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Hutson Settles On The Bay
1962 Lambeau Field program feature, by Steve Boda Jr.
Green Bay has always had that special somebody, either on the field or in the background, offering inspiration or carrying on the tradition for the City of the Bay that is unique in the annals of professional sports.
And yet, the Packers came perilously close to being denied one of their most popular on-the-field performers. Instead of catching passes and acquiring immortality in Green Bay, Don Hutson might well have been relegated to obscurity in, of all places, Brooklyn.
By 1935, the Packers and Green Bay had fought side by side through one crisis after another, adversity and discouragement. A proud and determined community rallied time and again to save ITS football team from the brink of disaster and forfeiture of a coveted franchise. Then came the formation of Green Bay Packers, Inc., and the Packers belonged to Green Bay and Green Bay belonged to the Packers.
It was also a time to reward the faithful Bayers by laying the foundation for an overdue championship. After sweeping to three titles in succession in 1929-30-31, the Packers had slipped from contention and the vaunted Bears were now the kingpins of the West.
In the early thirties Coach Earl L. (Curly) Lambeau found it necessary to replenish his forces as one by one, he, Verne Lewellen, Jug Earp, Lavvie Dilweg, Red Dunn, Tom Nash and other stalwarts wrote the final chapter on their active playing careers.
Lambeau was carefully grooming a home town product to step on the firing line and resume the aerial attacks so brilliantly conducted through the years by the Packer Coach himself, Lewellen and Dunn. He was Arnie Herber and his passing arm lacked nothing...except targets.
For years Lambeau was a familiar figure at the workouts of the Rose Bowl game participants and the December of 1934 found him at his favorite haunts in Pasadena. As he watched Alabama prepare for Stanford, his eyes were riveted on a lean and lanky Crimson Tide end.
Don Hutson was not merely fast, he was blinding fast. In addition to his combination of speed and agility, he had an uncanny ability to estimate the speed of a pass in flight, just the exact instant it was going to arrive at a given point. He could run in one direction with an opponent trailing him, while the pass he eventually was to receive was thrown in another; then, like a flash he would turn and invariably get to the point where the ball and he were to arrive, and he caught by sure hands.
But landing this target for the accurate-throwing Herber was another matter.
Hutson frankly admitted to the Packer coach that John (Shipwreck) Kelly of the football Brooklyn Dodgers had approached him and he had a tentative agreement to sign with Kelly.
Both Lambeau and Kelly redoubled their efforts. Lambeau pointed out that Green Bay, with its emphasis on passing, was the place for Hutson in pro football. He stressed that Brooklyn, under Paul Schissler, relied on a ground attack, featuring power plays and that Hutson, at 185 pounds, would not fit in with the Dodgers' pattern of play.
Hutson was unveiled in Green Bay on Sept. 22, 1935, taking a starting position at left end against the Bears. The visitors kicked-off and Herber carried back to the 17. On the first play, Herber drifted back to pass. The Bears, familiar with previous Green Bay pass patterns, converged on the most likely receiver, Johnny Blood. The rookie left end was ignored.
Herber let go from the Packer 6 and Hutson pulled in the toss at mid-field. Challenging him was the Bears' fastest back, Beattie Feathers. Hutson sped on, eluded a futile, frantic lunge by Feathers, and crossed the goal for the game's only touchdown.
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