NOTRE DAME, PACKERS GREAT HORNUNG DIES AT 84
Paul Hornung, LOUISVILLE, KY.— the dazzling “Golden Boy” of the Green Bay Packers whose singular ability to generate points as a runner, receiver, quarterback and kicker helped turn the team into an NFL dynasty, died Friday. He was 84.
Hornung’s family confirmed his death to the Louisville Sports Commission and to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
In July 2016, Hornungsued equipment manufacturer Riddell Inc., saying football helmets hewore during his professional career failed to protect him from brain injury. Hornung suffered multiple concussions with the Packers and had been diagnosed with dementia, the lawsuit said.
Hornung won the 1956 Heisman Trophy at Notre Dame. Hewas the NFL MVP in 1961 and played on four championship teams (1961, ’62, ’65 and ’66).
He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1986.
Hornung and another of the league’s top stars, Detroit’s Alex Karras, were suspended for 1963 by Commissioner Pete Rozelle for betting on NFL games and associating with undesirable persons. They returned to the NFL the next year.
H or nungw on the He is man as a quarterback. But he switched to halfback in the pros and was one of the NFL’s most dynamic players in Green Bay.
Playing alongside numerous future Hall of Fame rs, the blond, fun-loving Hornung was a favorite of Packers coach Vince Lombardi, who thought of the young star as a son and singled him out for praise and chastisement. Frequent fines for missing curfew were forgiven once the game started, especially when the dashing No. 5 got close to the end zone.
“In the middle of the field he maybe only slightly better than an average ballplayer,” Lombardi once said, “but inside the 20-yard line he is one of the greatest I have ever seen. He smells that goal line.”
Hornung already was on the team when Lombardi arrived inGreen Bay in 1959.
The Packers madeHornung the first pick of the 1957 draft after he won the Heisman Trophy for a Notre Dame team that went 2-8.
Hornung teamed with bruising fullback Jim Taylor for one of theNFL’s greatest backfields. They were known for the unstoppable power sweeps led by guards Jerry Kramer and Fuzzy Thurston. But Hornung was also a force as a passer, blocker, receiver and kicker. He finished his nineyear career with 760 points on 62 touchdowns, 66 field goals and 190 extra points.
For three straight seasons from 1959-61, Hornung led the NFL in scoring. In 1960 he totaled 176 points, which stood as a league recorduntil LaDainian Tomlinson broke it 46 years later. Hornung would later point out that his record came in 12 games, while Tomlinson needed 16.
Hornung also passed for two touchdowns in 1960, meaning he had a hand in 188 points, an average of 15.6 per game.
His talentwas noticed even in the WhiteHouse. Hornung almost missed the Packers’ 1961 title gamewhen hewas summoned to duty by the Army, but a call from Lombardi to President John F. Kennedy led to Hornung being granted leave.
Said Kennedy in arranging the leave, “PaulHornung isn’t going to win the war on Sunday, but the football fans of this country deserve the two best teams on the field that day.”
Hornung scored 19 points — then a title game record — on one touchdown rushing, three field goals and four PATs in the Packers’ 37-0win over the New York Giants.
In 1965, Hornung scored five touchdowns against the Baltimore Colts in a 42-27 victory.
Hornung was on the first Super Bowl team for the 1967 game, but a pinched nerve sidelined him, and he chose not to enter the game when giventhe chance inthe fourth quarter. He was the only Packerwho didn’t play in that Super Bowl as Green Bay beat the AFL’s Kansas City Chiefs 35-10 and were led by Hornung’s favorite drinking pal, wide receiver Max McGee.