Best Season For any NFL Receiver--Don Hutson in '42

[oregonpackfan]

I was just watching the NFL network channel on TV. They stated that the best season any receiver had in the history of the NFL was Packer receiver Don Hutson in '42.

That year he had 74 receptions and for 1,211 yards and 17 touchdown catches in just an 11 game season! It was fascinating to watch the old game films and see how elusive and sure-handed he was as a receiver.

At 6'1" and 183 lbs., he just was not that physically big as a player.

One also has to remember the context of offensive play-calling in those days. Most NFL teams called far more running plays than passing plays.

During that '42 season, Arnie Herber was the Packers QB.

The program also showed clips of his playing extremely well as a defensive back since teams played both ways in those days. In '43 he had 8 interceptions in just 10 games.

Hutson was quoted as saying, "For every pass I catch in a game, I catch 1,000 passes in practice."

He still holds the highest career average touchdown reception per game of .85 of any receiver in the NFL.

I remember my father telling me of a game where he saw Hutson catch 4 touchdown passes in a single QUARTER!(it may have been against the Browns--I can't remember).

My Dad said that after the second touchdown, the other team put two cornerbacks on Hutson. The first one lined up directly on the line of scrimmage across from Hutson. His sole responsibility was to either hold up Hutson on the line and/or knock him off his route. The second cornerback's assginment was to actually cover Hutson if he got past the first corner. Needless to say, they did a pretty poor job of limiting Hutson to catches.

Hutson was also the team's placekicker for most of his career. He was truly one of the best all-around players the Packers have ever had.

[CaliforniaCheez]

There was no pass interference penalties or other wimpy modern rules.

Helmets were leather without facemasks.
Players stayed on the field and weren't offensive or defensive specialists.

Ol Don changed the game forever but still has the 2nd and 4th highest scoring season through 12 games(the season length then).

[Pacopete4]

not gonna lie (and this will piss most off but)... fergy would run circles around hutson in his day.... the game has changed but yes, hutson was the best in his time... by far

[mraynrand]

WWII. A lot of QBs were throwing bombs in N. Africa, a lot of WRs were catching shrapnel overseas, and a lot of cornerbacks were tackling the Nazis. It diminishes Hutson's accomplishments. Still, he was pretty damn good.

[MadtownPacker]

not gonna lie (and this will piss most off but)... fergy would run circles around hutson in his day.... the game has changed but yes, hutson was the best in his time... by farI dont understand how people can say that. I was born long after he played and have only seen clips on NFLN so I cant speak on his talent but Hudson would also have advantages for training and health in todays world that he never got in his time.

[MJZiggy]

not gonna lie (and this will piss most off but)... fergy would run circles around hutson in his day.... the game has changed but yes, hutson was the best in his time... by farI dont understand how people can say that. I was born long after he played and have only seen clips on NFLN so I cant speak on his talent but Hudson would also have advantages for training and health in todays world that he never got in his time.

Actually, if what Paco's saying is that if Fergy went back to 1942 he'd be better one must consider that the man is continually injured with some of the best padding and rehab around. Can you imagine Robert Ferguson trying to play iron man football with a leather helmet and the light padding they wore back then? You'd never know what he could do on the field 'cause he wouldn't have a chance of staying healthy...

[MadtownPacker]

Actually, if what Paco's saying is that if Fergy went back to 1942 he'd be better one must consider that the man is continually injured with some of the best padding and rehab around. Can you imagine Robert Ferguson trying to play iron man football with a leather helmet and the light padding they wore back then? You'd never know what he could do on the field 'cause he wouldn't have a chance of staying healthy...
Thats a great point.

So whatcha gotta say about that Paco?

[mraynrand]

Actually, if what Paco's saying is that if Fergy went back to 1942 he'd be better one must consider that the man is continually injured with some of the best padding and rehab around. Can you imagine Robert Ferguson trying to play iron man football with a leather helmet and the light padding they wore back then? You'd never know what he could do on the field 'cause he wouldn't have a chance of staying healthy...
Thats a great point.

So whatcha gotta say about that Paco?

Actually, American men are on average (If I recall the stats correctly) something like 2 inches taller and 10 pounds heavier than the guys that stormed the beaches in Normandy. The point being that nutrition and health are temendously better now than in the 40s. And athletes never trained the way they do now. Of course Fergy would be a better athlete, but whether he would be a wuss is still open for debate.

[The Leaper]

not gonna lie (and this will piss most off but)... fergy would run circles around hutson in his day.... the game has changed but yes, hutson was the best in his time... by far

Ferguson might have ran circles better than Hutson...but he would still be dropping passes and running piss poor routes. Hutson is five times the receiver Ferguson is...in any era you care to compare them.

Unlike today's greats, Hutson also played defense (so he was better conditioned) and did not have the offensively-favored rule structure of the modern era to help him.

The one advantage Hutson did have was that defensive backs simply were not trained to stop the pass like they are today. He didn't have DBs like Deion Sanders or Ronnie Lott roaming the secondary.

[oregonpackfan]

not gonna lie (and this will piss most off but)... fergy would run circles around hutson in his day.... the game has changed but yes, hutson was the best in his time... by far

The one advantage Hutson did have was that defensive backs simply were not trained to stop the pass like they are today. He didn't have DBs like Deion Sanders or Ronnie Lott roaming the secondary.

Hutson and other receivers of his era had to contend with the tackling techniques of DB's that are outlawed today.

The same program highlighted DB Dick "Night Train" Lane who played with the LA Rams and Detroit Lions. Lane frequently used the "Clothesline" type of tackle where he grabbed the offensive player by the head and neck and wrestlyed him to the ground. Lane also used his forearm to the head as a tackling technique. He could not have used those tackling styles in today's football era.

[Rastak]

not gonna lie (and this will piss most off but)... fergy would run circles around hutson in his day.... the game has changed but yes, hutson was the best in his time... by far

The one advantage Hutson did have was that defensive backs simply were not trained to stop the pass like they are today. He didn't have DBs like Deion Sanders or Ronnie Lott roaming the secondary.

Hutson and other receivers of his era had to contend with the tackling techniques of DB's that are outlawed today.

The same program highlighted DB Dick "Night Train" Lane who played with the LA Rams and Detroit Lions. Lane frequently used the "Clothesline" type of tackle where he grabbed the offensive player by the head and neck and wrestlyed him to the ground. Lane also used his forearm to the head as a tackling technique. He could not have used those tackling styles in today's football era.


I believe Mr. Ferguson is rather familiar with the "clothesline" technique.....

Ohhh that was nasty. And for the record, I think Ziggy nailed it, that's what I was thinking.

[Freak Out]

not gonna lie (and this will piss most off but)... fergy would run circles around hutson in his day.... the game has changed but yes, hutson was the best in his time... by far

What a load of BS. Fergy may be a little faster flat out than Hutson was but he is no where near the player Hutson was. He would not have made it through the first few games of a season.

[Pacopete4]

k, fergy was just a smartass comment.. my point was that players today are just better. Hutson might have been the greatest for that era, but he wouldnt be a name if he was put into todays game. You can call fergy a puss all you want, but he'd be a big dude playing in the 40's and that tackling techniques? ha, it was either hit or miss back then.. they all went for the cheap shot instead of wrapping up

[Rastak]

k, fergy was just a smartass comment.. my point was that players today are just better. Hutson might have been the greatest for that era, but he wouldnt be a name if he was put into todays game. You can call fergy a puss all you want, but he'd be a big dude playing in the 40's and that tackling techniques? ha, it was either hit or miss back then.. they all went for the cheap shot instead of wrapping up


If he was in 1942 he wouldn't be that big most likely.

[Scott Campbell]

k, fergy was just a smartass comment.. my point was that players today are just better.


I see. So by your logic a 2007 Hundai > 1942 Mercedes.

Very profound.

[cheesner]

k, fergy was just a smartass comment.. my point was that players today are just better.


I see. So by your logic a 2007 Hundai > 1942 Mercedes.

Very profound.
2007 Hundai: better gas mileage, air conditioning, anti-lock breaks, etc.

Modern has advantages over the past. But you must appreciate a classic for what it is.

Hutson and Rice are neck and neck for the best ever. I am biased, but you have to appreciate Hutson for his ground breaking performance.

[mraynrand]

k, fergy was just a smartass comment.. my point was that players today are just better.


I see. So by your logic a 2007 Hundai > 1942 Mercedes.

Very profound.

I guess the 1942 mercedes is a classic, I just don't like the passenger

http://sbiii.com/merbzpix/d-erw144.jpg

How about a 1942 Dodge?

http://www.westportnow.com/archives/classiccar09270406.jpg

[KYPack]

Don Hutson would've blown Fergy away in any category you can name. Hutson ran a legit 9.8 hundred yard dash. He had better moves than Ferg has right now, when he was a rookie.

I know some great tales about Don that I heard from my dad and from Champ Seibold, a teammate of Don's for 4 -5 years.

When you see old films of the oldtimers, they look funny and run in a jerky fashion. Not Don, he was one of those "back to the future" guys. Don was smaooth and fast.He would start on most NFL team right now, with his speed, hands and moves.

[Rastak]

Don Hutson would've blown Fergy away in any category you can name. Hutson ran a legit 9.8 hundred yard dash. He had better moves than Ferg has right now, when he was a rookie.

I know some great tales about Don that I heard from my dad and from Champ Seibold, a teammate of Don's for 4 -5 years.

When you see old films of the oldtimers, they look funny and run in a jerky fashion. Not Don, he was one of those "back to the future" guys. Don was smaooth and fast.He would start on most NFL team right now, with his speed, hands and moves.


For that matter, if you are going to teleport Hudson to the modern NFL you also better asume he had access to all the same training methods....

If Ferguson went back, assume he was working under the same constraints. Any other comparison is worthless.

[KYPack]

There are a couple things I wanted to add to this thread. Any thread about Don Hutson is worth responding to. Most of the stories about Don have become lore to Packer fans. Here is a lesser known story about the great Don Hutson and his exploits for the Green Bay Packers.

Most Hutson bio’s tell of Don’s rookie year (1935) and his debut against the Bears. All the Packers (& Pro Football, for that matter) were awed by Don’s catch of an 83 yard bomb for his first Green Bay catch. However, many of the old Packers will tell you that Don’s SECOND Bear game in ’35 was even more amazing. The rest of the ’35 season, George Hales was complaining about Hutson and the Bear’s fluke (according to Halas) loss to GB in September. Halas felt Hutson was a gimmick player, a part-timer that couldn’t stay on the field for 60 minutes. Halas also railed at the Bears that they had to beat the Packers in the ’35 rematch in Chicago. The other thing that Halas demanded was that the Bears stop Don Hutson.

Halas’s orders were followed to a “T”, for 57 & ½ minutes. The Bears mauled both the Pack and Hutson all game long. With 2 minutes and 30 seconds to go, the Bears were in control 14 -3. When Hutson went in for a final series, Halas and the Bears bench were screaming at the defense to stop Hutson and maim him if they could. Don was triple teamed and couldn’t even get off the line. Then, on third down, Herber brought Hutson from one side to the other and threw Don a quick strike in the flat. The whole Bear defense converged on Hutson. Don ducked, faked , made full pivots and eluded tackler after tackler. Don finally worked his way into the Bear secondary, faked to the middle, and cut to the sideline alone. There, he went into his sprinter gear, and out-ran the entire Bear team to make it 14 - 10. Accounts of the game stated that all 11 Bear defenders had shots at Hutson, but nobody could tackle the “Alabama Antelope”.

The Packers kicked to the Bears who proceeded to run out the clock. On the second plunge into the line, the Bears fumbled the ball. It was GB’s ball, deep in Bear territory, with only seconds to go. Wrigley field was now a madhouse as the fans and the Bear bench were screaming at their players to stop the pack. Arnie Herber was at his finest as he had Hutson slant over the middle. As half the Bear D converged on Don, he swiftly pivoted and ran the equivalent of the “fade” pattern to the back corner of the end zone. Observers estimated Herber had a window about a foot in which to put the ball. Arnie threw it in there and Don dove and made his usual once in a lifetime catch for the packer victory. The Packer players would always talk about that victory & how great it was to run off the field to total silence!

That game raised Don’s status from a good rookie to a respected player, one you could count on in the clutch. All the veterans realized that they had to protect Don, because he could make them all a lot of money.

In 1999 SI picked the All Time NFL team. The wide receivers? Don Hutson, Lance Alworth, Raymond Berry, and Jerry Rice. The comments about Don included this statement “ I'd never forgotten a story told to me by a Green Bay fan who swore he saw Hutson snatch a ball with one hand -- with the palm turned down.”
I know about that catch, the story of the catch and its legacy will be the last of my posts about Don. It tells what a great player Don was, but also what a great man he was.
Like many, I never saw Don play. But I, too, heard about that catch. This is the story as I heard it.

The Packers were losing to the Chicago Cardinals in the opening game of 1939. This was a game they had to win. A loss to the Cards would be a blot on their record that could knock the Pack out of the ’39 race. Not many teams would lose to the Cards that year (they’d only win one game) so a loss would be a huge negative.

The Pack finally got the ball in the last two minutes, down 10 -7. There was no time to run, and kicking a field goal was a pretty iffy proposition in 1939. The Packers needed to score on this possession. On third and long, Arnie Herber tried to get off a desperation pass to Hutson. The Cardinals had Don double covered on the sideline. Herber misfired on his pass as it was way ahead of both Hutson and the two defenders. But Hutson performed a miracle. He lunged out and picked the pass off. He moved so fast it was difficult to see the play, but all the fans along the sideline saw Hutson reach out and catch the pass. The ball was maybe a foot or two off the turf, but Hutson was able to catch the back of the ball at ankle height with his palm down, a foot or so from the sideline! He then sprinted down near the Chicago goal. The Packers soon scored to turn the near upset loss into a win, 14 – 10.

When I was a kid, I would hear the tale of Hutson’s miracle catch from several people, my dad, old time Packer fans, Champ Seibold, and the odd broadcaster. The catch fell into the area of Packer lore. There were no written accounts of Don’s catch, it became an anecdotal legend.

Then, in 1994, GM Ron Wolf and Mike Holmgren dedicated the new Don Hutson indoor practice facility. They invited Don to the dedication and made a presentation to Don in front of the invitees and the media. Ron Wolf was perfect as he stated he felt he “was in the presence of Pro Football Royalty” by being up there with Don. At the mention of being royalty, Don blushed with embarrassment and dropped his head. After all these years, he was still the shy country kid from Arkansas!

Other light remarks were made to relax Don, then Wolf spoke once more.

“Don, I’ve always heard people tell about that miracle catch against the Cards, could you tell me a little bit about that”?

(I was always a Ron Wolf man, but I’m a Wolf fanatic now. That was the perfect question. After years of hearing about the catch, now I’d hear about it from the man himself.)

But, it wasn’t to be. Don just hemmed and hawed and made a statement that “people get to telling stories over the years”. The shy guy from the U of Alabama was no braggart and wasn’t about to start now. A world class athlete, a HOF football player, but an even better human being, that was Don’s legacy, and it a great one. A legacy for all time.

[Rastak]

Cool stuff, KY. The dude sounds like "the man" to me.

[GrnBay007]

Thanks for adding that KY!!

[HarveyWallbangers]

Don Hutson would've blown Fergy away in any category you can name. Hutson ran a legit 9.8 hundred yard dash. He had better moves than Ferg has right now, when he was a rookie.

This is true. Actually, I've read about him running better than that. He was a world-class sprinter. Don Hutson wasn't as fast as Carl Lewis, but he was one of the few from those days who could run with the players in today's game. In fact, I'd guess that Don Hutson in his prime could run faster than the Robert Ferguson of today. While I don't think he'd dominate in today's game. I think he could easily play in today's game. I'd think Hutson would be a Kevin Curtis type--which is better than Ferguson.

[Tarlam!]

Cool stuff, KY. The dude sounds like "the man" to me.

You da man, KY. I felt like I was in the stadium, reading thoose accounts!

[GrnBay007]

You da man, KY. I felt like I was in the stadium, reading thoose accounts!

I thought the same thing!

[MJZiggy]

You da man, KY. I felt like I was in the stadium, reading thoose accounts!

I thought the same thing!

I love stories like these...excellent storytelling! :hrt: :five:

[oregonpackfan]

KY,

I hope you are coming to the PR gathering this October. It would be enjoyable to hear more of your Packer stories, be they in a bar or GBRulz's back yard! 8-)

[MadtownPacker]

What a load of BS. Fergy may be a little faster flat out than Hutson was but he is no where near the player Hutson was. He would not have made it through the first few games of a season.
Man, he ain't even making it through the season now!

[MadtownPacker]

Damn KY, that was a badass story. It was almost like being there. Thanks for the history lesson.