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Paul Hornung, described by Vince Lombardi as “the greatest player I have ever coached”, died Friday in his hometown of Louisville, Ky., After a long battle with dementia. Hornung was 84 years old.
Selected first in the 1957 NFL Draft, with what was called the bonus pick, Hornung played for the Packers from 1957 to 1962 and again from 1964 to 1966. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986, 11 years after being inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame.
Hornung, who was 6ft 2in tall and weighed 215 pounds, played quarterback at the University of Notre Dame and won the Heisman Trophy in 1956, but his first two coaches at Green Bay couldn’t find a position for him. He was given a glimpse of the quarterback, but also started the games at the back and rear.
His career took off in 1959, when Lombardi took over as coach, placed him as left half and built his attack around him. The left half-back was the ball carrier on Lombardi’s famous power sweep and what he called “the key agent” in his attack. For the power sweep to work, according to Lombardi, his half-back had to be able to throw the option pass. As a former quarterback and gifted athlete, who played sophomore basketball at Notre Dame, Hornung was able to run just as he would during the power sweep behind two pulling guards, stay in control and toss the ball if the defense outplayed Lombardi’s signature game.
Hornung’s best seasons were 1960, when he set an NFL scoring record in a 12-game season that spanned 46 years, and 1961, when he was named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player by the Associated Press, then MVP of the 37- Packers. 0 victory over the New York Giants in the NFL Championship game.
Although Hornung’s stats didn’t translate well in today’s game, he was a rare triple-threat comeback, starting in 1958 and for five of Lombard’s first six seasons. Not only could Hornung run and pass, but he was the Packers’ placekicker. As a result, when he set the scoring record in 1960, he scored 176 points on 15 touchdowns, 15 field goals and 41 extra points. It wasn’t until San Diego’s LaDainian Tomlinson scored 186 points in 2006 in a 16-game season that the record was broken.
In 1961, Hornung also set the Packers’ single-game scoring record with 33 points on Oct. 8 against Baltimore. In that year’s NFL title game, Hornung, again, broke a scoring record with 19 points and led all rushers with 89 yards on 20 carries. And what was remarkable about his sweep of MVP honors this season is that he rarely trained after being called up for active military service near midseason. Then for the championship game, he needed an Army pass – with a little help from President John F. Kennedy – so he could train before the game and play.
Hornung suffered a serious neck injury in 1960 and a knee injury in 1962, which saw him miss 12 games in his last four seasons. He was also suspended by NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle in 1963 for betting. But it was crucial for the Packers to win the NFL Championship again in 1965 and had also made the biggest offensive play of the NFL title game in 1962.
In 1965, Hornung missed two games and played sparingly in at least four more, but in the penultimate game of the season, the Packers traveled to Baltimore and had to win or be eliminated from the post-game. season. Hornung returned to the lineup after missing two of the previous three games, scoring five touchdowns and finishing with 176 total yards as the Packers beat the Colts, 42-27, and advanced half a game in the standings. “A great pressure player,” gushed Lombardi in the locker room.
Hornung’s neck injury played out again and he played sparingly in a 10-10 draw against San Francisco next week and a playoff series against the Colts, but then rushed for 105 yards on 18 carries and scored the decisive touchdown on a 13-yard run in a 23-12 victory over Cleveland in the NFL title game.
In 1962, Hornung’s 21-yard option pass established the Packers’ only touchdown as they beat the Giants, 16-7, for their second of two titles under Lombardi.
It was during a speech in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, before his last season at Green Bay and after Hornung’s last, where Lombardi said: “Paul Hornung is the greatest player I have ever coached.” Although the Pro Football Hall of Fame falsely claimed in a 1977 press release that Lombardi called Forrest Gregg “the best player I’ve ever coached,” in his book “Run to Daylight,” there is no evidence that ‘he never said it, at least publicly, and Gregg when he returned to Green Bay as coach was never able to explain the source of the quote.
Lombardi, on the other hand, has always been effusive in his praise for Hornung.
“Paul was perhaps the best footballer ever to play football, and his blocking was one of the reasons,” Lombardi said in his other book, “Vince Lombardi on Football”. Plus, he once called Hornung, “the greatest of the greats when the game is on.”
Lombardi also retired Hornung’s No.5 in the summer of 1967, announcing: “I could say in that regard, we won’t have a No.5 this year, and as far as I’m concerned there will be no never another No. 5 this year. 5 in Green Bay. ”Gregg and Lindy Infante both issued No. 5 in the late 1980s, but GMs Ron Wolf, Ted Thompson and Brian Gutekunst have since honored the wishes. by Lombardi.
Additionally, during the 1967 season, following Hornung’s retirement, Lombardi lamented the Packers’ lack of leadership and insisted that Hornung come to the Ice Bowl and be sidelined. While Lombardi and Bart Starr spoke before the latter’s famous quarterback, Hornung was by their side.
It wasn’t just Lombardi, either, who considered Hornung the best of the Packers in the 1960s.
Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerback Herb Adderley once said, “Vince called him our silver player and he was just that. He should have been the first player on our team in the Hall of Fame. Fame. ” Professional Football Hall of Fame goalkeeper Jerry Kramer said: “He’s always been the star of our team, even after he stopped being the best player.”
When Wolf became general manager of the Packers in 1991, he inherited three of Lombardi’s assistant coaches as scouts: Red Cochran, Dave Hanner and Ray Wietecha. Wolf once asked them if there was a draft from Lombardi players who would take number 1? All three replied Hornung.
Many opponents also agreed.
“I’ve always said that Hornung was probably the best player in modern football,” said Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive end Doug Atkins, who played from 1953 to 1969 and twice a year against Hornung for nine years. while he was with the Bears said in 1996. “He could pass. He could run. He could kick. He could catch. He could block. They say, ‘Well he couldn’t run as well as such and such. He couldn’t do that. I said, “Who the hell could do all these things?” He could run like hell and do these things in key situations. “
Although Hornung was never the workplace for Lombardi’s offense – full-back Jim Taylor filled that role – he rushed for 3,711 yards, averaging 4.2 per carry, and caught 130 passes, averaging 11.4 yards per catch, and had 383 yards in his nine seasons. .
His nickname was the “Golden Boy,” a carryover from his days at Notre Dame, where he doubled as a quarterback and safety in the era of a college football squad and finished second in the country in attack. total, while winning the Heisman over a losing team.
Pro Football Hall of Fame general manager Jim Finks was an assistant coach for the Fighting Irish during Hornung’s senior season and wrote in a scout report for the Packers, “Paul is the best prospect I’ve seen” and someone who could play one of the three positions in the pros.
After the 1966 season, Lombardi reluctantly exposed Hornung in the expansion plan and lost him to New Orleans. However, Hornung announced his retirement in late July after spending three days at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Doctors determined he not only had a pinched nerve in his neck, but also damage to his spinal cord that could lead to paralysis if he continued. play soccer.
Hornung is survived by his wife of 41 years, Angela. Due to COVID restrictions, there will be a private funeral mass at Saint-Louis Bertrand Church in Louisville followed by a private burial at Cave Hill Cemetery. A public celebration of his life will take place at a later date.
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