Byline: Blood, Parts 2 and 3

Johnny Blood’s second Press-Gazette column chronicling the Packers 1932 postseason Western swing was published on December 22. It heralds the team’s celebrated arrival in Honolulu that day after a five-day passage across the Pacific. It insists the Packers are in fighting trim, however, Blood later recalled to Ralph Hickok for Vagabond Halfback that the voyage was more memorable for breaking training with Prohibition not yet rescinded:

Most of us were too young to have ever had a legal drink in a legitimate bar, but we had all taken a drink or two here or there. We got on a Matson ship called the Mariposa and, when she got outside the three-mile limit, the bars opened. It was really something for us to be able to drink legally. And the prices were half of what they would have been on the mainland–a shot of Johnny Walker for twenty cents. We were traveling second class, but they gave us the run of the ship. And the Packers were pretty well known, with those three championships, so we had no trouble at all making acquaintances. We had a ball.

Four days later the Packers played a team of alumni from the University of Hawaii, as detailed in Blood’s third column published on December 27. Being outmanned by a team of professionals that outweighed them by an average of 30 pounds per man, the Hawaiians, not surprisingly, took to the air. They struck on their first offensive play with a 70-yard scoring pass and near the end of the game drove the length of the field on three passes to score a second touchdown. In between those two highlights, the Packers scored three touchdowns and won 19-13. Overall, the locals completed seven of 16 passes for 220 yards and had five intercepted. They also benefitted from Green Bay being penalized 12 times for 120 yards.

And, unlike Blood’s joke in column two that the Hawaiians would play barefoot, they wore cleats. However, Johnny does note that at halftime, Henry Hughes, formerly of Oregon State University, entertained the crowd of 13,000 with 50 and 60-yard barefoot place kicks. Hughes was a Honolulu native who played for the Boston Braves of the NFL in 1932 and converted five extra points as a blocking back.

Custom card is colorized.

Byline: Blood, Part 1

In 1932, Packer bon vivant Johnny Blood added a new line to his resume, football correspondent. That December and into February of 1933, he penned nine or ten columns chronicling Green Bay’s postseason barnstorming road trip West, not to mention booking two of the games in distant U.S. territory Hawaii. It should be remembered that Blood’s uncle was the publisher of the Minneapolis Tribune so he had some newspaper background.

At the outset of December, the 10-1-1 Packers appeared to be cruising to a fourth consecutive NFL title, with the 5-1-4 Portsmouth Spartans and 4-1-6 Chicago Bears as distant rivals. However, the title was then decided by winning percentage and ties were disregarded entirely, so when the Pack lost their last two games by shutout respectively to those Spartans and Bears on the fourth and the 11th, they dropped out of the running.

Four thousand miles away in Hawaii, the manager of the Honolulu Stadium, J. Ashman Beaven was trying to book former All-America fullback Ernie Nevers to bring a team of All-Stars to Hawaii for games at Christmas and New Year’s, but negotiations broke down. Beaven was moving to a Plan B option of inviting the University of Santa Clara when Johnny Blood, after consulting with Curly Lambeau, offered to bring the Packers to the islands. A deal was struck on December 3, and the Packers left Green Bay for the West Coast by rail ten days later.

Blood’s first column appeared in the Green Bay Press-Gazette on Saturday, December 17, hours after the Mariposa set sail from San Pedro, California for Hawaii with 17 members of the 1932 Packers aboard. Cal Hubbard, Dick Stahlman, Verne Lewellen, Herdis McCrary, Paul Fitzgibbons and Tom Nash did not make the trip. The theme of the first column was outlining the agenda for the trip and tossing in a few comments on his teammates as you can read below.

An interesting sidelight of this whole trip is how several well-known Johnny Blood stories came out of this trip. Related to this first column is the time Blood missed a Packer departure and raced ahead in his automobile, parked it on the tracks, and forced the train to stop so he could board. Blood told Ralph Hickok in Vagabond Halfback that he was hurrying along to the train depot with his date from the previous evening and was pulled over for speeding, which necessitated the train track stratagem. The alternate newspaper version is posted below.

Custom Card is colorized.

Summing Up the 1960s

The 1960s were the team’s greatest decade, and probably the greatest decade any franchise has ever had. Not only did they win five championships, including three in a row, but they were the team that ushered in the TV age for the NFL. Vince Lombardi’s offense was dominant for a few years, finishing first or second in points scored in the first four years of the 1960s and finishing first or second in rushing yards from 1960-64 and 1967. However, the defense was the key to Green Bay’s dominance. The team was first or second in fewest points allowed seven times, as well as being third twice and fourth the other season. The primary reason was the airtight pass defense. Phil Bengtson’s pass defense was first or second in fewest passing yards and in lowest opposition passer rating eight times each.

Packers (5)	96	37	5	.714
Browns (1)	92	41	5	.685
Colts (1*)	92	42	4	.681
Giants	69	63	6	.522
Lions	66	61	11	.518
Cards	67	63	8	.514
Bears (1)	67	65	6	.507
Cowboys	67	65	6	.507
Rams	63	68	7	.482
Vikings (1*)	52	67	7	.440
49ers	57	74	7	.436
Eagles (1)	57	76	5	.431
Redskins	46	82	10	.370
Steelers	46	85	7	.359
Saints	12	29	1	.298
Falcons	12	43	1	.223

Championships in parentheses.

Bart Starr was 81-32-5 as a starter and led the team in passing by completing 56.5% of his throws for 19,126 yards, 125 touchdowns and 90 interceptions. Twice he led the league in highest yards per attempt and four times in completion percentage. He was league MVP in 1966. Backup Zeke Bratkowski, 4-3-1 as a starter, threw for 2,849 yards, 17 touchdowns and 26 interceptions.

Jim Taylor was the leading rusher with 7,508 yards and an average gain of 4.5. He scored 74 times on the ground to go with the seven scores from his 174 receptions. Altogether, he posted 486 points. His backfield mate Paul Hornung gained 2,401 yards for 38 touchdowns on the ground and added 12 TDs from his 94 receptions. Add in his placekicking and Paul scored a team-high 581 points. Tom Moore contributed 2,069 yards rushing and 71 receptions for 20 TDs on the ground and seven through the air. Elijah Pitts added 1,684 yards rushing and 97 receptions with 28 TDs on the ground and six through the air. Hornung was league MVP in 1961 and Taylor in ’62.

Boyd Dowler was the Pack’s top receiver with 416 catches for 6,369 yards and 36 touchdowns. Max McGee caught 225 passes for 4,109 yards and 28 scores, while Carroll Dale added 179 receptions for 3,693 yards and 28 TDs.

Willie Wood intercepted 40 passes and returned them for 581 yards and two touchdowns. He also scored on two punt returns. Herb Adderley picked off 39 passes for 795 yards and seven touchdowns. He added two scores on kickoff returns. Willie Davis tallied 99 sacks, Henry Jordan 57 and Lionel Aldridge 44.5 (Webster/Turney data).

Forrest Gregg and Wood each were named All-Pro eight times; Adderley, Jordan and Nitschke seven times; Taylor, Davis and Jerry Kramer six times; Fuzzy Thurston five times; Starr, Bill Forester and Jim Ringo four times; Dave Robinson and Dan Currie three times; Hornung, Jesse Whittenton, Ron Kramer, Bob Jeter and Gale Gillingham twice; and Dale, Lee Roy Caffey and Tom Moore once each.

For the Pro Bowl, Gregg and Wood were selected seven times; Adderley and Davis five times; Jordan, Ringo, Starr and Taylor four times; Forester, Robinson and Jerry Kramer three times; Whittenton, Jeter, Dale and Boyd Dowler twice; and Hornung, Currie, Nitschke, Caffey, Gillingham, Moore, Ron Kramer, Max McGee, Bob Skoronski, Donny Anderson and Don Chandler once each.

Custom cards of Lombardi, Bengtson, Hornung, McGee, Dowler, Gregg and Aldridge are colorized.

Davante Adams

Davante Adams, the fifth Packer to catch 500 passes, turns 28 today. Born on Christmas Eve 1992 in Redwood City, California, he was a second round pick out of Fresno State in 2014. At FSU, Adams caught over 100 passes twice and was a second team All-America. As a rookie, he replaced departed free agent James Jones as the team’s third option behind Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb. Nelson left in 2015 and Jones returned. Injured and struggling, Adams slipped to the fourth option behind Cobb, Jones and tight end Richard Rodgers in that disappointing second season. Although he and Jones each caught 50 passes, Jones gained 890 yards for an average of 17.8 per catch, while Adams managed only 493, a miserable 9.7 yards per catch. Jones also scored eight times, while Davante caught just one TD pass.

Adams blossomed in his third season with 75 catches for 13.3 yards per catch and 12 scores, and he has been the team’s leading receiver ever since. Four times, including this year, he has caught at least 10 touchdowns. He was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2017, 2018 and 2019, and his best season thus far was ’18 when he caught 111 passes for 1,386 yards and 13 touchdowns. In the postseason, he has upped his per catch average to 15.3 yards and has nabbed six touchdowns in eight games.

While some receivers burst into stardom right out of college…like James Lofton and Sterling Sharpe. Many others, including such Packers like Donald Driver and Jordy Nelson, take a couple of years seasoning to gain their footing. Adams took the latter course, but all five of these Green Bay 500-catch receivers reached elite status.

Custom cards in Philadelphia and Topps styles.

A Look Back at 1969

While the Packers improved to 8-6 in Phil Bengtson’s second season as coach with the defense remaining top notch, the offense declined further. The team fell out of the Central Division race during a two-week span in November. With a 5-2 mark in the first half of the season, Green Bay was just one game behind the 6-1 Vikings. Then, a 14-6 loss to the struggling Colts dropped them two games back for the November 16 showdown with Minnesota in Milwaukee where the Vikings triumphed 9-7, essentially clinching the division title. The Pack then squandered a home game with the Lions 16-10 to fall to 5-5 on the season. Despite rallying to win three of the last four games, the season was lost.

The key was that the Packers could not beat a good team. They were 1-6 against winning teams and 7-0 against losers, with a 5-2 home record and 3-4 away. While they allowed the third fewest points in the league with 221, They were 12^th in scoring with 269. The kicking game deteriorated even more with Mike Mercer hitting on just five of 17 field goal attempts and Booth Lusteg just one of five. Mercer missed two in that Viking battle.

Once again, Bart Starr missed five games due to injuries, but third year man Don Horn stepped in at quarterback. Starr was 4-5 as a starter, completing 62% of his passes for 1,161 yards, nine touchdowns and six interceptions. Horn, 4-1, completed 53% of his passes for 1,505 yards, 11 scores and 11 picks.

Travis Williams led the ground game with 536 yards rushing, followed by Dave Hampton’s 365. Williams also scored on a kickoff return and a punt return, and his 54 points led the team. Boyd Dowler sunk to 31 receptions, but Carroll Dale grabbed 45 for 879 yards and six touchdowns.

Herb Adderley led the team with five interceptions. Bob Brown tallied nine sacks, and Willie Davis had six in his final season (Webster/Turney data).

Adderley, Willie Wood, Dave Robinson and Gale Gillingham all were named All-Pro, with Ray Nitschke receiving second team notice. Wood, Robinson, Gillingham and Dale all were selected for the Pro Bowl. With Vince Lombardi off to Washington, Bengtson assumed GM duties and had a disastrous first draft: round one-Rich Moore, round two-Dave Bradley, round three-John Spilis, round four-Perry Williams. It wasn’t until round five that he found a reliable starter in tackle Bill Hayhoe. The team’s best rookie was ninth round pick Hampton.

Custom cards of Moore, Dowler, Adderley, Brown, Gillingham and Wood are colorized.

A Look Back at 1968

It was the year of the fall, but no one could admit it at the time. Vince Lombardi had won his third consecutive championship and kicked himself upstairs to serve solely as the team’s GM, while appointing loyal defensive coach Phil Bengtson as his replacement on the sidelines. The defense remained strong, allowing just 227 points, fourth in the NFL and the offense remained spotty, scoring 281 points, ninth in the circuit. The onset of age and the loss of Lombardi’s drive allowed the team to slip to a 6-7-1 record. The Pack was 4-1-1 against losing teams but just 2-6 against winners. They were 2-5 at home and 4-2-1 on the road. The squad plodded along throughout the season and were still one-half game out in the Central Division lead with two games to play with a 5-6-1 record, but they finished 1-1 while the Vikings won out.

Another problem was the loss of Don Chandler, who offered to come in for games but not practices, and was turned down by Bengtson. Instead, Mike Mercer, Jerry Kramer, Chuck Mercein and Erroll Mann combined for a 13 for 29 performance in field goals and missed three extra points. However, the only price was in the tie with the Lions where a Chuck Mercein missed field goal cost the team a 7-7 final record. They still wouldn’t have gone to the playoffs.

Bart Starr missed five games due to injuries and the team was 4-5 in his starts and 2-2-1 in Zeke Bratkowski’s. Starr completed 63.7% of his passes for 1,617 yards, 15 touchdowns and eight interceptions, while Zeke added 835 yards, three scores and seven picks.

In their third seasons, the Gold Dust Twins paced the team’s ground attack. Donny Anderson averaging 4.5 yards per carry and gaining 761 yards and Jim Grabowski gaining 518 and averaging 3.8. Boyd Dowler caught 45 passes for 668 yards and six scores, while Carroll Dale nabbed 42 for 818 yards and eight touchdowns. Dale led the team with a paltry 48 points.

Travis Williams dropped 20 yards in kick return average in his second season, down to 20 per return with no touchdowns. Tom Brown did return one punt for a touchdown. Brown also led the team with four interceptions. Willie Davis had nine sacks and Lionel Aldridge 6.5 (Webster/Turney data).

Dave Robinson and Willie Wood were named All-Pro and Gale Gillingham, Jerry Kramer, Carroll Dale and Bob Jeter all drew second team notice. Anderson, Wood, Dale and Forrest Gregg all were picked for the Pro Bowl. The team did net three top rookies in first round picks Fred Carr and Bill Lueck and third round pick Dick Himes, but the decline had set in.

Custom cards 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15 and 17 are colorized.

Paul Minick

Guard Paul Minick was born on December 17, 1899 in Villisca, Iowa and starred for the Iowa Hawkeyes from 1920-22. He went west in 1924 in hopes of landing a coaching job and instead worked as the caretaker for the estate of movie actress Gloria Swanson. When Minick’s college coach Howard Jones was hired to coach USC in 1925, he added Minick as an assistant. On the side, Paul worked as an extra in a number of Hollywood productions with a football theme: College Days in 1925 starring Harold Lloyd, One Minute to Play in 1926 starring Red Grange and Poor Nut and The Drop Kick in 1927.

He also resumed his playing career by playing for the California All Stars when the Red Grange barnstorming tour hit San Diego in January 1926. Later that year, Minick signed with Grange’s New York Yankees entry in Red’s new American Football League. After that league folded, Paul signed with the Buffalo Bisons of the NFL in 1927 and then with Green Bay in ’28. Minick spent two seasons with the Packers and was part of the team’s first championship season. He appeared in 12 games in ’28, but battled injuries in ’29 and played in just six games. His final appearance came on November 24 when he relieved Jim Bowdoin in the final minute of the Packers 20-6 triumph over the Giants in New York; he was the only Packer substitute that day.

In August 1929, the Press-Gazette said: “Minick follows the ball like a hawk. He seems to have a super football sense, something like Cub Buck, and often would pull out of his position and nail a carrier in his tracks.” Minick retired from football following that season and opened a restaurant in Des Moines. Later that decade, he began a successful insurance career in Missouri and died in Springfield on December 22, 1978 at the age of 79, survived by a wife and daughter.

Custom cards are colorized.

Remembering Wayne Simmons

Linebacker Wayne Simmons was born today in 1969 in Hilton Head, South Carolina. A star at Clemson, he was selected with the 15^th overall pick in the 1993 NFL draft by the Packers.  Although he started about half the season as a rookie, Simmons did not become a full-time starter at left linebacker until 1995, his third season. That year would prove to be his peak statistically with four sacks and 68 tackles.

Simmons’ main skill was in stacking up the tight end and being stout at the point of attack, but he never truly lived up to his draft billing. He also had a large personality that was popular with his teammates but could be grating on coaches.

In 1997, Green Bay signed 32-year-old linebacker Seth Joyner as a free agent, but he had arthroscopic knee surgery in August. Once Joyner returned to the team in week six, though, Simmons’ days were numbered. Ron Wolf summarily traded his former first round pick to Kansas City for a fifth rounder in week seven. Though Joyner, a former All-Pro, was four years older, the Packers felt he still was the better player and dumped Simmons at a bargain basement price.

Simmons appeared in ten games for the Chiefs in ’97 and the first ten in ’98 before Kansas City cut him on November 17, 1998 following a 30-7 Monday Night Football loss to Denver in which Wayne was one of three Chiefs (along with Derrick Thomas and Chester McGlockton) committing personal foul penalties on the Broncos’ last drive. Simmons finished the season with the Bills and then was out of the league. He died in a car crash in suburban Kansas City four years later at the age of 32.

Custom cards in Topps and Fleer styles.

A Look Back at 1967

When Vince Lombardi mounted his first three-peat quest in 1963, he did so without his best player, Paul Hornung, and without injured quarterback Bart Starr for four games. In this his second quest, he did so with an aging team, a devastated starting backfield and, again, an injured quarterback. Starr would throw an uncharacteristic 17 interceptions, nine in his first two games when fighting inured ribs. Backup Zeke Bratkowski, who started two games and appeared in four others, added nine more interceptions to the total.

Still, the team was better than its 9-4-1 mark. It improved to the second-best rushing total in the league and scored 332 points, ninth in the league. Once more, Green Bay allowed the fewest passing yards in the NFL and gave up just 209 points, third in the circuit. They were 4-2-1 at home and against losers; 5-2 on the road and against winners. Having clinched the weak Central Division early, the 9-2-1 Packers dropped the last two games of the season, one on a flukey blocked punt against the Rams and the other in an unmotivated performance against the lowly Steelers.

Finding the Rams in the first round of playoffs, Green Bay dispatched them as poseurs and moved on to an NFL title game rematch played in frigid conditions against a highly motivated Cowboy team. Tackle Bob Skoronski rightly noted that the Packers 68-yard game-winning drive topped by Bart Starr’s famous sneak was the 1960’s Packers “mark of distinction.” The easy win over Oakland in Super Bowl II two weeks later in Vince Lombardi’s final game as Packer coach was pro forma, a coda for the team of the decade. He had his three-peat.

Starr threw for 1,823 yards and nine touchdowns, while Bratkowski contributed 724 yards and five scores. Starr’s 8.7 yards per pass led the NFL. The backfield by committee was led by Jim Grabowski’s 466 yards gained prior to his knee injury. Ben Wilson chipped in 453 and Donny Anderson 402. Boyd Dowler paced the team with 54 catches for 836 yards, but Carroll Dale averaged 21.5 yards per catch and five scores with his 35 receptions. Meteoric rookie Travis Williams returned four kickoff returns for scores and led the NFL with an average of 41 yards per return. Don Chandler’s kicking returned to normal with a 19-29 performance on field goals, and he scored 96 points.

On defense, Bob Jeter nabbed eight interceptions, and Herb Adderley and Ray Nitschke scored on interception returns. Wille Davis accumulated 11 sacks and Henry Jordan had 7.5 (Webster/Turney data).

Davis, Jeter, Dave Robinson, Willie Wood, Jerry Kramer and Forrest Gregg were named All-Pro, with Adderley and Jordan receiving second team notice. Dowler, Kramer, Gregg, Davis, Robinson, Adderley and Wood all were selected for the Pro Bowl.

Although Bob Hyland and Don Horn were the Packers two first round draft choices, Travis Williams was the most significant rookie by a wide margin. Hyland’s selection with the tenth overall pick is interesting in that he was the first big center that Lombardi ever picked at 6’5” 255 pounds. Perhaps Vince saw him as a counter to the increased use of alignments of defensive tackles on the center’s nose. Hyland would last eleven years in the league, but never did measure up to Vince’s smaller centers: Jim Ringo, Ken Iman, Ken Bowman or Bill Curry.

Grabowski and Wood custom cards are colorized.

Duke Hanny

Frank “Duke” Hanny was born on December 10, 1897 in Aurora, Illinois, and led his high school to a national championship game in Brooklyn as a senior. A much-touted recruit, he enrolled at Indiana University in 1916. His studies were interrupted by World War I, however, and Hanny spent three years in the military. Most notably, he fought along with the Italians against the Hungarians on the Piave Front and won the Italian War Cross for his service.

Returning to Indiana in 1920, he resumed his football career. It was claimed that he allowed only four yards gained on his end of the line during his entire senior season. George Halas signed Hanny for the Bears in 1923, and Duke spent five seasons starting for Chicago. Four times he was named second team All-Pro.

He was a rugged player who was twice ejected from games with the Packers. In a 3-0 Chicago home victory on November 23, 1924, Hanny and Packer end Tillie Voss were ejected from the game for fighting. Legend has it that this was the first such incident in NFL history, but that would be tough to prove. Two years later on November 21, 1926, Hanny caught a first quarter 55-yard touchdown pass from Paddy Driscoll in a 19-13 Bear win over the Pack. A month later on December 19, Hanny was ejected again for fighting along with either Dick O’Donnell or Eddie Kotal (reports differ) in the season finale against Green Bay, a 3-3 tie.

Another story, possibly apocryphal, maintains that in order to get to his wedding on time, Duke coldcocked a Rock Island opponent on the first play of the game so he would be ejected. Hanny also did some professional boxing in 1925, winning a couple of bouts.

Hanny continued his career with the Providence Steamroller in 1928, helping the team win a title with his stout line play. He played one more season in Rhode Island, and then Curly Lambeau signed him in August 1930. Duke appeared in just two games for the Packers before being reassigned to the minor league Milwaukee Nighthawks in October. Later that season, he played four games for the Portsmouth Spartans until he was released in November, ending his football career.

Duke worked for the Parks System in his hometown and then with the Aurora Pump Company. He reenlisted in the army in October 1942 at the age of 45. Hanny died in Aurora on September 3, 1946 after an undisclosed long illness, survived by his wife Ann.

Custom cards are colorized.