Packers' top 15 Iron-Man Era players

[Cheesehead]

Maybe the toughest task in choosing the Packers' greatest player from the Iron-Man Era is trying to distinguish the real Don Hutson from the mythological Don Hutson.


The Iron-Man Era, for the purpose of these rankings, covers the period from 1919 when the Packers were born through 1949, the National Football League's 30th season and the last before it permanently approved free substitution. To be clear, from the time the Packers joined what became the NFL in 1921 through 1949, the rules of substitution and reentry changed; and players, for the most part, saw their playing time diminish. In other words, there were more 60-minute players in the 1920s than the 1940s. Also, the NFL adopted free substitution as early as 1943, but then limited it again in 1946, allowing no more than three substitutes to enter a game at any time. In 1949, free substitution was enacted again for one year before it was made permanent in 1950.


Whatever the rules, the bottom line here is that all 15 players on this list played both offense and defense. They also all played under Curly Lambeau and only one, Cub Buck, didn't play on at least one of his six NFL championship teams.


The list includes 15 players – not 10, like the previous lists of the outstanding offensive and defensive players since 1950 – because a case could be made that all of them have the credentials to be considered for the Pro Football Hall of Fame as future seniors candidates. Keep in mind, too, there are still five other Packers who were named to NFL all-decade teams prior to 1950 not on this list: Lambeau, and 1930s linemen Bill Lee, Buckets Goldenbeg, Russ Letlow and George Svendsen.


Lambeau's six titles were a league record and accomplished over a 16-year period, yet only seven players from those teams – or, for that matter, all of Lambeau's teams, covering 29 NFL seasons – have been inducted into Canton.


In my 13 years on the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee, maybe the most absurd argument often repeated during the annual selection meeting was that some championship team had only so many Hall of Famers and warranted more or maybe another had too many. Thus, I mention this reluctantly, but the Bears won seven titles from 1920-50 – George Halas coached five of them – and have 17 Hall of Famers from that period. That's more than twice as many as the Packers.


What's more, during the 1929-44 span when the Packers won six titles, the Bears won only five. Yet, over those 16 years, the Bears still have a 2-to-1 edge in Hall of Famers: 14 to 7.


(Note: The latest addition was end Ed Sprinkle, who was elected as part of last year's special centennial class. When I was on the committee, there were a number of years when I thought Sprinkle would have been a better senior nominee than some of those chosen by the separate senior committee. Had I not voted for him because the Bears already had 13 players from that period, I would have considered myself guilty of voter negligence. But was Sprinkle more worthy than Verne Lewellen? No way. More worthy than two Packers ends, Lavvie Dilweg and Larry Craig? That's debatable.)


But back to Hutson and the myths surrounding his career.


One, there's absolutely no proof in Hutson's personnel file in the NFL office of him signing two NFL contracts as a rookie; and there's really no evidence of it anywhere other than Lambeau lying about it – remember, Lee Remmel, among many others, considered him to be "a congenital liar" – and Hutson occasionally doing the same. Yet one of five paragraphs included in Hutson's bio at the Pro Football Hall of Fame's official website, includes the story and how he was awarded to the Packers rather than the Brooklyn Dodgers based on the time of the postmarks. All the fallacies of that story will be spelled out in our definitive history of the Packers, including the number of times the story changed and Hutson's own written account, which started: "I had tentatively agreed to sign with Brooklyn …"


Two, despite references to Hutson being the first wide receiver, there was good reason why he was listed as a left end when he played. In Lambeau's Notre Dame Box, the offensive ends lined up tight to the tackles and shifted one yard to the outside before the snap. Yes, in Hutson's later years, Lambeau took measures to protect him from taking a physical pounding and moved him further away from the left tackle, sometimes three or four yards, maybe more on occasion, according to former teammate Herm Schneidman. But Carl Mulleneaux, who played end opposite Hutson from 1938-41 and again in 1945, said, "When Don played in the old days, he was close in to the line and he'd have to break away from defensive ends and linebackers, and they really worked him over before he could get away." Cecil Isbell, who played with Hutson from 1938-42, said he wished the two could have operated from a T-formation to take better advantage of Hutson's talents. "(We) could have flanked Don then," said Isbell. "He was in tight and had to block the tackle on those reverses to (Clarke) Hinkle."


Three, almost every story ever written about Hutson as a pro football player, if it mentioned his speed, credited him with running anywhere from a 9.5 to a 9.8 100-yard dash. As an example, Peter King, who has been one of the most respected pro football writers of the last 40 years and deservedly so, told the Green Bay Press-Gazette in 1994 that Hutson had won the 100 at the Southeastern Conference meet as a senior with a time of 9.5 and did so running in between innings of an Alabama baseball game in which he was also playing. No doubt, it was an honest mistake that King learned from what he believed was a credible source. While this is a subject I hope to continue researching, here's what I've found so far. As a senior, Hutson finished fourth in the 100 in the SEC's conference meet. Tulane's Herman Neugass was the winner with a time of 9.8. What's more, Hutson failed to win the 100 in any of Alabama's five dual meets that spring. In fact, teammates Joe Riley and Herman Krauss each won two of the five duals. Hutson's best showing in the SEC was a second-place finish as a senior in the 220-yard dash, also won by Neugass with a time of 21.7. As a junior, Hutson ran in the second of two heats in the SEC time trials for the 100 and failed to qualify for the finals. In fact, it wasn't an official place, but he was listed last of seven runners in his heat in the meet summary. As a junior, Hutson didn't compete in the 220.


The list of exaggerations and made-up stories about Hutson could go on and on, but on to my rankings. Admittedly, I never saw any of these players play. The rankings are based mostly on my research and interviews with more than 35 Packers who played under Lambeau, including roughly 20 who played with Hutson, as well as close to 20 players on opposing teams who played against Lambeau's Packers and Hutson. Based on that feedback, Hutson is No. 1 here, but it's a close call over Hinkle and Lewellen.