GREEN BAY PACKERS LEGEND
‘LI KE A SON’ TO VI NCE LOMBARDI
Paul Hornung, the original “Golden Boy” of football, who won the Heisman Trophy at Notre Dame and was a star running back for Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers dynasty of the 1960s, only to have his reputation tarnished by a suspension for gambling, died Nov. 13 in Louisville He was 84.
The cause was complications from dementia.
In 2016, Hornung filed a lawsuit against Riddell, a manufacturer of football helmets, charging that he suffered frequent concussions, leading to dementia “caused by repetitive head trauma.”
During the 1950s and 1960s, Hornung, with his wavy blond hair and affable personality, was one of the most glamorous and charismatic athletes. He starred as a halfback and place- kicker for Lombardi’s Packers, the NFL’S dominant team of the 1960s. He led the league in scoring three times and won the NFL’S Most Valuable Player Award in 1961.
His total of 176 points in 1960, when teams played 12 games a season, stood as an NFL record until 2006. On the field, the 6- foot-2, 215- pound Hornung had a smooth, gliding running style, with deceptive speed and exceptional balance, and was a strong blocker.
As a runner, he became more powerful and elusive when he got closer to the goal- line. A quarterback at Notre Dame when he won the Heisman Trophy in 1956, he was always a threat to pass.
“Paul Hornung is the greatest player I’ve ever coached, and the greatest I’ve ever seen on the football field within the 20-yard line,” Lombardi said in 1967. “He was more than just a player; he was like a son to me.”
Off the field, Hornung had a reputation that matched his image as the Golden Boy, a nickname he acquired in college. He was often in the company of beautiful women and was known for epic drinking bouts with teammates.
In the locker- room before games, Hornung was quiet and intense, chain-smoking cigarettes before leading his team onto the field.
In 1963, NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle suspended Hornung for betting on college and pro games. But Hornung had to face a higher authority: Lombardi.
Invoking their shared Catholic faith, according to David Maraniss’s 1999 biography of Lombardi, When Pride Still Mattered, Lombardi told Harnung that “I don’t want to see you go to the racetrack. I don’t want to hear about you going to the (Kentucky) Derby. I don’t want to hear about you doing anything. Keep your nose clean and I’ll do my best to get you back. But, mister, stay at the foot of the cross.”
When Hornung was reinstated in 1964, he kept his word to Lombardi, but he was not the same player he had been. Yet he still had a final burst of magnificence in him when, on Dec. 12, 1965, he scored a team- record five touchdowns in a key late-season victory.
Hornung often gave his finest performances on the brightest stage. In the week before the 1961 NFL championship game with the New York Giants, he was fulfilling an active- duty assignment with the Army. It took the intervention of President John F. Kennedy to get Hornung released from his duties in time to play.
Paul Vernon Hornung was born Dec. 23, 1935, in Louisville, Ky. He excelled in sports, leading his high school football team to the state championship.
The coach who recruited him at Notre Dame, Frank Leahy, said Hornung could run through opposing teams “like a mower going through grass.”
Despite Notre Dame’s dismal 2- 8 record in 1956, Hornung won the Heisman Trophy as the country’s top college player. He is still the only Heisman winner from a losing team.
After graduating, Hornung was drafted by the Packers, but he found little success until Lombardi became head coach in 1959.
Slowed by injuries, Hornung was on the Packers roster when they won the first Super Bowl in January 1967, but he did not play. He retired soon after.
Hornung returned to Louisville, where he had a television sports show and a successful career in real estate. He worked as a football analyst for CBS and later for Notre Dame TV broadcasts.
His only immediate survivor is his wife, Angela Cervelli.
Hornung was admitted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1985 and to the Pro Football Hall of Fame a year later. He published several books, including a 2004 autobiography in which he said he had few regrets about a life that was “all about games, girls, gambling and gin joints, not necessarily in that order.”
I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOU GO TO THE RACETRACK. I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT YOU GOING TO THE (KENTUCKY) DERBY. I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT YOU DOING ANYTHING. KEEP YOUR NOSE CLEAN AND I’LL DO MY BEST TO GET YOU BACK. — VINCE LOMBARDI