Paul Hornung

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Paul Hornung
Date of birth	December 23, 1935
Place of birth	Louisville, Kentucky
Position(s)	Halfback and Placekicker
College	Notre Dame
NFL Draft	1957 / Round 1 / Pick 1
Career Highlights
Pro Bowls	2
Awards	1956 Heisman Trophy Winner 1961 Bert Bell Award
Honors	NFL 1960s All-Decade Team Green Bay Packers HOF
Stats
Statistics	Pro Football Reference DatabaseFootball
Team(s)
1957-1966	Green Bay Packers
College Hall of Fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1986

Paul Vernon Hornung (born December 23, 1935 in Louisville, Kentucky) is a former all-around athlete who played college basketball but is best known as an American football player. He was an outstanding athlete at Bishop Benedict Joseph Flaget High School in Louisville (now closed), having lettered 4 years each in football, basketball and baseball. He was recruited by Bear Bryant to go to Kentucky but chose Notre Dame instead.

1 College career
2 Professional career
3 Honors and awards
4 Off the field
5 External links
6 Notes

[edit] College career

After playing his sophomore season as a backup fullback, Hornung blossomed as a halfback and safety during his junior year. In 1955, he finished fourth in the nation in total offense with 1,215 yards and six touchdowns. His two touchdowns on offense and two interceptions on defense spurred a victory over No.4 Navy, and his touchdown pass and field goal beat Iowa. In a loss to USC, Hornung ran and threw for 354 yards, the best in the nation in 1955. Hornung, nicknamed the "Golden Boy," won the Heisman Trophy in 1956 as the year’s outstanding player in the United States College football and is the only player from a losing team (his University of Notre Dame team finished 2-8 that year) ever to win the trophy. Highly versatile, Paul Hornung was a quarterback who could run, pass, block, and tackle and is the person most football observers consider as the greatest all-around football player in Notre Dame history. In the 1956 season, he led his team offensively in passing, rushing, scoring, kickoff and punt returns, and punting. He also played defense and led his team in passes broken up and was a second in interceptions and tackles made. He jokes about the fact that he was among the nation's leaders in kickoff returns by saying, "We gave up so many points that our opponents were always kicking off to us."

[edit] Professional career

In 1957, after graduating university with a degree in business, Hornung was drafted number one overall into the National Football League by the Green Bay Packers with whom he would go on to win four league championships including the first ever Super Bowl in 1967. Unfortunately, a pinched nerve sidelined him, and he chose not to enter the game in the fourth quarter. He was the only Packer who didn't play in the game.

As a pro, he was one of the most versatile players in the history of the game, playing the halfback position as well as being a field goal kicker for several seasons. Hornung led the league in scoring for three straight seasons from 1959, through 1961. During the 1960 season, in just 12 games, he set an all-time record by scoring 176 points. (Additionally, he also passed for two touchdowns, which do not add to his point-scoring total.) The record stood through the 2005 season; but on December 17, 2006, San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson broke the record with 180 points on 30 touchdowns, leaving him with four points more than Hornung's record with more than two games to play. Hornung claims that Mr. Tomlinson has not really broken his record based upon the NFL season comprising 12 games in Hornung's time. It is noteworthy that Hornung's Half Back/Kicker position is not customary in the current era. Hornung asserts that a points-per-game comparison is more appropriate.^[1]

In 1961 he set the record for the most points scored in a Championship game (he scored 19 points in that game on 3 field goals, 3 extra points, and a touchdown, a record that stood until 2006). In Green Bay's 1965 championship win, he rushed for 105 yards and a touchdown.

Considered by some to be the best short-yardage runner to ever play the game, he was twice voted the league’s most valuable player and during his career was chosen as an All-Pro twice and named to the Pro Bowl twice. He is one of only five players to have won both the Heisman Trophy and the NFL's Most Valuable Player Award.

In 1965, in the twilight of his career, Hornung scored a team-record five touchdowns in a 42-27 win over the Baltimore Colts, a win that would eventually be important for the Packers as they would tie the Colts in the Western Conference standings at season's end (The Packers would win that playoff game over the Colts to advance to the NFL Championship). In that NFL Championship game, Hornung ran for 105 yards and a touchdown in the Packers' 23-12 championship victory over the Cleveland Browns.

A pinched nerve in Hornung's neck severely curtailed his playing time in 1966, and Hornung did not see action in Super Bowl I when the Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, 35-10. Hornung was selected in the expansion draft by the New Orleans Saints, who later traded for Hornung's backfield mate at Green Bay, former LSU all-American Jim Taylor. Hornung never suited up for the Saints, as the neck injury forced him to retire during training camp.

Hornung and Jim Taylor were affectionately known as "thunder and lightning" by Packer fans.

[edit] Honors and awards

In addition to those mentioned above, Paul Hornung was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Also, the "Paul Hornung Award" is given out annually to the state of Kentucky’s top high school player.

[edit] Off the field

Obliged to serve in the United States Army, Hornung was called to active duty during the 1961 season but was able to get weekend passes to play on Sundays. His coach, Vince Lombardi was a friend of the then President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, and the President arranged for a pass so Hornung could play in the NFL championship game against the New York Giants.

Idolized by fans, and wealthy from numerous commercial endorsements, Paul Hornung enjoyed his success and the good life that fame and money brought. On more than one occasion, he was fined by his team’s coach for staying out past curfew. He is famously quoted as having once said: "Never get married in the morning - you never know who you might meet that night".

His penchant for high-living would prove disastrous when, in 1963, a major scandal erupted and Paul Hornung and another of the league's top stars, Alex Karras of the Detroit Lions, were suspended from football indefinitely for betting on games and associating with undesirable persons. Forthright in admitting to his mistake, Hornung's image went relatively untarnished, and in 1964 his suspension (and that of Karras as well) was re-evaluated by the League and Hornung returned to play for the Packers for another three seasons before injury problems forced him to retire at the end of the 1966-67 season. On the wall around Lambeau field where the names of Packers' stars are commemorated, the 1963 season is omitted from Hornung's career years; thus it shows 1957-1962 and 1964-67.

In a September 2006 interview with Bob Costas, Hornung stated that it was his belief that it was Vince Lombardi's constant lobbying of NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle that got him reinstated in the NFL. In exchange for Lombardi's efforts, Hornung agreed not to have anything to do with gambling, to stay out of Las Vegas and to even forgo attending the Kentucky Derby which he did annually. ^[2]

Following his retirement he entered the business world, primarily as a real estate investor, but remained involved with professional football as the producer and host of a nationally televised sports program. He also did commentary on television broadcasts of college football for several years to a generally favorable reception.

During a radio interview on March 30, 2004, Hornung, speaking about the recent lack of football success at Notre Dame, said, "We can't stay as strict as we are as far as the academic structure is concerned because we've got to get the black athletes. We must get the black athletes if we're going to compete." The response was immediate. The University replied with, "We strongly disagree with the thesis of his remarks. They are generally insensitive and specifically insulting to our past and current African-American student-athletes."

Hornung said that he wasn't differentiating between races. "We need better ball players, black and white, at Notre Dame."

Hornung wrote an autobiography, Golden Boy, which was published in 2004. It covers a great deal of his early life and personal experiences that had not previously been publicized during his active career. In September 2006, his book entitled Lombardi and Me: Players, Coaches, and Colleagues Talk About the Man and the Myth was published.

He wrote a letter to Pete Rozelle, upon the latter's retirement, crediting him with promoting the NFL's growth and for having been "the best commissioner of any [sports league]." ^[3]

[edit] External links

Pro Football Hall of Fame: Member profile
Career Stats at Notre Dame

[edit] Notes

^ http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/chargers/20061218-9999-1s18hornung.html
^ interview with Bob Costas on Costas NOW on HBO, September 2006 episode.
^ interview with Bob Costas on Costas NOW on HBO, September 2006 episode.

Preceded by Howard "Hopalong" Cassady	Heisman Trophy Winner 1956	Succeeded by John David Crow
Preceded by Norm Van Brocklin Joe Schmidt	NFL Most Valuable Player 1961 season	Succeeded by Jim Taylor