1996 Super Bowl Team

[woodbuck27]

Don Beebe

What a story !!

[HarveyWallbangers]

CHRIS HAYES

http://www.packers.com/news/stories/2006/08/01/1/

By most accounts, Chris Hayes didn't have a lot of time to get acclimated to Green Bay in 1996. After all, he spent nine weeks on the practice squad and played in only five games. And the Packers were his third stop of the season.

But don't try telling Hayes that his time in Green Bay wasn't well worth it.

It's hardly a legacy, but Hayes gained enough valuable experience in his brief stay to guide him to a productive six-year career in the NFL as well as his life after football.

And though his rookie season featured a few ups and downs, the season was hardly a loss.

"For me, it was basically a dream come true," Hayes gushed. "It was a good learning experience for me. It taught me so much and prepared me for the next seven years.

"Starting off with the Jets and not having the types of players Green Bay had, it was just a blessing because I got to learn a lot in that one year's time and I got to see a lot."

The 6-foot, 200-pound safety came a long way in a year's time. He was originally drafted by the Jets in the seventh round and cut in training camp before spending time on Washington's practice squad and also being let go from there.

Before he knew it, however, Hayes was on a team contending for the Super Bowl as a 24-year-old rookie, and needless to say, he was a little awestruck by his surroundings.

"If you really look at it, it was like a Hall of Fame team put together," Hayes explained. "You had the Reggie Whites, you had the Jimmy McMahons, you had the Don Beebes, you had the Sean Joneses. Basically being young and having the opportunity to play around those type of people right out of the gate, it was a dream come true.

"It was crazy. I remember seeing John Madden in the locker room. All that stuff I can remember. In fact, that was one of my first star-struck moments, to see John Madden in the locker room."

Still, Hayes didn't think it would come down to that when the Jets drafted him. He thought he had played well enough in training camp to stick around awhile, but obviously it didn't work out that way.

And then the business side of the NFL set in for Hayes.

"I didn't really know, again I was young," Hayes recalled. "I didn't know what to expect, I didn't know my next move, and I didn't know what was going on.

"My wife was still my girlfriend at the time. We just had our first son and she was in college so I was at a point in my life where it was like, OK, I still have the opportunity to go back to school, but I knew I could play ball. I just didn't understand because it was happening so fast."

However, things slowed down for Hayes under the tutelage of special teams coach Nolan Cromwell, which also paid off later in his career, too.

"He really gave me my shot," Hayes said. "He believed in me on special teams. I was actually able to maintain and stay in the NFL for all of those years because I was able to set my position (on special teams), which eventually took me to a starting position at safety. But I was able to learn it and really see the value it had through Nolan."

Hayes has since retired and lives in California with his wife Aran, and their three sons, Chris Jr., Isaiah, and Jeremiah. Though his football playing days have been over for three seasons, Hayes said his job with New Century Mortgage Corporation requires many of the same skills to be successful.

"You never stop really playing the game," Hayes explained. "It's just different football fields, different arenas that I'm playing. I do know something about winning and being the best and how to compete because that's just the thing that football teaches us throughout our life.

"You get to compete, and it's a very aggressive market, and it's all about teamwork. It's all about putting the right people together, being coachable. Being able to lead people, the whole nine yards. It's very correlated.

"On the football field, you're only as good as your last play, and in corporate America your last big deal. The thing about it is this...when you make a mistake in the NFL you're viewed by millions of people, as opposed to corporate America where your mistake may not even be known or you might only have to be scolded by one person, your boss."

After a workmanlike approach in the NFL, Hayes excelled on special teams and now he seems to have a pretty good handle on the mortgage banking industry, too. Despite that success, Hayes explained that the most significant thing to happen to him in the last 10 years was in a different field: his faith.

"I gave my life over to the Lord and I became a man of God," he said proudly. "It's just a growing process. When I was playing, I was young and just like every other young guy that comes into the business, you get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the industry. It's just been such a blessing to be in the situation I'm in."

And 10 years later, Hayes still has that same fire in his belly for the team that resurrected his career, even if it was a short stop in his NFL road.

"I still support and root for the team (Packers) because that was the team that really gave me my start," Hayes said. "To be on a Super Bowl winning team, that will always be something that I cherish and be grateful for, to have that opportunity to play around that caliber of players and that caliber of coaching staff and to go out there and be a champion in life."

It just goes to show that the amount of time you spend with an NFL organization isn't nearly as important as what you do with it.

[HarveyWallbangers]

WILLIAM HENDERSON

http://www.packers.com/news/stories/2006/08/02/1/

Minutes after the Green Bay Packers won Super Bowl XXXI, second-year fullback William Henderson sat next to defensive tackle Gilbert Brown at the steps of the Superdome podium set up for the Vince Lombardi Trophy presentation. They soaked in the moment following a year of intense dedication.

"It was such a whirlwind that year," Henderson said. "We're sitting there. Both of us are dog tired from the adrenaline and everything else, and we look across each other like 'What do we do now?'"

Henderson would continue to do the same thing he did during that Super Bowl-winning season well into the 21st century. He bulldozes a path for the running backs, takes out blitzing defenders, hauls in key receptions and carries the ball once in a blue moon. Even in his 11th season, Henderson remained one of the few starters in the NFL to contribute consistently on special teams.

"I've learned the best thing I can do is just be a utility person," Henderson said. "Whatever I'm asked to do, I try to do to the best of my ability and whatever my team needs I try to execute for the sake of winning."

That single-minded drive has allowed the 35-year-old to play more than a decade for the Packers. Along with Brett Favre he remains the only holdover from that Super Bowl-winning team on the current roster. He ranks eighth in franchise history in receptions with 308 and sixth in games played with 174.

In 1996, Henderson caught 27 passes for 203 yards and one touchdown. Eleven years later he compiled even better numbers -- 30 receptions for 264 yards and earned alternate status to the 2006 Pro Bowl.

In a league where running backs in their mid-30s are few and far between, Henderson credits his endurance to three main things -- the grace of God, luck and conditioning. As a result Henderson has missed just two training camp practices in the last five years. Further displaying his dedication to keeping himself in shape year round, Henderson conducted this interview shortly after a March 2 workout at the Packers' facility. During the first two weeks in March, most NFL players are on vacation -- but not Henderson.

"If you love the game, you've got to jump on it and keep yourself in shape while others are letting themselves get out of shape," Henderson said. "I give my conditioning and hard work a lot of the credit for me having my longevity."

Henderson has an extra edge too. Having majored in physical therapy with a concentration in sports science at North Carolina, he uses that knowledge to better regulate his diet and exercise.

"That's probably one of my best assets," Henderson said. "I kind of know how to train myself. I know my own body."

As durable and hard-working as he is, Henderson knows he cannot play forever and may put his undergraduate major to use after he finishes his NFL career. Next year he likely will take an internship with Stryker Corp., a pharmaceutical sales company, during the offseason.

"It's an amazing company," Henderson said. "They're one of the top in the world for any type of medical sales or medical equipment."

Henderson also continues to pursue a career in broadcasting. He has served as co-host of Monday Night Kickoff, a show on Green Bay's ABC affiliate since 1999. In the spring of 2003, he began working as an analyst for Fox's telecasts of NFL Europe. This past April, Henderson also worked for ESPN as an analyst during the NFL Draft.

"That's just the ultimate opportunity for me," Henderson said, "to be in front of the cameras talking about athletes."

Henderson has entertained a captive audience in other ways. He rarely removes his 1996 Super Bowl ring from the jewelry box in house but does so during special occasions. When he spoke to kids at Thomas Dale (Va.) High School (his former high school), he used it as part of a message of improving one's lot in life.

"Mom and Dad didn't have everything so it's up to you," Henderson said. "It's your job to get academically and physically eligible so that someday you can have one of these."

Indeed Henderson exemplifies what can happen with a little hard work.

[HarveyWallbangers]

CRAIG HENTRICH

http://www.packers.com/news/stories/2006/08/03/1/

Craig Hentrich was about to kick off in the biggest game of his NFL career and he wasn't thinking of the bright lights, the opponent, or the magnitude of Super Bowl XXXI.

Instead, Hentrich, the Packers punter and kickoff specialist, had just one thing on his mind: the turf monster.

He had good friend and kicker Chris Jacke to thank for that.

Ten years later, Hentrich, 35, who is now entering his 14th season in the league, still thinks about how nervous he and all of his teammates were, and then having Jacke convince him that he would literally fall flat on his face in front of millions of viewers.

"Chris Jacke had me convinced that the turf monster was going to grab me on the way up for the opening kickoff," Hentrich recalled with a laugh. "And what I mean by the turf monster is that the turf was coming to grab my foot and trip me. So I just remember that was my last thought out there before I was getting ready to kick.

It wasn't that I'm playing in the Super Bowl, it was, 'Please don't let the turf monster get me.' So that was the kind of memory that stuck with me all those years."

Despite having those thoughts running through his head initially, it turned out that Hentrich really had nothing to worry about at all. In fact, it would have been difficult to imagine him having a stronger performance than the one he had that day.

In addition to handling the kickoff duties, Hentrich averaged 42.7 yards on seven punts, including booming 58- and 54-yarders. The playoffs were just an extension of maybe his finest regular season as a Packer in '96 for the 6-foot-3, 200-pound punter. He possessed the rare combination of being able to place the ball inside the 20-yard line (he managed that a team-record 28 times) as well as being able to punt with power.

The Packers may have been known for their stingy defense and explosive offense that magical season, but the special teams units came up big -- particularly in the postseason -- and Hentrich was instrumental to the team's success.

According to Hentrich, much of that success can be attributed to the players enjoying their time with one another.

"We just had so much fun, and that's what I remember the most," Hentrich said. "I remember a lot of Jim McMahon stories that I still tell to this day."

McMahon may have not seen the field that season, but Hentrich isn't the first teammate who suggested the backup quarterback played a role in helping the team be successful.

"I just remember getting a lot of laughs," Hentrich noted. "He was just one of the funniest human beings I ever met in my life. He kept the locker room loose and even minutes before we were going out for the Super Bowl, he had guys laughing in the locker room.

"That was a big key for us. We came out relaxed. Or as relaxed as you can be in a game like that. And a lot of it had to do with Jim and his humor."

Hentrich has now been with the Tennessee Titans for eight seasons, and he admits that things just aren't the same since he entered the league with the Packers in 1993 as an undrafted free agent out of Notre Dame.

"I think the whole mentality of the younger players nowadays has changed from back when I was a rookie and in my first few years," Hentrich explained. "I came into the league and was spoiled. I came into a great team. And every year we made the playoffs. We never had a record below nine or 10 wins.

"Then I came to Tennessee and the first year we were 8-8 or 7-9 and that was my first losing season. So, I was spoiled early."

His numbers may have been gaudy and the team certainly had plenty of great years while Hentrich was in town, but he acknowledged that punting in Green Bay wasn't as easy as he may have made it look at times.

"It was tough," Hentrich said. "I mean, I had probably what I consider the best year of my career up there and didn't even make the Pro Bowl, so that shows you hard it is to punt up there."

And according to Hentrich, punting in Green Bay may have been even more difficult if it weren't for special teams coach Nolan Cromwell.

"I think the best thing I learned from Nolan was poise," Hentrich explained. "I was so nervous coming into the league and really insecure. I didn't know if I really belonged in this league or not because I didn't know if I was good enough.

"But he taught me poise and confidence that stuck with me to this day. I got to see him for the first time in gosh, eight years, when we played them last year and it was really good to see him again. I owe him a lot."

Hentrich, who has two kids -- a daughter Abbey, and a son Sam -- resides with his wife Lisa, in Canters, Tenn. When it's suggested that Hentrich is still punting at a high level, he said, "Well, not quite as strong as I used to be, so I have to make up for it in other ways. But I still feel pretty good."

Hentrich may have moved on from the Packers, but he admits he still watches William Henderson and Brett Favre as well as a couple others that are still around from the time when he was there. And of course, his Green Bay days still bring him fond memories.

"It was a great run up there and I had a great time," he said.

One aspect of his life that Hentrich hasn't moved on from is his love for golf. For him, it offers another sport he excels in and something he very much enjoys. But despite his success, he claims to have no interest in pursuing it professionally.

"It's something I love to do," Hentrich explained. "It's my passion when I'm not in football. That's my relaxation time to get out there on the golf course and solve the world's problems. I don't know what I do when I'm out there, but I enjoy it.

"I'm just a Sunday hacker and just love to get out and enjoy the company and fresh air."

He probably doesn't have to worry about the turf monster, either.

[HarveyWallbangers]

DARIUS HOLLAND

http://www.packers.com/news/stories/2006/08/04/1/

Reggie White, Santana Dotson, Gilbert Brown, Sean Jones.

Take a glance at those four names and you understand why the Packers' defensive line was so dominant in the middle to late '90s. Everything about the aforementioned list suggests greatness, if not outright dominance.

It also suggests that there really wasn't much playing time left over for backups along the defensive front.

For Darius Holland, the 6-foot-5, 320-pound defensive tackle, getting on the field in 1996 was very difficult playing behind Dotson and Brown. Instead of viewing this as a discouraging arrangement in his second season with the team, Holland looked at it as just the opposite.

"I think in the long run it benefited us," Holland explained. "It showed versatility, adaptation to different philosophies. That's the thing that's needed in a player. And you'll see a lot of the guys I played with, they didn't get hurt and they played a long time.

"I mean, we had a lot of guys like that. Just blue-collar, get 'er done kind of guys that we just always seemed to be able to depend upon. And none of them were first-round draft choices, except the guy I came in with, Craig Newsome. Outside of that, everybody else was second, third, fourth-rounders that came up and started playing. We were able to be resilient and play well."

Many of the players Holland was referring to arrived with him in the 1995 NFL Draft and played instrumental roles in the success of the team.

"That draft class was special," Holland, 32, acknowledged. "All those guys ended up doing things in other places. They ended up playing for a long period of time, you know. So, it's just amazing. When you've got that caliber of draft where you got four and five guys that are starting in the same year, that's pretty impressive.

"If you think about it, Brian Williams was a third-rounder, you had William (Henderson), who was a third-rounder, myself who was a third-rounder, Adam Timmerman, a seventh-rounder, you had Antonio (Freeman, a third-rounder) and you had Newsome. So you had six guys that eventually started for you. That's impressive.

"It was awesome to have that kind of bench and ability to do that. How often do you find a team that can do that? Not very often."

Holland obviously learned a great deal from the men who played in front of him as he played parts of 10 seasons in the league. He finished out his career playing with the Denver Broncos, but also made stops along the way with Kansas City, Detroit, Cleveland, and Minnesota.

Despite spending his last season in Green Bay in 1997, Holland remembers those days very well and looks back on his time there with a smile. He said the best part about the team was "the relationships and how everyone got to grow together."

Still, it has been difficult to stay in touch with his Packer teammates throughout the years.

"Now, you kind of sit back and not only wonder where guys are, but more importantly how they're doing," Holland said. "I mean, like myself, I have been in the league for 10 years so you run across guys when you're playing, but when you stop playing, it's difficult because everybody goes and does their own thing.

"So, it tends to be difficult and you try to do the best of your ability. But numbers change, locations change. You just hope that once in a while you get to run across somebody and say hello."

Though Holland may only have been out of the league for two seasons, he said it's difficult to keep tabs on the Packers or any team, for that matter.

"I think when I was younger and I was playing, I'd get excited about somebody playing," Holland explained. "Well, now, you just kind of get out of it. Something does something to you when you play that you just can't get out of it when you don't play. There's not as much joy. You hope your guys or friends do well, but you lose that camaraderie, you lose that team spirit or whatever you want to call it."

Clearly Holland has moved on from his days as an NFL football player. But Holland, who was adopted in his teen years, is thankful he won a Super Bowl ring with the Packers, even though he no longer has it in his possession.

"When I knew I was going to retire, I gave the ring to my dad," Holland said. "He thought it was pretty cool. We had a private little ceremony between me, my mom, and dad, and brothers and sisters."

One thing Holland hasn't given away but has actually acquired in his time away from Green Bay is a renewed faith in God. He says that Stonebrook Christian Church in Denver and his son Isaiah, 10, are the two best things to happen to him in the last 10 years.

"You know, I think it took a long time for me," Holland said. "It wasn't really until a couple years ago that I started to recognize that part of being deep in my faith."

Holland said he helped the Broncos out in that area as well and said he remembered some of the things an old friend taught him.

"I really enjoyed it," Holland said. "I'm not ordained, therefore, I'm not a pastor, but I would say I'm more like a lay pastor or someone who basically is an educated seminarian.

"Reggie being a mentor in my life, I think it's a blessing today that his legacy exists because of things he put into each individual. This would be one of those things."

[HarveyWallbangers]

LAMONT HOLLINQUEST

http://www.packers.com/news/stories/2006/08/05/1/

Lamont Hollinquest only played three seasons in Green Bay but that doesn't mean he doesn't consider himself a lifelong Packer.

In 1996, Hollinquest appeared in all 16 regular season games as well as the three postseason games that followed. The 6-foot-3, 243-pound outside linebacker may not have played extensively on defense, but to say he had a prominent role on special teams would be an understatement.

In fact, Hollinquest finished with 15 special teams stops in the regular season, second only to Bernardo Harris for the team lead.

Yet, for all the impressive feats the team accomplished on it's run to a Super Bowl XXXI victory, as well as his individual contributions to the team, all of that takes a back seat to what Hollinquest, 35, remembers the most.

"The camaraderie was unbelievable," Hollinquest said. "We had leaders like Brett Favre, Reggie White, LeRoy Butler and Santana Dotson. The years I played in the league with Cincinnati and Washington, that type of team camaraderie is something we didn't have."

The fact that Hollinquest had played football since he was a youngster but never enjoyed the game the way he did with Green Bay is the ultimate testimony of how unique the team really was.

"Without a doubt, playing in Green Bay was definitely the first time I had fun playing football," Hollinquest explained.

The players that made up that team will forever live in Hollinquest's memory, too.

"I still feel that the team, even though I haven't seen a lot of these guys and even some since then, I feel like we have a bond as a team that will never be broken," Hollinquest said.

Before he landed in Green Bay, Hollinquest was hanging on for his football life. Washington drafted him out of the University of Southern California in 1993 and he played nearly two seasons for the Redskins before Cincinnati picked him up. But he never played a game in a Bengals' uniform, and then he spent the 1995 season out of football.

At that point Hollinquest's future was looking pretty bleak, but all Hollinquest wanted was a chance, and a certain coach gave him just that.

Of course, that coach was Mike Holmgren.

"Mike Holmgren, being an USC alumni, he gave me a second chance in my career," Hollinquest explained. "After going through some hardships in Washington and Cincinnati, Mike Holmgren didn't listen to any of the negative stuff that had been out there and he gave me a chance."

Obviously his football days are over, but Hollinquest has long since moved on to another career. He lives in Phoenix, Az., and has three children -- Chaz, 15, Courtney, 12, and Cohl, 8. He currently serves as an enrollment advisor with Phoenix Online, an online university that serves the educational needs of working adults.

Working with music has always been one of Hollinquest's hobbies, and he's parlayed that passion into his position as vice president of operations for the record company Blaq Ice Entertainment (http://www.blaqice.com). He also has a clothing line called Urban Grunge Apparel Company, which is geared toward cycle sports and board sports. Hollinquest would also like to get into public relations work down the road, too.

Despite all the hard work and dedication to his new line of work, Hollinquest has managed to keep tabs on his old team. And although most of the guys he played with are no longer on the team, Hollinquest said that will never affect how he feels about the Green Bay Packers.

"Oh man, I'm a Packer Backer forever," Hollinquest said. "Win, lose, or draw, I follow every game."

It just goes to show that "once a Packer" means "always a Packer" to some.

[woodbuck27]

I don't re-call that Packer.

ST's and OLB, mmmm. I really don't remember him.

GO PACKERS !

[Badgepack]

Are DVD's of the 1996 Superbowl game available?

[b bulldog]

He was a very good Special teamer who was also a backup LB. He left for a year or so to KC but came back for a season and was than cut. I think he wore #56.

[b bulldog]

Once a Packer, always a Packer.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Woody is trying to trump me on these, but I'm posting them all in this thread anyways.

DESMOND HOWARD

http://www.packers.com/news/stories/2006/08/06/1/

With the season Desmond Howard enjoyed in 1996, it's almost a shock that the big-wigs in Hollywood didn't knock down his door with thoughts of reenacting his every move.

After all, you could make one unbelievable film based on the year Howard had in helping the Green Bay Packers win their first Super Bowl in 29 years. Among other accolades, Howard finished with 875 punt return yards, which demolished the NFL single-season record of 692 previously held by Fulton Walker.

He also held an NFL-best 15.1-yard average per punt return, making him the first Packer to lead the league in that category since Ken Ellis in 1972.

The irony to the Howard story, however, is that the movie producers probably wouldn't be interested in Howard's special season solely for how it concluded.

No, it's the fact that Desmond Howard's season nearly ended, at least in Green Bay, before it began.

Long before Howard earned three "NFC Defensive Special Teams Player of the Week" awards in the regular season as well as one in the postseason, he was fighting just to earn a spot on the Packers' roster in '96.

And it's not as if the Packers' brass wasn't giving him every opportunity to show what he could do.

General Manager Ron Wolf liked the potential that made Howard the No. 4 overall pick out of Michigan by the Washington Redskins in 1992. So he figured he had nothing to lose in taking a flyer on Howard.

The only problem was that Howard didn't get on the field that often in training camp. That is, until August 11, when the Packers hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers at Lambeau Field. Perhaps it still doesn't get enough publicity, but it shouldn't be understated that Howard began his legacy in Green Bay during what otherwise might be termed a meaningless preseason game.

Howard, who had played the previous season in Jacksonville, took a punt return for a 77-yard touchdown and neither he nor the Packers looked back with their return game from that point on.

Even Howard admitted that he came a long way in his quest from preseason pickup to special teams stalwart.

"It was such a special season because of the ups and downs," he said. "I think the trials and tribulations you have to go through make things that much sweeter at the end. So it was a great season from the Monday night victories we had, even going back to the preseason games. That game I had against Pittsburgh, with a punt return for a touchdown, it pretty much started everything up there for me. It's just a lot of great, great memories for a special season."

It may never be known why Howard didn't originally experience the same kind of success at the NFL level that he had at Michigan. Maybe it was because the Redskins and Jaguars were hoping he'd develop a little faster at wide receiver. Or maybe it was because expectations were too high for a player that once was one of college's best.

Whatever reason Howard's career didn't take off, at least initially, was even a mystery to Howard himself.

"I think as players, if you're a player from a big collegiate program who's used to playing in big games, you think it's going to carry over," Howard admitted. "You feel as though you're going to carry that over to the NFL. That's what you're about: big games.

"If you go to the University of Miami, I don't think those players think they're going to the NFL and then are not going to play in big games and be impact players. If you're from Florida State, Ohio State, Michigan or Notre Dame, it's the same. I think that's the real mindset of a player who has played in the big games and played in a big program that has been successful."

Well, to Howard's credit, he proved that he could indeed succeed on the game's biggest stage after all: Super Bowl XXXI.

The 5-foot-10, 190-pound playmaker did as he had all season, getting a game-breaking return when the Packers needed it most. With New England cutting Green Bay's lead to 27-21 near the end of the third quarter, Howard took the ensuing kickoff 99 yards for a back-breaking touchdown (the longest in Super Bowl history), bursting through the middle of the Packers' well-blocked wedge then juking kicker Adam Vinatieri to break free.

Howard finished with 244 total return yards in the game en route to becoming the first special teams player to ever win MVP.

Howard, who now lives in Florida and works for ESPN's College Gameday program, said recently that the Super Bowl was a dream come true for him.

"It's really one of those honors that when it's bestowed upon you, there's really no words that explain it, Howard said. "There are probably a handful of experiences in life that can fall under that same category. That's just one of those crème de la crème. It doesn't get any better than that."

The fact that it's been 10 seasons since the Packers won the Super Bowl also comes as a surprise to Howard. He mentioned that the highlight clips he sees of that special day make it seem more real.

"They (movies and documentaries) do such a fabulous job building up that excitement and getting that adrenaline flowing again, letting you know how special that moment really was," he said. "I think that's when you get an understanding of what you accomplished."

Speaking of recognition, Howard may have had one of the all-time best seasons in not only Packers lore, but NFL history as well. But it wasn't good enough to get him voted into the Pro Bowl in Hawaii.

Interestingly enough, Howard likes to use that story to illustrate just how good the Packers' special teams units were, and he doesn't mean just the return units, either.

"Some people don't remember that, but I was pretty much snubbed for the Pro Bowl that year, and they chose Michael Bates from Carolina," Howard explained. "Well, not only did we return kicks well, but we shut him down in the NFC Championship Game and he was the NFC special teams Pro Bowler returning kicks.

"And then in the Super Bowl, I believe New England had Dave Meggett and he was the representative from the AFC. So obviously we had a monster game returning kicks because I got MVP, but the flip side was that we also shut down the AFC Pro Bowler, Meggett, because they really didn't do anything. They didn't really bust a grape in the return game."

For all the success he had, it wouldn't be out of the question for Howard to take a bulk of the credit, but that's not his style. Instead, he gushes when he speaks of the quality teammates he had, not to mention Nolan Cromwell, his special teams coach.

"I think that those guys were very, very special," Howard said. "I always tell people when I talk about special teams -- and I don't know how much airplay this particular response gets -- but we had a great special teams both ways, returning kicks and defending against them. The kickoff team was special, the punt team was special. We covered kicks well and we returned kicks well. We were a very, very good special teams.

"That has to be attributed to Nolan Cromwell. Nolan Cromwell did a great job of preparing for us for teams week in and week out. But it wasn't just the return game, we took a lot of pride in stopping the top returners also. And I don't think that our special teams, those individuals that were a part of it, get enough credit."

According to Howard, it also didn't hurt that a certain leader stepped up and let the team know, after a Monday night loss versus the Cowboys in Week 12, that it wasn't acceptable for Howard to be suffocated every time he touched the ball the way he was that particular night.

"I pretty much just got pummeled by their best special teams coverage person," Howard explained. "And after that game, we watched film on Tuesday evening and I remember Reggie White stood up in the meeting and he was like, 'Listen, I don't want to see little Desmond getting hit like that back there again. If you got an assignment, you've got to get your man because we've got a guy who at any point at any time can go the distance. And if not go the distance, at least put us in excellent field position. So, I don't want to see this happen again.'"

It turned out to be a powerful memo, especially coming from a man of White's ilk. Fortunately for the Packers' sake, Bill Parcells and the New England Patriots didn't get the message until it was too late and Desmond Howard went from preseason pickup to Super Bowl hero.

Hey, if that's not a script straight out of Hollywood, what is?

[HarveyWallbangers]

CHRIS JACKE

http://www.packers.com/news/stories/2006/08/08/1/

Playing in the Super Bowl is no small feat. That much is obvious. After all, playing on the world's biggest stage is something a select few players ever get an opportunity to do in their NFL careers.

What isn't so obvious, however, is that for the players that do climb the mountain, it's not always the game itself that they remember the most.

For Chris Jacke, who played for the Packers for eight seasons, it was the journey to Super Bowl XXXI that he looks back on the most. And from what he remembers, the fact that the Packers had only three losses and had little trouble with the rest of their schedule comes to the forefront of his mind.

"I would just say we dominated," Jacke said. "That's the way it was then. In prior years before that, we were knocking on the door against Dallas, we just couldn't knock it down.

"Obviously we knocked the door down and we went all the way. And that's what I remember from that year of the Super Bowl."

Jacke, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound kicker, had plenty to do with the Packers' success, too. He had one of his best seasons in Green Bay in '96, scoring 114 points and converting on nearly 80 percent of his field goal attempts. Currently, he's third on the team's all-time scoring list.

With numbers like that, it's clear that Jacke had several critical kicks in his career, but it doesn't take him long to decide which one is his favorite.

"The San Francisco game that went to overtime is the one that I remember the most," Jacke said. "It was the Monday Night game and I made the long game-winner. To me that game was the turning point to our season. That was another team we had trouble beating to that point."

The kick Jacke is referring to is a 53-yarder that he booted through the uprights in Week 7. It happened to be his fifth field goal of the game, and it was the longest game-winner ever in overtime. What's more, Jacke also made a kick with eight seconds left in regulation to force the extra session.

According to Jacke, who also made two field goals in the Super Bowl win over the Patriots, playing in such a big game was "a lot of times like a blur."

"There is just so much going on leading up to the game that the game is almost like a side note," Jacke added. "You really remember after the game, you don't remember too much during the game. You're so in awe of everything that's going on, the media hype, the fans, New Orleans.

"But after the game it was just great. Everybody being down on the field, the presentation of the trophy, it's those things that stick out the most. It's really nothing particular during the game, just finally getting to bring the Lombardi Trophy back to Green Bay."

For a kicker who seemingly had no trouble kicking in pressure-packed situations, he admitted that the Super Bowl wasn't easy on the nerves.

"We were all nervous," Jacke said. "It didn't matter if you were a rookie that year or a 10- or 11-year vet, and we had a couple of those on the team. It was just a whole new ballgame being in the Super Bowl. I was nervous before the game, everybody was nervous before the game. But it was a lot of fun."

It turned out to be Jacke's last game as a Green Bay Packer, as he moved on to stints with the Washington Redskins and Arizona Cardinals. However, Jacke never really left Green Bay.

He still resides there with his wife Tracey and their two sons Jacob, 12, and Jonah, 10. To Jacke, who now works in financial planning for a company called MML Group in Appleton, Green Bay has been home for a long time.

"Well, obviously, it's a great community," Jacke explained. "This is a great area to have kids and I played here for eight years. I left home when I was 18 for college and never looked back.

"I was originally from Dallas and haven't really been back other than to see my parents, who still live there. I've basically just stayed here other than the couple years after I left the Packers."

Now, life is all about family for the Jackes, and Chris wouldn't want it any other way. He admitted that getting back in touch with family life once again is the most significant thing that has happened to him since he left the game.

"I guess getting to know my kids again (is the most significant)," Jacke explained. "I have two young boys and I think just being able to be around and raise them and not be off on the road for football is very important. I don't miss that working out year round. Even for kickers, we had to work out year round and then be ready for training camp. I don't miss it. I enjoy being around the kids."

So, does Jacke still find the time to watch the Packers or the game he loved and played for so long?

"Well, not too often," Jacke admitted. "With the kids being involved with things, it's difficult to watch football a whole lot. But if it's a good game between a couple good teams, I will. I still make it to a couple games in person.

"But do I really follow it per se? No. We'll be out and someone will say, 'Hey, that's so-and-so.' And I'll be like, 'Well, who's that so-and-so?' I don't know. I really don't follow them a whole lot."

It should come as no surprise that just like in his football days, Jacke's journey with his children is more important than the destination.

[woodbuck27]

[quote="HarveyWallbangers"]Woody is trying to trump me on these, but I'm posting them all in this thread anyways.


Harvey: I now re-call you doing this thread ( I was into it to post on not re-calling LAMONT HOLLINQUEST ) and I forgot about it yesterday when I found the write-up on Desmond Howard. Sorry . . .

yet, I do believe his story can, as well stand by itself being the Super Bowl MVP.

[HarveyWallbangers]

KEITH JACKSON

http://www.packers.com/news/stories/2006/08/09/1/

It's no secret that the weather in Green Bay isn't for everybody. Some choose to stay away altogether, while others learn to like it. In the case of Keith Jackson, he simply learned to live with it.

Initially, however, Jackson seriously contemplated not showing up in Green Bay at all.

Actually, after being traded to the Packers in March of 1995, Jackson sat out all of training camp as well as the team's first six regular season games.

But the tight end finally reported on October 20, indeed proving it is better late than never. Though it's impossible to know for certain whether or not the Packers would have captured a Super Bowl title the following year without Jackson, one cannot argue against what he brought to the Packers' table.

He may have been 30 years old at the time with already seven seasons in the league, but his skills were as sharp as ever. In fact, General Manager Ron Wolf gave up a second-round pick to acquire Jackson even though he knew there was a possibility he wouldn't ever play in Green Bay.

Fortunately for all parties involved, it never came down to that. Jackson showed up for work and provided the Packers with another downfield threat to go with Antonio Freeman and Robert Brooks. With Mark Chmura already in the fold, the Packers suddenly had a one-two combo at tight end better than any team in the league.

According to Jackson, being part of a great team -- one that he knew could win the Super Bowl -- and playing an important role in an explosive offense were the key factors in his decision to join the team.

When it came to his reluctance to be a part of the team from the get go, Jackson doesn't hide the real reason.

"It had nothing to do with Green Bay," Jackson explained. "It had everything to do with cold weather."

Jackson admitted just as there were misconceptions about him, he also had some preconceived notions about Green Bay. That is, until Reggie White set the record straight.

"You know, before Reggie White joined Green Bay, it was kind of a place you got drafted to, and you had to play there," Jackson said. "That was kind of the thought about Green Bay.

"Then Reggie White goes up there and says, 'Hey, God wants me to go up to Green Bay.' And he started calling around the league and telling people how great it is, how good the people are. 'Yes, it gets cold, but let me tell you something, it's a nice place as a football town, and you'll love it.' He became a huge ambassador at that time, across the NFL, in the offseason, at the Pro Bowl. He would talk about Green Bay all the time.

"It made me look at Green Bay for more than just this place like Siberia, but also for the football team that it had. And once you get there, the tradition, the history, you're just done. You're bought in for the rest of your life."

Jackson played in Philadelphia with White earlier in his career, and the two remained close friends through the years. Due to that friendship, Jackson trusted White's word on what Green Bay was like.

"Oh, he was huge in the recruitment of me coming up there," Jackson recalled. "Because I just left Miami and I wanted to go somewhere else warm and play. I was pushing Barry Switzer in Dallas. Buddy Ryan was in Phoenix. So, I was pushing to get to those spots where there were coaches I knew, already had relationships with, and guys that understood me."

The 6-foot-2, 249-pound Jackson wasn't thrilled about how he found out he'd been traded, either.

"I didn't know about it," said Jackson, 41. "I found out that I was traded to Green Bay on a flight back from Africa. I picked up a USA Today when I got to London Heathrow because I hadn't seen any news and I picked up the paper and there I was. That's how I found out.

"So, the whole thing didn't go down the way I thought it should. And it was one of the greatest blessings that could have ever happened to me. Sometimes we will miss a blessing and I almost missed out on that."

Chmura, Holmgren Gave Jackson Chance to Succeed in Titletown
Well, if Jackson was blessed to be in Green Bay, the Packers were certainly blessed to have him, too. Despite technically being a reserve behind Chmura, he finished with 10 touchdown catches in '96 and earned the sixth Pro Bowl selection of his career.

Perhaps what gets lost in all of this success is that Chmura was coming off a great season in 1994 and many players would have probably sulked over a new role. But when Jackson arrived in '95, Chmura embraced the idea of having such a talented tandem at Brett Favre's disposal. And that is what made this a successful setup in Jackson's mind.

"We had a one-two punch with me and Chewy," Jackson said. "And you talk about fitting a hat on a hat, and driving guys in the ground and blocking, as they say, 'blocking out the sun,' he could do it. Really when it came to all that pounding and contact, he took a lot of that.

"It was a great relationship between us two tight ends. And I realized my role at the time. It was to make big plays downfield. That was my job. This is what I do. At that point, it wasn't hard to do in the cold or the warm. But if I had to sit there and pound like Chewy did everyday making all those blocks, it would have been a lot colder."

It also didn't hurt that the commander of the team, Head Coach Mike Holmgren, engineered several ways to make the most out of not only Jackson and Chmura's talents, but the whole offensive unit as well. To this day, Jackson is still impressed by Holmgren's approach.

"I think that Mike Holmgren was one of the greatest offensive minds that I have ever been around," Jackson said.

"He's a brilliant mind and he's also an educator. And that's what I take from that season. I had many coaches, but none of them came from a background of education where they were educators and all they wanted to do was teach the game. He didn't scream and holler and tell you about your daddy, kick you in the butt, or grab your facemask.

"He was just an educator. He sat down, and he showed you why you should do certain things. That was a valuable season. Both seasons were, but the Super Bowl season, seeing him put the game plan together, and outthinking coaches, just from a veteran player's standpoint, that was fun to sit there and watch."

Big Play Made Possible By Reading Favre and Patriots' Defense
For a player who seemingly did it all in his career -- several Pro Bowls, a Super Bowl ring, putting up gaudy statistics -- Jackson no doubt has a bundle of memories too large to share.

Perhaps it's fitting that Jackson's fondest memory comes from the biggest game of his career. But chances are, you'd be very surprised what play it is that he remembers the most.

It turns out that Jackson didn't even catch the ball on the play, but his most enjoyable moment was the 54-yard touchdown reception by Andre Rison that set the tone for the game and gave the Packers a 7-0 lead.

"Brett Favre will check to where he wants the two receivers to cross and I think he called razor," Jackson explained. "You'd have one person running a corner and one person running a post, and he checks to it. But the problem is we're in a three-receiver set. Usually it's me and another receiver and we run the play. But I've got two receivers outside of me, and I see what he's trying to do.

"I saw Lawyer Milloy, who was a corner, trying to hold Andre Rison. The greatest thing to me in that game was that I was able to pick that up, see what he was trying to do from a quarterback's standpoint, and stay in to give max protection so he can get that touchdown off."

Jackson admits he doesn't care if people knew the role he played in that touchdown, either.

"I think I'm still the only one who knows about it," Jackson said. "No one ever said anything to me about it, but that's not what it was about. It was about winning the game and to me, it's one of those things where I call myself a student of the game. And as a student of the game who really challenges himself, I was proud of myself for picking it up."

He closed out the final chapter of his playing days with a Super Bowl championship, but to truly understand Jackson and what he stands for, you have to realize that he doesn't consider it the most important accomplishment of his career.

Instead, that honor belongs to what keeps him busy these days, something that also almost prevented him from coming to Green Bay in '95.

Touching the Lives of Others Tops Jackson's List
Jackson, who lives in Little Rock, Ark., with his wife Melanie, and their children, Keith Jr., 21, Kenyon, 7, and Koilan, 6, is the president and the executive director of P.A.R.K., which stands for Positive Atmosphere Reaches Kids (www.positivekids.org)

According to the website, P.A.R.K. is a comprehensive after-school program for at-risk youth, grades 8 through 12. It offers a balanced program of homework management and tutoring, sports and recreation, leadership development and community service to students from Little Rock and Pulaski County schools.

Jackson also finds the time to broadcast football games for the Arkansas Razorbacks, for whom Keith Jr. plays defensive tackle. But his work with P.A.R.K. is what he takes the most pride in.

"I say it's been more important than my Super Bowl ring and I don't think anybody gets mad at me," Jackson admitted.

"It takes students that are struggling academically, puts them in a program that attacks their deficiencies, and sends them off to college," he explained. "That's what I gave up football to come and do and I have been doing it since the day I retired. I'm here all the time, seeing a lot of success stories go through. I founded it, started it, and we've been able to run it this long."

Jackson said P.A.R.K. had been in its "infant stages" when he was playing for the Eagles. When he moved on to the Dolphins, money was being raised for a building, and when he arrived in Green Bay, the building was in place, as were the program's first students.

P.A.R.K. has been a success ever since.

"We've had 103 kids graduate," Jackson said proudly. "We've sent 79 off to college and we had our first two kids graduate from college. Usually the grade-point average of kids who come into our program is about 1.8, but they have a high success of not only going to college, but sticking with college."

Despite serving as the man behind the creation of P.A.R.K., and obviously a large part of its success, Jackson doesn't want to take credit for the program.

"Well, you know it was a vision from God," Jackson said. "I can't say I came up with the idea because I have no educational background. I went to the University of Oklahoma, and majored in communications. It was just a vision God gave me to be able to give back.

"There's a scripture that says, 'To him that much is given, much is required.' And to think about where I came from as a kid from the inner city to the NFL, boy I had been given a lot. So my level of giving back had to go up a couple notches.

"We have the ability to do it and we need to go do it."

If you didn't know any better, you'd think that message was the exact same one that brought Jackson to Green Bay in 1995.

[HarveyWallbangers]

TRAVIS JERVEY

http://www.packers.com/news/stories/2006/08/10/1/

It's not surprising that Travis Jervey loves surfing and hanging out at the beach, having been born and raised in South Carolina.

Needless to say, when Jervey served as a backup running back with the Packers' Super Bowl XXXI team, he didn't get a chance to catch any waves during the season. But once the offseason arrived, Jervey would head to his favorite vacation spot: Costa Rica.

After four years with the Green and Gold, two with the San Francisco 49ers and three with the Atlanta Falcons, Jervey is now officially retired in South Carolina. But, he'd be the first to tell you that he's basically the same fun-loving extremist who loves to surf, work out, and spend time with his new wife Annie Vann Harlingen. He even has the same pet, Jaco, the Labrador he had in Green Bay.

Clearly, he still has the same interests, but Jervey also now finds more time for his business called Fit Street Fitness. He was a part owner of the fitness center for four years, but as of December, he took over the business completely, which has been a rewarding experience for the 34-year old Jervey.

"It's been really good for me so far," Jervey said. "I've been making some money and also interacting with people and helping them feel good, showing them how to work out, that sort of thing."

Jervey, the muscle-cut speedster who was always in impeccable shape during his NFL career, said he still works out every day himself. But when his career ended, Jervey was in unfamiliar territory and in some respects didn't know what to do with himself. He bought a house two doors down from his parents' residence where he grew up and spent six months in Costa Rica. And Jervey even took up gardening, until he admitted he got bored with it.

Jervey said it's difficult to beat the relaxation of Costa Rica.

"I hang out in Costa Rica all the time," Jervey explained. "I have 12 acres down there in the Dominical. I surf down there, and I have a bunch of friends down there. I've been going there for 10 years, ever since my first year in Green Bay. In the offseason, I was spending a couple months down there. Every year, I would spend more and more time.

"There are a whole lot of people from Wisconsin from down there. I bet my in my village there are probably 250 people, and there are probably 10 Wisconsin people down there. It seems like in all tropical places, there are a lot of people from Wisconsin."

Despite spending so much time in warm weather, Jervey laughs at the notion that playing in Wisconsin and getting acclimated to the cold temperatures would be a tall order for him.

"You know people think it's so cold there, but it's also one of the hottest places I've ever been," Jervey said of Wisconsin. "I mean Wisconsin summers are like 100 degrees. It's so hot. But I always enjoyed playing in the cold. I'm a big weather person so I like any kind of extreme weather."

Extreme weather in Wisconsin? Jervey certainly can attest to that.

"I saw hail in Green Bay and it was the craziest thing I had ever seen," Jervey said. "I went out in the middle of the night and it was completely silent, and then there were these crashes every now and then. It was hail the size of a softball and it wasn't shaped round. It dented my car all up."

Weather wasn't the only thing in Jervey's life that would fall under the "extreme" classification while he was in Green Bay, either.

Jervey lived with fellow running back LeShon Johnson during part of his time as a Packer and the two lived by the Oneida Indian Reservation, near the airport. At the time, Johnson had 18 pit bulls, and they both took care of a female pet lion named Nala.

According to Jervey, Nala was a great pet. It even slept with Jervey from time to time. But after five months, there came a point when they knew it was time for Nala to find a new home.

"It did bite me one night and that's pretty much when we decided to get rid of it," Jervey explained. "Once it got to the size of a dog, it started to get pretty aggressive. I mean, it was so durable and it looked like a cat, but acted like a puppy. It started to chew on everything. I felt sorry for it too. We played with it all the time, but obviously it's cold in the winter and we had to keep it in the house.

"We took it to a ranch and they are taking care of it. It's really doing well, it's out in Oklahoma at this ranch where a guy had been in the business for like 40 years. Kids can see it and it's got a good home."

A different home altogether is what Head Coach Mike Holmgren preferred.

"He was more concerned than anything," Jervey recalled. "He just wanted to find out if it was true that we had it and why we did. It was funny. He didn't want it to affect our game, I guess."

It turned out that Holmgren never really had anything to worry about. In '96, Jervey tied Bernardo Harris for the team lead in postseason special teams tackles with six, including three in the NFC Championship versus the Carolina Panthers. He also backed up Edgar Bennett and Dorsey Levens, which made carries difficult to come by.

But Jervey's role was still impressive considering he came from the Citadel, the military college of South Carolina. Even though the school was not known to produce a great deal of athletes, Jervey never thought his odds were longer than anyone else's to make it in the National Football League.

"Everyone's different I guess, but ever since I was a little kid, I said I was going to play in the NFL," Jervey said. "I really thought I would. I was always the best player on my team. The fastest. The strongest kid in my high school.

"I think my senior year we had the most yardage of anyone in the NCAA and I had the highest average per carry of any player. And once they timed me, I ran so fast, and I was definitely going to get drafted."

While Jervey acknowledges he had a lifelong goal of making it in the league, it would have been difficult for even him to predict he was going to play on a Super Bowl team once he got there. Just like so many of his teammates, Jervey cherishes the title he won in Green Bay and the piece of jewelry that came with it. And now he shares that excitement with those at his fitness center, too.

"I've been carrying it (Super Bowl ring) around in this leather bag lately," Jervey said. "Some people at the gym want to see it. I don't wear it, but I'll carry it around in this bag and break it out and show it to them. I'll wear it to special occasions, mostly. When I'm older, like 50, I'll wear it all the time I decided."

By then, Jervey will probably still be working out, surfing, and enjoying life on the beach. And he'll still carry the same allegiances to his favorite team.

"I'm still a huge Packer fan," Jervey explained. "I'll be a Packer fan for life. We were all family. They're my family's favorite team. Everybody that I meet, if they remember me, they remember me as a Packer."