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posted 04/17/99
ONLY ONCE PREVIOUSLY in the National Football League's 63-year draft history have the Packers had the 25th pick in the first round of the annual selection meeting. That was in 1967, when then Head Coach Vince Lombardi tapped quarterback Don Horn of San Diego State with that numbered selection.
Horn actually was the Packers' second pick in the first round of the '67 draft. Their initial choice was center Bob Hyland of Boston College, selected with the ninth pick overall, a choice had been acquired in a 1966 trade which sent defensive end Lloyd Voss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Horn wore Green Bay's green and gold for four seasons before being traded to Denver on draft day in 1971, a transaction which involved a swap of first round positions, enabling the Packers to move up to select running back John Brockington of Ohio State, and one which also brought them defensive end Alden Roche.
Although he had modest success overall during his Green Bay tenure, Horn managed to mount one memorable performance, passing for a then team-record 410 yards in a 45-28 victory over the then St. Louis Cardinals in the Packers' 1969 regular season finale (December 21). His yardage total that day still ranks second in team annals, behind the 418 Lynn Dickey amassed against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a 14-14 standoff October 12, 1980.
RAY RHODES, who will be experiencing his first draft as Green Bay's head coach, himself was a tenth-round draft selection of the New York Giants in the 1974 draft as a player. A running back at the University of Tulsa, he played wide receiver for his first three seasons with the Giants before being transferred to defensive back in 1977.
The Packers' new field leader highlighted his New York tenure by leading National Football Conference receivers in average yards per catch (20.7) in 1975. He concluded a seven-year playing career with San Francisco in 1980, joining the 49ers' coaching staff the following year.
THE FIRST ROUND selections the Packers have made in the 63 previous years of the NFL draft have represented 47 different institutions of higher learning. The list was increased to its present total only last year when Vonnie Holliday became the first University of North Carolina athlete ever chosen by the Packers in the first round.
THREE DOZEN DRAFTS: Ron Wolf, the Packers' executive vice president and general manager, today is involved in the draft process for the 36th consecutive year - for the eighth year on behalf of the Packers.
Wolf made his draft debut with the Raiders in 1964, just one year after graduating from the University of Oklahoma, assisting Al Davis with choices for the Oakland franchise in the then AFL selection meeting.
Overall, he has exercised his draft expertise in behalf of four teams - the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Jets in addition to the Packers and Raiders.
'A CHIP OFF '... Wolf's 17-year-old son, Eliot, also is an old hand in the draft room. A Green Bay Notre Dame Academy student, Eliot is working his eighth consecutive draft. Possessor of a highly developed interest in personnel matters, he will be in the club's "war room" throughout the two-day event. He again is responsible for the posting process - updating the boards of all 31 clubs as they make their selections so that everyone in the Packers' draft central - Wolf, Head Coach Ray Rhodes, coaches and scouts - will be able to see at a glance what has transpired as the draft proceeds.
THE ALL-TIME FAVORITE: Historically, the University of Minnesota has been the most popular choice in the first round over the 63-year history of the draft. Green Bay seven times has opted for a Golden Gopher in the opening round. Minnesota's representatives have included running backs Larry Buhler (1939), Hal Van Every (1940) and Darrell Thompson (1990), tackles Urban Odson (1942) and Dick Wildung (1943), linebacker Clayton Tonnemaker (1950) and guard Gale Gillingham (1966).
Seven other institutions of higher learning are somewhat distant runnersup in this category, the Packers having selected, in each case, three of their players. They include the University of Wisconsin (fullback Eddie Jankowski in 1937, fullback George Paskvan in 1941 and halfback Earl "Jug" Girard in 1948); the University of Michigan (guard Merv Pregulman in 1944, tight end Ron Kramer in 1957 and linebacker John Anderson in 1978); Notre Dame (tackle Art Hunter in 1954, defensive tackle Mike McCoy in 1970 and guard Aaron Taylor in 1994); USC (running back Al Carmichael in 1953, offensive tackle Ken Ruettgers in 1985 and offensive tackle John Michels in 1996); Iowa (quarterback Randy Duncan in 1959, offensive guard Ron Hallstrom in 1982, and offensive tackle Ross Verba in 1997); Michigan State (linebacker Dan Currie in 1958, defensive back Herb Adderley in 1961 and offensive tackle Tony Mandarich in 1989; and Florida State (wide receiver Barry Smith in 1973, defensive end Alphonso Carreker in 1984 and defensive back Terrell Buckley in 1992).
QUARTERBACK JERRY TAGGE is the only "local boy" ever to be selected by the Packers in the first round of the draft. Tagge, who had been a prep star at Green Bay West High School before going on to lead the University of Nebraska to two national collegiate championships, was the Packers' second first-round pick in 1972 (behind San Diego State defensive back Willie Buchanon).
ALTHOUGH THE CURRENT DRAFT is only the 64th in NFL annals, the Packers will be making the 74th first-round selection in their history. The differential is accounted for by the fact that they have had "doubles" (two first-round choices) in 12 different years, beginning in 1957 when they claimed Notre Dame's Heisman Trophy winner, Paul Hornung, with what was then known as the "bonus choice" - literally drawn out of a hat under the lottery system then in operation - and then selected tight end Ron Kramer of Michigan with their first-round pick.
FOUR NEW FACES are making their debut in the Packers' draft room, among them Andrew Brandt, the team's new director of player finance, and former NFL running back Alonzo Highsmith, a new member of the team's scouting staff. They will be joined by two other additions to the personnel department, scouts Brian Gutekunst, son of ex-University of Minnesota football coach John Gutekunst, and Lee Gissendaner, a former Northwestern University wide receiver who was accorded the Big Ten's "Most Valuable Player" honor as a senior in 1993.
Highsmith, a first-round selection of the Houston Oilers in the 1987 draft, had a six-year, NFL playing career, spending his first three seasons in Houston and dividing the last three between the Dallas Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The 33-year-old Barstow, Fla., native, out of football since ending his playing career with Tampa Bay in 1992, most recently had tried his hand at a professional boxing career as a heavyweight, posting a 27-1 record in 28 fights. During the latter span, he made a ring appearance on a card at Green Bay's Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena.
OVERDUE: Based on their past draft history in years ending in '9' - as the current year does - the Packers clearly are due for some good fortune with their first round pick this time around. Only in 1939, the fourth year of the draft's existence, when they selected halfback Larry Buhler of Minnesota with their first pick, and 1979, when they took running back Eddie Lee Ivery of Georgia Tech with their initial selection, have they had good results. Buhler helped the Packers win an NFL championship in his rookie year and Ivery, despite being slowed by two knee surgeries, led the team in rushing in both 1980 and 1982.
Of the others, Wisconsin-grown quarterback Stan Heath of Nevada lasted only one, unproductive year in 1949 - the team's last season under founder/coach E.L. "Curly" Lambeau, who made Heath the team's first pick that year; quarterback Randy Duncan of Iowa, Vince Lombardi's very first choice as Green Bay's head coach/general manager in 1959, who opted to play in the Canadian Football League and never wore a Packers uniform; defensive tackle Rich Moore of Villanova, Phil Bengtson's first pick as head coach and general manager in 1969 and a major disappointment; and offensive tackle Tony Mandarich, Lindy Infante's initial choice in1989, one of the most celebrated "busts" in NFL draft annals.
THE PACKERS' BEST DRAFT EVER? It is the consensus of Packers historians that the team's 1958 draft was the most productive in the team's history to date. It yielded two Pro Football Hall of Famers - linebacker Ray Nitschke and fullback Jim Taylor - and two other all-pros, guard Jerry Kramer and linebacker Dan Currie (Michigan State). Currie was Green Bay's first-round selection that year and Taylor (LSU) was No. 2, while Nitschke (Illinois) was one of two third-round choices and Kramer (Idaho) was a fourth-round pick.
ANOTHER 'WINNER:' The Packers' 1956 draft also ranks well up among the most successful in team history. It produced quarterback Bart Starr and offensive tackle Forrest Gregg, Pro Football Hall of Famers who both were key figures in the Packers' drive to five NFL championships in the '60s; offensive tackle Bob Skoronski, a starter on those five title teams; and safety Hank Gremminger, who helped the Packers win three of those five championships.
GREEN BAY'S FIRST NO. 1: Russ Letlow, a guard from the University of San Francisco (an institution which long ago dropped football), was the first draft selection in Packers' history. The late E.L. "Curly" Lambeau, then Green Bay's head coach, made the Packers' very first choice when the NFL implemented the draft of college players in 1936.