Cecil Isbell



Isbell only played five years in the NFL (38-42), but he was voted to the All-Pro team in each of those five years.

Isbell was a very accurate passer and a good runner and he led the Packers in rushing and passing in his rookie year.

It wasn't until Isbell became the team's passer in 1938 that the Packers really began to use timing patterns.



Hutson and Isbell worked in the same paper mill for a couple of years during the off-season, and they often spent their lunch hours practicing timing passes in the company parking lot.

The timing pass made him even more dangerous. But other NFL teams didn't adopt the idea, probably because teams simply didn't put in enough practice time in those days to develop timing passes effectively.

He led the NFL in touchdown passes in both ’41 and ’42, his last two seasons.

Isbell, then at the top of his game, retired following the 1942 season returned to West Lafayette, Ind., to become head coach of his alma mater, the Purdue Boilermakers.

Isbell made it clear he wanted to quit while he was still on top of his game and not be pushed out after getting old and slow, as he had seen happen to other players.

Had he continued to play, he would have probably been considered one of the top passers of his day, right alongside Sammy Baugh and Sid Luckman, and a sure-fire hall-of-famer.