Dr. Eugene Brusky
Inducted: 1987
Team Physician: 1962-90
Brusky was hired by Vince Lombardi and served as the Packers' team physician for 29 years. As early as 1920, in their second season as a semipro team, the Packers took out insurance on their players and had a local doctor care for them and attend home games. But Lombardi wanted someone who would report to the stadium nearly every day to examine his players. Lombardi knew Brusky from golfing with him at what was then the Oneida Golf & Riding Club, and asked him to fill the non-paying post. Brusky agreed, and essentially created his own doctor's office at the stadium with an examining table, X-ray area and medical supplies. Brusky even made a rare house call during the Lombardi years.
"He was a perfect doctor because he was such a caring person," said Bob Harlan, who worked in the Packers' front office for nearly two decades while Brusky served as team physician. "(Players) all thought the world of Dr. Brusky."
Brusky served six head coaches and was the NFL's senior team physician when he retired shortly after the end of the 1990 season. He had retired from private practice from the West Side Clinic in 1987.
Born Dec. 10, 1921, in Pulaski, Wis. Given name Eugene Stanley Brusky. Died March 7, 2013, at age 91.
- By Cliff Christl
