Good question Howard. I know a lot of players took years off to fight, Canadeo being the most notable Packer. I think it was voluntary. Different times.
Good question Howard. I know a lot of players took years off to fight, Canadeo being the most notable Packer. I think it was voluntary. Different times.
Originally Posted by vince
Paul Hornung was one of the Green Bay Packers' all-time greats, a player who started out as a quarterback but was versatile enough to play lead blocker, receiver and kicker. He was so vital to the Pack that the team needed a little help from President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to allow him to play in the NFL championship game. Hornung had been called up to the Army that year. But before the game, coach Vince Lombardi rang JFK to see if he could be granted leave for the title game against the New York Giants. "Paul Hornung isn't going to win the war on Sunday," President Kennedy said at the time, "but the football fans of this country deserve the two best teams on the field that day." It paid off — the Pack won 37-0, and Hornung scored 19 points, an NFL title game record.
After lunch the players lounged about the hotel patio watching the surf fling white plumes high against the darkening sky. Clouds were piling up in the west… Vince Lombardi frowned.
There's a sidebar to the Paul Hornung needing leave to play in the '61 championship game. A captain the the base in Ft Riley KS decided to screw Horn over and not allow him the leave to get off for the big game. Paul called Vince with the bad news. Lombardi told him to hold his horses and called JFK. Imagine the look on the face of that captain when he figured out Hornung had juice with the President of the United States.
Lombardi had JFK's personal number in his address book and just made the call. That's influence, now.
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