And I have a tape at home and on that tape, an interview with Howard Cosell, Vince evaluates the players and he says this about Jimmy Taylor and I quote: “Jim Taylor isn’t big for a fullback, but when you bump against him it’s like bumping against an iron statue. In fact, he likes that feeling. The thing about Jimmy is he really likes people. I don’t know anyone on the squad that has a greater need or a greater capacity for friendship and understanding than Jim Taylor.”
Vince and Jim did have their misunderstandings, but who didn’t? And I saw something I would like to share with you and it’s special because it’s the only time it happened. When the coach was sick and in the hospital in Washington, many, many Packers players came to see him and one of them was Jim Taylor. And I went in the room with him, and Vince took his hand and he held it for such a long time. And friends, the love and the understanding that went between those two hands, I will never, never forget.
We have a great need in our country today for great heroes. We don’t have any heroes, but I believe the men here enshrined in the Hall of Fame are today’s heroes.
Jim Taylor
What gave me the opportunity to be the player I was was the teamwork and the unity that was molded into our ball club through Vince Lombardi. There were so many wonderful years and honors and occasions. One certainly can be excited about the people who I was connected with, the ones who gave me an opportunity to play football.
I would like to say just a few words about the late coach, Vince Lombardi. He probably instilled in me the admiration, the dedication, the discipline, the determination as a football player and as a man that I have been connected with.
Bart Starr
Green Bay Packers Quarterback
Class of 1977
Starr quarterbacked the Packers to six division titles, five NFL titles, and the first two Super Bowl wins, in which he was Most Valuable Player.
Presented by University of Kentucky Assistant Coach Bill Moseley
Bart sought to be a successful football player in the NFL. He achieved this goal to a degree that had not before been seen. It did not come altogether easy.
Bart Starr was not born a naturally great quarterback. Bart had to work to make himself into an outstanding field general. Bart had the intelligence to become a great quarterback. He used his intelligence to the fullest in his development as a superb leader. He used every available resource to aid him in improving as a successful athlete.
In Bart’s high school days, I can very well remember the skinny, freckle-faced kid in a group around his coach. Anytime there was something to be taught, Bart was dead serious, soaking up everything that he could. His eyes were always focused on getting instructions.
You will notice that this strong countenance still exists in the face of this young man. I know that after practice, home on weekends, Bart was in his backyard, drilling and working and trying to grasp the ideas that were taught in practice. This, among other things, is the reason Bart Starr became a great quarterback. He was willing to work and to dedicate himself to being the best.
Bart Starr
Years ago, when General Douglas MacArthur had retired and was living out his life in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, a struggling young writer asked for permission to interview the general, which was granted. Although quite nervous, as he entered the room, he was made to feel at ease by the general. His opening question was, “General, when you were commandant at West Point years ago, you were an advocate of athletic competition. Do you still feel as strongly today about the merits of athletic competition as you did then?”
The general replied brilliantly. “Young man, the infinite values of athletic competition have but intensified with the passage of time. It is a vital character builder, for it molds the youth of our country for their future roles as custodians of the Republic. Fathers and mothers who would have their sons become men should have them play the game. For upon the fields of friendly strife are sown the seeds that, upon other fields, on other days, will bear the fruits of victory.”
If I may be presumptuous, the inductees behind me here today personify those words.
I made it as a rookie quarterback in Green Bay when the rosters were only thirty-three in number because my wife seated there must have retrieved hundreds of footballs for me that summer. I hung a tire in an A-frame in a field next to her parents’ home in Jackson, Mississippi, and worked twice a day, throwing as many as my arm would allow. She retrieved every one of them. Honey, to you I’ll always be grateful.
After a few short years in the league, we were privileged to have the legendary Vince Lombardi become our coach and leader. I need not tell you of his exploits and his record of coaching. You’ve heard them many times over, but I think the things that have been stated today are indicative of what he told us and we learned many valuable lessons. He was an exceptional teacher and an inspirational leader. He taught us the meaning of commitment, unselfishness, purpose, pride, and an unrelenting quest for excellence. Those of us who had the opportunity to play for him came to appreciate even more the spelling of the word TEAM [Together Everyone Achieves More]. You must be willing to subordinate your own desires, egos, and ambitions for the good of the team. Because as that team grows and prospers, so will you as an individual, and what you remember most are your TEAMMATES.
Forrest Gregg
Green Bay Packers and
Dallas Cowboys Offensive Tackle
Class of 1977
A nine-time Pro Bowl selection, Gregg played 188 consecutive games. He also played on seven NFL championship teams and three Super Bowl winners.
Presented by Marie Lombardi, Wife of Packers Coach Vince Lombardi
When I am getting ready to come to Canton, Ohio, for this great weekend, I get so excited; I can’t wait to get on the airplane. And I would like to congratulate these inductees and particularly their families who made so many sacrifices to make this great honor possible.
I would like to talk about Forrest Gregg the man. I read somewhere that Vince Lombardi made football players out of men and men out of football players, but not this man. He was probably the finest all-around team player that ever played this game, proof of the fact being that when he was an All-Pro tackle with the Packers, he was perfectly willing to make the supreme sacrifice of switching from tackle to guard when he was needed and to be able to make that switch and then to be voted an All-Pro guard at that position.
Now when Forrest was about thirty years old he decided to maybe look for his future. And he was offered a coaching job at the University of Tennessee, and after a very short time he had second thoughts about it. So the coach and I were down in Puerto Rico on vacation and, needless to say, he was pretty upset about this chain of events.
One night in our room, the phone rang and it was one of the assistant Packers coaches. He said, “Vince, Forrest Gregg wants to come back and play. Do you want him?”
Well, friends, Vince yelled so loud through the phone the room shook, the building shook, and even the grounds shook. He wanted Forrest back so bad and, Forrest, you might have signed the first $1 million contract for the National Football League, he wanted you back that bad. Because how do you replace a Forrest Gregg as a player, as a coach, as a man, and as a dear friend?
And to use the old clichés of honest, integrity, commitment, excellence, dedication—I don’t know of any man who these apply to more than Forrest Gregg.
Forrest Gregg
What happened this morning was the most emotional thing that has happened to me in my lifetime. When I was going down the street in that parade, I saw friends that I knew and I saw my family sitting on the side. It made me think back as to how it all started and I don’t want to get too deep into this right now, about how it all started, because I’m already pretty emotional about it. But as I look out and see my family, I think how empty it would be, how little it would mean if I did not have them to share it with.
Sometimes in the game of football, not just professional football, but in
all football, the families sometimes are left a little bit to the side. But I can tell you this much right now. If it had not been for my wife, Barbara, her love and her encouragement, I would not be standing here right now. My two children, Karen my daughter and Forrest Jr. my son. They have known nothing in their lives but professional football.
I sit and I listen to Marie Lombardi talk about Vince Lombardi, talk about the Green Bay Packers. Marie, I would have given anything in the world to have known that Vince said that on the telephone. I would have asked for a lot more money. Vince Lombardi—I can’t talk up here without mentioning his name and think about what he did for me and I know when Bart gets up here, he’s going to say the same thing. This man was the maximum, for a lack of a better adjective to describe him, as a football coach. And this lady who sits back here and presented me, we have such a great love for her that it is hard to express right here.
Herb Adderley
Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys Cornerback
Class of 1980
Adderley played in four Super Bowls and five Pro Bowls, and intercepted forty-eight passes during his career.
Presented by Packers Defensive End Willie Davis
I remember Herb best for nine years we played on the same side of the field. I saw Herb make some of the greatest plays ever among the defensive team at Green Bay. Along with teammate Dave Robinson, we truly controlled the left side of the Packer defense. He always played well in the big game. His sixty-yard return for a touchdown in Super Bowl II is one of only two touchdowns in thirteen years in the Super Bowl from interceptions.
Herb was committed to being the best cornerback in the NFL, and somehow today, most of us who played and most of us who saw him play realized that he accomplished his commitment. His personal pride and dedication to high standards was a true inspiration to every Green Bay Packer. Herb was a competitor with unusual ability to make the big effort.
Herb Adderley
I would like to take time to thank the two people responsible for my football career. Number one would be my high school coach, Mr. Charles Martin, who is deceased. I can honestly say if it wasn’t for Mr. Charles Martin back in Philadelphia in 1955, when I started playing in high school, there is no way I would be here because I thought that I was a basketball player. In fact, I would have bet that I was a basketball player.
But this man saw something in me that I didn’t see or realize in myself. He said, “I think you could play football and you can play it well.” I said, “Well, I don’t know, because I never played football, just around the streets.”
You hear Bill Cosby, who is a good friend, you hear him talking about playing touch football and running behind the bus in the alley, and the cans and stuff, and we were involved in that and I didn’t play organized football until high school. Mr. Charles Martin—I will always remember him and his spirit will live within me. He helped me get to Michigan State.
I had several offers, scholarship offers, and he asked me, “Listen, I’m setting this up for you, what do you want to do?” So I said I would like to go to Michigan State University and he said, “Why?” And I said, “Well, there is a fellow there that is wearing number 26, Clarence Peaks.” I said, “I don’t know the man, never seen him except for on television. Never met him, but he is the kind of guy that I would like to be like and I would like to go there and see what happens.”
He made a phone call to Duffy Daugherty and two days later I was on a plane to Lansing, Michigan. Clarence Peaks met me at the airport, and from there it was history. I told Clarence that I was going to take this number 26 and take it as far as I can, hopefully to the top. And I would like to say that Clarence Peaks is not here, but I did see him last week, and I did thank him for the inspiration that he gave me. He helped me to be someone.
I have to talk about Coach Vince Lombardi because Vince Lombardi reminds me so much of my high school coach. Those two people had more to do with me playing football and being successful than anybody in the world.
I feel a certain sadness in my heart, but I can feel happy and feel good because the spirit of my high school coach and Vince Lombardi is within me. Coach Lombardi had the nerve to draft me number one in 1961 and that was probably the biggest thrill of my entire career, being drafted number one. And I said I have to repay this man for having enough nerve to draft me number one.
Paul Hornung
Green Bay Packers Halfback
Class of 1986
In the 1961 NFL title game, Hornung scored a record nineteen points. He finished his career with 760 points and led the NFL in scoring in three years, including 1960, when he scored a record 176 points.
Presented by Packers Wide Receiver Max McGee
I wouldn’t be here today if Vince Lombardi was alive because Vince and Paul had a very great personal relationship as well as football relationship. And Vince would run me off and he would make this presentation.
Vince once made a statement that I think signifies what Paul really is. He said, “When the game is on the line, Paul Hornung is the greatest player I ever saw.”
And by gosh, I believe it.
Paul Hornung
I have waited a long time to get here. This weekend I will be able to take with me forever.
It started off in my hometown of Louisville on Thursday and is continuing on, forever. I don’t have time to thank all my friends, my former coaches, and my former teammates, but I do want to thank a little lady for encouraging a youngster to play football. She got mad when I came in a little late sometimes and she is here today. This is just as important for my little mother, who raised me all by herself.
And as Max said—Lombardi. He meant a lot to all of us. For Paul Hornung, he probably meant a lot more than he did to the other inductees.
I have always said there are ten inductees in the Hall of Fame from that Green Bay Packer team, but there are only two athletes off that team that would have been in the Hall of Fame if they played for the New Orleans Saints, the New York Giants, the Kansas City Chiefs, any team anywhere. Herb Adderley and Forrest Gregg were those two athletes. They were that good.
But the rest of us, including Nitschke, needed Lombardi. Taylor needed him, Starr needed him, but above all, Hornung needed him. I think he would be a very happy man today.
I saw young Vince two days ago and as the years go by, he is a spitting image. We love Lombardi. It was a special time and a special team. There was a genuine love on that football team and I was glad to be a part of it….
And I want to thank my little wife, Angela, who I married and got me off the streets, thank God. If she ever puts me back on them, I’ll kill her. She was Mike McCormack’s secretary at the Philadelphia Eagles, and she also knows about football. She knows what it is like to be hired and fired in professional football. She has been a great inspiration to me and she will be until the day I die.
And last, again, I want to thank Vince for the weather.
Henry Jordan
Cleveland Browns and
Green Bay Packers Defensive Tackle
Class of 1995
A fixture at defensive tackle during the Packers dynasty, Jordan played in four Pro Bowls, seven NFL title games, and Super Bowls I and II.
Presented by Friend Don Kovach
One of Jordan’s many renowned public quips was he played professional football for three reasons: the love of the game, the love of money, and the fear of Vince Lombardi.
His love of football was self-evident. His reference to the love of money was in typical Jordan fashion—a not-so-subtle reference to the fact that all those who have been honored here before, and those that will follow, understand the concept of professionalism. Henry understood that winning wasn’t everything, but the only thing. Winning determined the size of your paycheck.
He made it known to his teammates and his coaches that in the field of professional football, not taking care of business affected each team member’s pocketbook. Henry would have nothing less than absolute commi
tment from himself and the other Packer team members. He was the quintessential professional.
His reference to the fear of Vince Lombardi would have been more appropriately phrased as a deep respect for his responsibility as a head coach of a championship team and the manner in which he fulfilled those responsibilities. To be effective he knew that Lombardi needed unflagging respect from his players. Henry gained Lombardi’s respect as well.
Few people knew that Henry walked out of preseason camp one year not because of salary but because he was dissatisfied with the way that Lombardi was treating him. He believed that the coach should have known that Henry was the one man on the Packers’ squad that knew what was going on in the lives of the various team members and how it affected the team’s performance—things that the coach didn’t know but which Henry would address on and off the field in his own way.
History tells us that Jordan returned to the camp having won the respect few people have attained. Lombardi treated Jordan differently.
Accepting on Behalf of Henry Jordon,
His Son, Henry Jordan Jr.
My sisters and I have grown up feeling that the men that have played football with my dad are extended uncles to our family, and that if at anytime we needed anything—anything—they would be there. And I know I share these feelings with many Packer children today. This was a top-down philosophy driven home by Coach Lombardi himself.
Coach Lombardi used to say as a player you have only three things to worry about: religion, family, and the Green Bay Packers—not necessarily in that order. I think he came to instill in them that your family and the Packers were one and the same. And that quality of discipline and unity is what made the difference when the chips were down.
Coach Lombardi, thank you for promoting an environment that allowed my dad to maximize and hone his God-given skills and then on Sundays, letting him have the stage to show those gifts to the world.
The Class of Football Page 26
