cut him and spent one more season in Green Bay before being cut in August 1977. A lifelong Resident of White Plains, NY, Hyland ran his own sports bar there for over 30 years and even ran for town mayor in 2011.

Safety Jim Hill was a first round draft pick of the Chargers in 1968 and spent three seasons in San Diego before Dan Devine acquired him for Lionel Aldridge and a third round pick in 1972. Hill and rookie Willie Buchanon turned the Packer secondary into a strength and a contributing factor to the team’s divisional championship that year. He spent three years in Green Bay before finishing his NFL career in Cleveland in 1975. Since then he has been a highly respected sportscaster and community leader in Los Angeles, even earning a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and having May 9, 2006 declared “Jim Hill Day” in Los Angeles. His brother David played tight end for the Lions and Rams for 12 seasons. Jim turns 73 today.

 

 

First custom card is colorized.

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A Card for Everyone: Two Guards

Today two former Packer guards celebrate birthdays. Dave Drechsler turns 59 and Randy Winkler hits 75. Drechsler was Green Bay’s second round draft pick in 1983 and started as a rookie. In 1984, he ruptured discs in his back during training camp, but still began the season in the starting lineup. In week three, though, new coach Forrest Gregg replaced both his guards (Drechsler and Syd Kitson) in search of more bulk and aggression from new starters Tim Huffman and Ron Hallstrom. Drechsler was cut the following training camp.

Winkler arrived with less fanfare. A 12^th round pick out of Tarleton State by the Lions in 1966, Randy played for Detroit in 1967 and Atlanta in 1968 before being called up by the Naval Reserves. He spent the 1969 and ’70 seasons coaching the offensive line for the Naval Academy until returning to Atlanta in 1971. The Falcons cut the rusty Winkler in August, and the Packers signed him to their taxi squad. He appeared in five games for Green Bay that year and was waived during training camp the following year.

 

 

Custom cards are colorized.

Packers by the Numbers Update: #85

Tackle Don Deeks was the first to wear 85 for the Packers in 1948 and he was followed by tackle Joe Ethridge in 1949 and center Jay Rhodemyre in 1951. Since then, it has been worn by three ends, one defensive back, 16 wide receivers and four tight ends.

E: Ab Wimberly (1951), Jim Jennings (1955) and Emery Barnes (1956).

DB: Al Romine (1955).

WR: Max McGee (1954, 1957-67), John Spilis (1969-71), Dick Gordon (1973), Ken Payne (1974-77), Elmo Boyd (1978), Bobby Kimball (1979-80), Phil Epps (1982-88), Lee Morris (1987r), Jeff Query (1989-91), Kitrick Taylor (1992), Ron Lewis (1992-94), Terry Mickens (1995-97), Corey Bradford (1998-2001), Karsten Bailey (2002-03), Terrnece Murphy (2005) and Greg Jennings (2006-12).

TE: Wesley Walls (2003), Sean McHugh (2004), Jake Stoneburner (2013) and Marcedes Lewis (2018).

McGee wore the number longest (12 years) and with the most distinction; he is the only 85 to be a member of the team’s hall of fame, but he will likely be joined at some point by Greg Jennings. The only multiple year gap when the number was not worn was from 2014-17.

 

 

 

 

 

First two custom cards are colorized.

A Card for Everyone: Leon Crenshaw

Big Leon Crenshaw was born on July 14, 1943. The Alabama native graduated from Tuskegee Institute and spent five years trying to get a foothold in the NFL. Failing trials with the Cowboys, Patriots and Packers, he played for the minor league Rhode Island Indians in 1965 and the Lowell Giants in 1966-67,

The 6’6” Leon reported to Vince Lombardi’s last training camp in 1967 at 315 pounds, and his struggles to drop weight are detailed in Jerry Kramer’s Instant Replay. The July 19 entry notes, “…big Leon Crenshaw could barely stand up. His legs were wobbling, his tongue was hanging out, he was just about to fall down when we’d stop and rest a few seconds and then we’d go again.”

A day later, Kramer reports, “…standing in line waiting for his food, Leon Crenshaw crumpled up and passed out and lay on the floor groaning. We threw an ice pack on him and tried to cool him off a little bit, but we couldn’t move him. He couldn’t even sit up. Finally, someone called an ambulance, and they hauled Leon off to the hospital. He was totally dehydrated, totally exhausted. He’s lost twenty-five pounds since he’s been in training camp.” He was back to grass drills and wind sprints the next day after four to five hours of intravenous fluid at the hospital but was waived on September 11, a week before the season.

Back he came in 1968, though, and made the team at 278 pounds. Coach Dave Hanner told Lee Remmel in September, “He gives you 110 percent on every play…I have a lot of confidence in him.” Crenshaw commented, “Every move I make, Coach Hanner tells me what I’m doing wrong. What he is saying helps me understand my own moves.”

Crenshaw appeared in 10 game for the Packers that year, but the next year bounced from the Packers to the Falcons to Vince Lombardi’s Redskins during training camp before finally having surgery on his ankle. With the end of his career, he eventually went into the ministry and died at age 65 on August 22, 2008.

 

First two custom cards are colorized.

Sneak Peek at My New Book

I have a new book coming out in the coming weeks in which I examine the influence of coaches from the first 30 years of the NFL on the evolution of the game and league: Pioneer Coaches of the NFL: Shaping the Game in the Days of Leather Helmets and 60-Minute Men. Here’s an excerpt from the start of chapter 2 called, “Taking Flight: Curly Lambeau and LeRoy Andrew Work the Passing Game.”

As already established, pro football in the 1920s was a tough slog. Opponents generally were mirror images of each other: a single-wing power ground attack on offense and the ubiquitous 7-1-2-1, or “seven diamond,” defense. Most teams were led by a player-coach who adhered to the simple dictates of “straight football” to keep hitting the opposing line until it broke. Two player-coaches went against the grain, though, and strove to open up the game with the aerial attack. Curly Lambeau in Green Bay and LeRoy Andrew in Cleveland, Detroit and New York followed their own paths to find a better way to win football games.

Analyzing the unofficial and incomplete league statistics for the period from 1920-31 compiled from contemporary game accounts by Neft, Cohen and Korch, it is clear who the dominant passing teams were. Lambeau’s Packers led the league in passing yards four times (1923, 1924, 1926 and 1931), finished second four other seasons, third once and fourth once. Andrew coached for only seven full seasons, but his team finished first in the league in passing yards the last four of them and led the league in points each of those years. It should also be noted that teams coached by Chapter One’s Guy Chamberlin twice led the league in the period and finished second once and third once.   Passing was difficult and erratic but the better teams demonstrated its value.

Lambeau and Andrew were the two coaches most devoted to the air game, but were drawn to it for different reasons. For Curly, it was a more natural inclination in that the Packers’ player-coach was the original passing star for the team as its tailback. He passed the ball because he liked to play that way and saw its potential for creating a winner. He told sportswriter Lee Remmel, “I always loved to pass. I used to practice passing in the spring. The ball was harder to throw then – it was bigger around.” He added, “I don’t think we would have gotten into the National Football League without passing. We took advantage of the defense, and it paid off.”

LeRoy Andrew also began as a player-coach but usually played in the line. At his first NFL coaching stop in Kansas City (with the Blues in 1924 and the Cowboys in 1925-1926) he did not have a strong passing attack. However, Andrew jumped at the chance to sign Benny Friedman, the best passer in college football, once the franchise moved to Cleveland in 1927 and gladly let Friedman air it out on offense. LeRoy was flexible enough to change his approach to accommodate the special talents of his best player, and he stuck with Friedman and the passing attack as they moved from Cleveland to Detroit to New York.

In addition to their shared proclivity for the pass, the other striking similarity between these two coaches is that they both started teams and had to find financial sponsors or backers to enact their gridiron dreams. Lambeau found his initial backing from his employer, the Indian Packing Company. Later, the team was supported by a handful of Green Bay’s leading citizens who set up public ownership of the franchise. Andrew was the driving force to establish pro football in Kansas City and found investors for the new team, too. He then was instrumental in the subsequent sale of the franchise and players to Cleveland and then Detroit and finally to New York. For both coaches, this led to them operating their teams with a great deal of independence and ensuring things unfolded the way they envisioned. Andrew’s nearly-complete franchise control ended once he joined Tim Mara’s Giants, and that would lead to his ouster. By contrast, Lambeau enjoyed autonomy in running the community-owned Packers for a much longer period and had a more extended sad denouement to his celebrated coaching career.

 

Custom cars are colorized.

Packers by the Numbers Update: #84

84 was first worn in Green Bay by two-way end Don Wells in 1946. After a six-year gap, offensive end Gary Knafelc next wore it in 1952. Since then, it has been worn by 12 wide receivers and three tight ends and there have been four two-year gaps when it was not worn (1963-64, 1982-83, 2009-10 and 2013-14).

E: Don Wells (1946) and Gary Knafelc (1954-62).

WR: Carroll Dale (1965-72), Steve Odom (1974-79), Fred Nixon (1980-81), Lenny Taylor (1984), Nolan Franz (1986), Wes Smith (1987r), Sterling Sharpe (1988-94), Anthony Morgan (1996), Andre Rison (1996), Bill Schroeder (1997-2001), Javon Walker (2002-05) and Jared Abrederis (2015-16).

TE: Tory Humphrey (2006, 2008), D.J. Williams (2011-12) and Lance Kendricks (2017-18).

Knafelc wore it the longest at nine years, but Carroll Dale wore it for eight and Sterling Sharpe for seven. All three are members of the team’s hall of fame. Sharpe belongs in Canton.

 

 

 

 

First two custom cards are colorized.

A Green Bay Take on the 1955 Topp All America Set

The 1955 Topps All-America football card set remains a favorite of collector for its unique design. I decided to tweak it a bit to create a 1955 Packers’ team set. I swapped out the All-America crest for the NFL Shield from the 1950s, changed the college logos to the one used in 1956 by Topps for the Packers and laid in a color photo of City Stadium as the background for each player.

All custom cards except for Romine are colorized.