Randy Scott

Randy Scott turns 62 today. Born on January 31, 1959 in Decatur, Georgia, he was an underdog who overcame adversity through hard work. Scott’s father died when he was just 13, and Randy was continually fighting against the tag of being too small in high school, college and the pros. At the University of Alabama, though, he was a four-year starter on a team that went 44-4 and won two national championships. Still, Scott went undrafted and signed with the Packers as a free agent in 1981.

The 6’1” 228-pound linebacker began as kicking teams star as a rookie and then took the inside linebacker slot of his former ‘Bama teammate Rich Wingo, when Wingo was hurt in 1982. In the second round of the playoffs that season, the high-effort Scott recorded 17 tackles in the loss to the Cowboys. The following season, Randy went down to a knee injury, and Wingo stepped back into the starting lineup.

Randy returned to the starting lineup in 1984. In ’85 he was named defensive captain and recorded a team leading 151 tackles that put him on the cover of the 1986 team yearbook. However, his play began to decline that season and he was cut in 1987 with the arrival of rookie Johnny Holland. He finished his career with a couple of games for Minnesota that season.

Forrest Gregg once said of Scott, “Every time I look at Randy when he’s on the sideline, there’s blood on his face. And it’s always his blood.” In retirement, Scott continued to excel as a businessman in his native Georgia.

1985 custom card is colorized.

A Look Back at 1974

The end of the Dan Devine era came suddenly at the end of 1974. Many of his players in near open revolt against his incompetence and there was talk of the team refusing to play the finale in Atlanta. After the game, Devine met with team president Dominic Olejniczak and demanded to know his status for the next season. Not waiting for an answer, the next day, Dan resigned to become head coach at Notre Dame.

The Packers 6-8 season was a disappointment marked by two trades. Devine obtained linebacker Ted Hendricks from the Colts for Tom MacLeod. With that and the return of Willie Buchanon from a broken leg, the defense bounced back to fifth in the league by allowing just 205 points. The offense, though, scored just 210 points, 21^st in the NFL, and Devine’s desperation trade of two firsts, two seconds and a third round draft pick for diminished 34-year old quarterback John Hadl would haunt the franchise for the rest of the decade. Altogether, the Pack was 3-5 against .500 or better teams, 3-3 against losers, 4-3 at home and 2-5 on the road.

Jerry Tagge was 3-3 as a starter in the first six games, completing 48% of his passes for 709 yards, one touchdown and ten interceptions. Journeyman Jack Concannon lost the next two games, throwing for 381 yards, one score and three picks. Newcomer Hadl finished the season on a 3-3 mark, completing 48% of his tosses for 1,072 yards, three touchdowns and eight interceptions.

A declining John Brockington led the team with 883 yards rushing but averaged just 3.3 yards per carry, while Mac Lane was down to averaging 2.6 yards per rush and gaining 362 yards. Brockington did lead the team with 43 catches and Lane added 34. Jon Staggers was the leading receiver among the ends with 32 catches for 450 yards. Second wideout Barry Smith had just 20 catches. Staggers also had a punt return score of 68 yards, and Steve Odom scored on one of 95 yards. Chester Marcol converted 25 of 39 field goals towards a team-leading 94 points.

On defense, Alden Roche and Clarence Williams each tallied seven sacks, but the real star was Ted Hendricks who led the team with five interceptions, blocked seven kicks and scored a safety. Hendricks, Marcol and Gale Gillingham were named All-Pro. They, Buchanon and Ken Ellis were named to the Pro Bowl. The team’s top rookie, runner Barty Smith, unfortunately injured his knee and was never the same player he was in college.

Custom cards of Tagge, Gillingham and Marcol are colorized.

Russ Saunders

“Racehorse” Russ Saunders was born in Ardmore, Oklahoma on January 26, 1906, a year prior to the territory becoming a state. His family ended up in California, and Saunders graduated from high school in San Diego before heading north to Los Angeles to attend USC in 1926. He was a blocking back as a sophomore and junior and part of a national championship in the latter year. As a senior in 1929, Russ was moved to tailback and led the Trojans to a 10-2 record behind his 972 yards rushing. In the 1930 Rose Bowl against heavily favored Pitt, Saunders threw for three touchdowns in a 47-13 upset. He and teammate Erny Pinckert were the main models for the famed Tommy Trojan statue erected on the USC campus later in 1930.

Curly Lambeau signed Russ for the champion Packers in 1931. The highlight of his only season in the NFL came early. He had a 38-yard touchdown run against the Cleveland Indians in the opener on September 13, and the following week completed a 55-yard touchdown pass to Lavie Dilweg against the Brooklyn Dodgers. Hampered by injuries, he appeared in nine games for Green Bay. Unofficial statistics have him rushing 59 times for 248 yards, sixth on the team, completing seven of 30 passes for 109 yards, a touchdown and five interceptions, and returning 11 punts for 111 yards.

In 1932, he was hired by Warner Brothers in Los Angeles and spent 33 years with them as an assistant director and production manager. He continued working in that capacity on a free lance basis for nearly twenty years after that until retiring. His last known job was as the production manager on Stripes in 1981. IMDB credits him with having worked on roughly 120 films, mostly uncredited, but his Los Angeles Times obituary estimates the number was closer to 150 films. He was married three times, had a daughter and died in Burbank, California on April 28, 1987 at the age of 81.

Custom cards are colorized.

A Look Back at 1973

Following the surprise division title in 1972, the 1973 season was a giant disappointment with the team dropping to a 5-7-2 record. The defense dropped from fourth to 14^th and the offense from 11^th to 22nd in points. Despite facing a schedule that included only four games against winning teams, the bottom fell out. The Pack went 0-3-1 in those games and 5-4-1 against losers. They were 3-2-2 at home but just 2-5 on the road.

What changed? On defense, Dave Robinson was sent to Washington and replaced by rookie Tom MacLeod. Clarence Williams went from a career high of 10.5 sacks to three. However, the biggest problem was cornerback Willie Buchanon broke his leg in week six and was replaced by rookie free agent Perry Smith. To that point the defense had allowed just 13 points per game; for the remainder of the season, the average was 22.5. On offense, Bart Starr left as offensive coach, and the quarterbacking bounced from Scott Hunter to Jim Del Gaizo to Jerry Tagge, with no one providing an adequate performance. Despite spending a number one draft pick on receiver Barry Smith, the receiving corps did not improve, and the running attack declined.

Scott Hunter began the season at quarterback and went 1-2-2 as a starter, completing 42% of his passes for 442 yards, two touchdowns and four interceptions. He averaged just 5.3 yards per pass and topped 100 yards in passing just once all season. Jim Del Gaizo, acquired for two second round picks, was next and was 1-2 as a starter, completing 43% of his passes for 318 yards, two TDs and six picks. He averaged 5.1 yards per pass and never topped 100 yards passing. Finally, second-year man Jerry Tagge was given the job for final six games and split them 3-3. He completed 53% of his passes for 720 yards, two scores and seven interceptions. He averaged 6.8 yards per attempt and thrice topped 100 yards passing.

On the ground, John Brockington gained 1,144 yards and upped his average to 4.3 per carry. Mac Lane, though, dropped to 528 yards and 3.1 per carry. Lane also led the team in receptions for the second year in a row with 27. Jon Staggers caught 25 for 412 yards to lead in yardage. Rich McGeorge and Brockington each caught 16 passes, while rookie bust Smith grabbed just 15. Chester Marcol scored a team-high 82 points.

Defensively, veteran acquisition Aaron Brown led with five sacks and Alden Roche chipped in 4.5. Ken Ellis, Jim Hill and Jim Carter each had three interceptions. Gale Gillingham returned from injury and received some All-Pro notice, along with Brockington. Ellis was named to the second team. Gillingham, Brockington, Ellis and Carter all were selected for the Pro Bowl.

Del Gaizo custom card in colorized.

Grady Jackson

Briefly, Grady Jackson, who was 6’2″ and 345 pounds, was the second iteration of Gilbert Brown in Green Bay, although he had his best years elsewhere. Jackson was born on January 21, 1973 in Greensboro, Alabama. He attended Knoxville College and was a sixth round draft choice of the Oakland Raiders in 1997. He blossomed when Jon Gruden took over as head coach in 1998. In those first five years of his career, he had 19 sacks, more than half of his career total, and 39 tackles for loss.

Grady left as a free agent in 2002 and signed with the Saints. However, he was cut at midseason in 2003 due to disciplinary problems. Mike Sherman signed him for the Packers, and Jackson quickly began to eat into Gilbert Brown’s time at nose tackle for the second half of the season. The Packer defense was markedly improved with his stout presence in the center of the defensive line, and the team went on a playoff run. Sherman then signed Grady to a two-year contract. He was a starter for 2004 and ’05, but in his second year he was grousing about his contract, and his play diminished.

Jackson signed with Atlanta in 2006 and was with them for a year and a half before struggling coach Bobby Petrino cut him. Grady finished that season with Jacksonville and then returned to Atlanta in ’08 after Petrino was gone. He finished his NFL career with Detroit in 2009, but did catch on with the Florida Tuskers of the United Football League in 2010 under Jay Gruden. So while Jackson gathered nine sacks and 14 tackles for loss in a year and a half in New Orleans and three sacks and 24 tackles for loss in two and a half seasons in Atlanta, he had 4.5 sacks and 12 tackles for loss in two and half years in Green Bay. He had his moments as a Packer, but he was more of a playmaker in other cities. As with many men his size, he struggled to maintain a reasonable playing weight throughout his career, but he did have a decent 13-year career in the NFL.

Custom cards inspired by Bazooka and Topps baseball card styles.

Byline: Blood, Part 6

After their two games against the locals, the Packers had another week on the islands. A note in the Honolulu Advertiser on Friday, January 6 announced that Johnny Blood would be speaking at a YMCA banquet on Saturday night. There were no reports on what he had to say. Two nights before their January 11 scheduled departure, the team played a basketball game against a local team. The game story in the Honolulu Star Bulletin indicated that Blood did not play due to a “pulled ligament.” However, led by Roger Grove’s 13 points and Arnie Herber’s eight, the Pack prevailed 35-30. The article noted the footballers played a physical game, “In spite of the continual body contact, some of which were called, (but not too much), brilliant basketballing was witnessed at times.”

A special cable dispatch without Blood’s byline in the Green Bay Press-Gazette on January 11 celebrated the team’s visit and hoped for their future return. The voyage home highlights another popular Blood story. Decades later, Clarke Hinkle told Myron Cope for The Game That Was:

We were having a good time on the boat, when suddenly we couldn’t find Blood. So Milt Gantenbein, who was my roommate at the time–Milt and I walked out on the main deck and went back toward the stern. The seas was a little rough, and that ship was pitching. But we walked back there toward the stern, and then we turned white. We froze.

Johnny Blood was outside the safety railing on the extreme stern end of the ship. He was hanging onto the flagpole. There he was, in the middle of that pitch-black night, with the ship pitching, and he was swinging around that flagpole. He didn’t even know he was in danger.

He’d been drinking that Okolehau, the native drink made from pineapple juice or tea roots or something. Hell of a drink, I’ll tell you. Anyway, we eased out there and got him out of there, but if he’d have dropped off that stern, nobody would have ever found him. And that’s just one of the things he did.

Blood’s next dispatch came on January 18, and detailed the team disembarking in San Francisco, where they were joined by Cal Hubbard, Verne Lewellen, Herdis McCrary and Tom Nash who did not go on the Hawaii trip, but would play in the upcoming charity game against Ernie Nevers’ All-Stars in Frisco six days later. The Packers would also be joined by Red Grange of the NFL champion Bears. Blood would not file a dispatch on the January 23 game, but the Packers lost 13-6. Nevers threw one TD pass and Bunny Belden threw another for the Stars. Tom Nash caught a scoring toss of 46 yards from Hinkle for the Packers lone tally. Grange played the first quarter and some of the fourth, but lost four yards on five carries.

A Look Back at 1972

Recently the Buffalo Bills clinched their first division title in 25 years. Seasoned Packer fans can appreciate the suffering of Buffalo fans. The 1972 Packers were far from a perfect team and were one-and-done in the postseason, but they still are very fondly remembered because they immediately preceded a 23-year drought of division championships, aside from the abbreviated strike year of 1982.

The ’72 Packers never trailed in the division from week one on, although they were still tied with the Lions after a week 11 21-16 loss to the Redskins. From there, they took care of business. They pounded Detroit 33-7 in week 12, clinched the division by whupping the Vikings in Minnesota 23-7 in week 13 and finished the year 10-4 by beating the Saints 30-20 in the finale. As center Ken Bowman once put it, they ran over the Central Division that season with a punishing ground attack.

The team scored 304 points, 11^th in the league, and gave up just 226, fourth. While they were second in rushing attempts and seventh in rushing yards, the Packers were next to last in passing. They were 4-0 against losing teams and 6-4 against all others. They were 6-1 on the road and 4-3 at home. On Christmas Eve, Green Bay’s run ended in Washington as the Redskins employed a five-man line to stop the Packer running attack and won a 16-3 playoff match. The game also marked the end of Bart Starr’s one-year career as offensive coach when head coach Dan Devine stubbornly would not allow Starr to open up the play-calling to counter the Skins defense. Washington coach George Allen later said he never expected to stay in the overloaded front the whole game, but the Packers never altered their approach.

Second-year man Scott Hunter started all 14 games at quarterback and completed 43% of his passes for 1,252 yards, six touchdowns and nine interceptions. John Brockington gained 1,027 yards on the ground, but his average gain dropped a yard and a half to 3.7. Newcomer Mac Lane gained 821 yards rushing and led the team in receptions with 26, followed by Brockington’s 19. Starting wideouts Carroll Dale and Leland Glass caught just 16 and 15 passes respectively, with Dale leading the team with 317 receiving yards. Starting tight end Rich McGeorge was lost to injury in week two, and the tight ends cumulatively caught a mere nine passes for two touchdowns. Jon Staggers and Ken Ellis each had punt return touchdowns, and rookie Chester Marcol converted 33 of 48 field goal attempts to lead the team with 128 points.

On defense, rookie Willie Buchanon, safety Jim Hill and Ellis each nabbed four interceptions. Clarence Williams had a career year with 10.5 sacks and was followed by Alden Roche, Vern Vanoy and Dave Robinson who each recorded four.

The draft was highlighted by the selections of Buchanon and Marcol, but also featured later picks of defensive tackle Dave Pureifory and guard Keith Wortman, as well as first round quarterback bust Jerry Tagge. Slick trades brought Lane for Donny Anderson, Hill for Lionel Aldridge, guard Malcolm Snider for Dave Hampton and punter Ron WIdby and return man Ike Thomas for a second-round draft pick. On the converse, Devine’s decision to switch All-Pro guard Gale Gillingham to defensive tackle was ludicrous and resulted in Gillingham’s knee injury in week two.

Marcol and Ellis were named All-Pro and Brockington gained second team notice. Marcol, Brockington, Bob Brown and Fred Carr were all selected to the Pro Bowl. From the bench, Ray Nitschke bowed out after 15 seasons in the Green and Gold.

Custom Cards of Glass, Ellis, Brown and Gillingham are colorized.

Matt Brock

Matt Brock turns 54 today. Born on January 14, 1966 in Ogden, Utah, the 6’5” 300-pound defensive lineman learned the hard way that in pro football you are either getting better or you are on your way out. Drafted out of Oregon in the third round in 1989, Brock moved into the starting lineup at defensive end in 1990 and led the Packers defensive linemen in tackles for three years from 1990-92.

Green Bay signed Reggie White in ’93, so Brock moved to the other side of the line, but his productivity declined. Ron Wolf signed veterans Sean Jones and Steve McMichael in ’94, but Brock thought he deserved more money even though it was clear the team was looking for better production from the line. He held out for six weeks before signing for the veterans’ minimum salary in late August. He was then listed as inactive for the first 11 games of the year.

Despite being a popular local player who had his own “Breakfast with Brock” radio program in Green Bay, Matt was eager to move on in 1995 and signed with the Jets under new coach Rich Kotite. Brock told the New York press that Ron Wolf was mad at him for holding out and told the coaching staff not to play him the previous year. Wolf rationally responded, “It’s about winning and losing and if a player isn’t doing it, he gets replaced.” Brock himself admitted, “In Green Bay, I got the job pretty easy when I was young. I think I got at a comfort level in Green Bay and I stopped improving.”

Brock scored his only NFL touchdown in his first game with the Jets on a three-yard fumble recovery, but it was all downhill from there. Kotite’s Jets went 4-28 in 1995-96, while the Packers won the division crown in ’95 and the Super Bowl in ’96. Brock’s career ended after the ’96 season.

Matt’s father Clyde also played pro ball. Clyde lettered one year at Utah State, playing behind future NFL stalwarts Merlin Olsen and Clark Miller. Still, the Bears drafted the 6’5” 275-pound tackle in the second round in 1962 while the AFL’s Oilers took him in the eighth round. The Bears cut Clyde, but he landed with the Cowboys for a year and a half. He finished 1963 with the 49ers, but was cut by San Francisco in ’64. Although Houston was still interested, he signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders and appeared in 158 games with them from 1964-75. A five-time CFL All-Star, he was selected for the Canadian Pro Football Hall of Fame in July 2020 at the age of 80.

Custom cards in Topps and Fleer styles.

Walter Jean, or Is It Le Jean, or LeJeune?

Born Walter Jean in Chillicothe, Ohio on January 12, 1898 was a football lineman of some mystery as to his name, his playing career and his race. According to recent research, Jean was a bi-racial man passing for white in the 1920s when he played for the Packers among other NFL clubs. In 2015, the website “Oldest Living Pro Football Players” noted its U.S. Census research had concluded that Jean had a black father, Marcel, and a white mother, Elizabeth, and was listed as black on the 1900 Census, mulatto in 1910 and 1920, and white in 1930 and 1940.

Packer historian Cliff Christl followed up on that with interviews with family and acquaintances of Jean, as well as tracking down official sources at institutions where Jean was said to have attended. Link The conclusion is that Jean, later referred to as Le Jean and supposedly sometimes as LeJeune, was likely the Packers first black player in 1925, 25 years before Bob Mann, who is commonly given that identifier.

Here is a timeline of Jean’s career, along with some additional post-Packer football affiliations that I have discovered in newspaper research of my own.

1916: Enrolls at Heidleberg University in Tiffin, OH where he is called “Bolo” Jean.

1917: Continues at Heidleberg

1918: In Student Army Training Corps at Heidleberg

1919: Military service

1920: Head coach at Bowling Green University, leading the team to a 1-4 mark.

1921: Finishes college playing eligibility at Bethany College in West Virginia

1922: Plays nine games for the 3-5-2 Akron Pros and scores four touchdowns by playing both in the backfield and line.

1923: Plays five games for the 1-6 Akron Pros.

1924: Plays nine games for the 5-8 Milwaukee Badgers.

1925: Plays nine games for the 8-5 Packers.

1926: Plays 10 games for the 7-3-3 Packers.

1927: Plays two games for the Pottsville Maroons and then joins the semipro Portsmouth Shoe-Steels as player and as the assistant coach to Jim Thorpe. When Thorpe leaves before the season finale, Jean imports former teammates, Red Dunn, Eddie Kotal, Rex Enright and Pid Purdy and coaches the Portsmouth’s 7-6 loss to the Ashland Armcos. Enright and Purdy were injured in car accident and missed the game, however.

1928: Jean continues as the Portsmouth coach for the first two games, with the team now community-owned and going by the name Portsmouth Spartans. After winning the first two games, Jean leaves the team and Keith Molesworth (backs) and Russell Hathaway (line) take over the coaching. Later that season, Jean surfaces playing for the semi-pro Cincinnati National Guards, a rival of Portsmouth.

1929: Jean continues with Cincinnati and is appointed coach on October 22.

1930-32: Jean coaches the semi-pro Dayton Guards.

After this, the 34-year-old appears to leave football. He married in 1935 and worked in various positions while maintaining a winter home in Clermont, Florida and a summer one in Jacksonport, Wisconsin. His wife passed away in 1960, and Jean died on March 28, 1961 from a heart attack at his Wisconsin home.

Custom cards are colorized.

Destroying the Village to Save It

I once wrote post on the Packers high number of players from the University of Tulsa in the late 1940s into the outset of the ‘50s. One more Golden Hurricane didn’t quite make the cut, and his is a very sad tale. Forrest “Chubby” Grigg was born on January 10, 1926 in El Dorado, Arizona, but grew up in Texas.

Grigg was a 300-pound tackle who graduated from Tulsa in 1946 and signed with the Buffalo Bisons of the All-America Football Conference. The next year, he spent with the lowly Chicago Rockets of the same circuit, but in 1948, Paul Brown traded Frank Signiago and three others to Chicago for Chubby and Alax Agase. Knowing of Grigg’s tendency to put on weight–reportedly he had played at 330 pounds in Chicago–Brown offered him a significant bonus to report to training camp in shape. And Chubby did, showing up at 270 pounds before he began eating again.

Grigg spent four seasons in Cleveland playing tackle on both sides of the ball and even filling in for Lou Groza as placekicker when Lou was injured. In April 1952, though, Chubby was acquired by Green Bay along with Zeke Costa and Dick Logan for linebacker Walt Michaels. Logan played two seasons for the Packers, but neither Grigg nor Costa ever appeared in a Packer uniform, while Michaels spent a decade starting in Cleveland.

Chubby was cut on September 23, the week before the season opener and was claimed by the Dallas Texans. He spent his last pro football season for that ill-fated franchise that was sold back to the league at midseason. Grigg then went into the restaurant business in his native Texas before retiring in 1972 after contracting diabetes.

Then on October 31, 1976, Grigg did something shockingly tragic. He shot and killed his only son, Michael. At the trial in 1977, Grigg admitted he killed Michael because his son had been using pills and smoking marijuana for the last three years and that he had changed. He had quit all sports activities and had been suspended from school due to his long hair. Feeling that he was unable to reach his son any longer, Chubby found Michael asleep in his room and shot him in the temple.

After being sentenced to five years’ probation upon being convicted of involuntary manslaughter, Grigg said, “Sure I regret what I did, but I’m still relieved that he’s relieved. He’s not on the drug anymore. He’s not under any more pressure.”

Chubby died in 1953 at age 57. His wife lived on till 2006.

Custom card is colorized.