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- Mar 19, 2019
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GREEN BAY – Pro Football Hall of Famers Jan Stenerud and Emlen Tunnel, who both played briefly in their careers for the Packers, have been named to the “NFL 100 All-Time Team.”
The two join Reggie White as former Packers named to the squad thus far, as NFL Network has been in the process of unveiling the All-Time Team by position groups in celebration of the league’s 100th season.
Stenerud was the first pure placekicker inducted into the Hall of Fame and the first Norwegian to play in the NFL. After 13 years with the Chiefs (1967-79), Stenerud kicked for the Packers for four seasons (1980-83) before finishing his career with the Vikings (1984-85).
At his retirement, Stenerud was the No. 2 all-time leading scorer in league history, behind only George Blanda. His 115 points for the Packers in 1983 (21-of-26 field goals, 52-of-52 PATs) ranked second at the time for a single season in franchise history for a kicker.
Stenerud was inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame in 1991.
Tunnel, a safety and the first African-American player inducted in Canton, played the final three years of a 14-year NFL career with the Packers and was a member of Vince Lombardi’s first championship team in 1961. Lombardi in essence brought Tunnel with him from the Giants in 1959 as a veteran player and “de facto assistant coach,” according to Packers team historian Cliff Christl.
Hall of Fame cornerback Herb Adderley, drafted in the first round by the Packers in Tunnel’s final season of 1961, has credited Tunnel for mentoring him during his rookie year. He may have been the player to suggest to Lombardi that Adderley was initially miscast as an offensive player, according to Christl.
A Pro Bowl selection in his first year with the Packers in 1959, Tunnel intercepted five passes in his time with Green Bay, raising his career total to 79, which was tops in NFL history when he retired.