Dan Devine's debuts were a double disaster

[Cheesehead]

Al from Green Bay


I was wondering if you could settle an issue regarding the creation of the Lambeau Leap. I recall Terrell Buckley claiming he did the first Lambeau Leap. I'm wondering if there is any video evidence that might confirm this.


Buckley only scored two touchdowns with the Packers, both as a rookie in 1992. Our curator, Brent Hensel, showed me a video of his biggest play, his 58-yard punt return for a touchdown and he didn't leap there, although he approached the railing and saluted the fans before being mobbed by teammates. The other was a 33-yard interception return against the Los Angeles Rams in the second-to-last game of the season and the video I found for that didn't show his celebration. But I couldn't find any mention of him leaping into the stands in either of two newspapers I checked.


Tim from Charlotte, NC


In 1972, my dad lived in an apartment on William Charles Court near the stadium. There was a Packer player who lived in the same complex. I thought his name was Ike Taylor. But I can't find him on the list of all-time players. Do you recall such a player?


I'm assuming it was Ike Thomas, a defensive back who played in 25 games for the Packers in 1972-73. Less than two weeks before the start of the 1972 season, Devine acquired punter Ron Widby and Thomas for a second-round draft choice.


Fran from Green Bay


I read a book called "Shoot for the Stars," which details how Tom Hearden was poised to become the next Packers coach, but was derailed by a stroke and that opened the door to the Lombardi era. Just wondering how much of the story is fact vs. faction?


Jan Mancheski, the author, is a good friend, and I believe he promotes his book as "part memoir, part historical fiction," and so, yes, there's truth to the story, although the narrative isn't always portrayed accurately. Al Mancheski, Jan's dad, played for Hearden at Green Bay East High School and returned there in the 1960s as the school's head coach. Anyway, here's the full story. Hearden suffered his stroke in May 1957, shortly after he was rehired by Lisle Blackbourn, and never coached again. As a result, he was never under consideration when Lombardi was hired in 1959. But Lee Remmel told me on several occasions that a member of the executive committee told him that if Hearden had not suffered his stroke, he would have gotten the job in 1958 rather than Scooter McLean. My suspicion always was and still is that Dominic Olejniczak, who was team president of the Packers when Lombardi was hired and running the organization as vice president when McLean was hired, was Remmel's source. When Hearden was the football star at East High in the fall of 1922, Olejniczak was a sophomore. So there was a connection. Plus, Hearden was a captain at Notre Dame under Knute Rockne, a highly successful high school and college coach in Wisconsin, and was well respected by the players when he ran Blackbourn's defense in 1954-55 before spending a year as an assistant at the University of Wisconsin. Hearden was 51-3-2 as coach at East from 1936-42, including a state-record 32-game winning streak, and was often compared to Paul Brown, who was coaching high school football in Massillon, Ohio. Then after Brown proved to be successful in the pros with the Cleveland Browns, NFL teams were looking for the next Paul Brown. Thus, Hearden had sufficient credentials for that time period. He also was 40-14 as head coach at St. Norbert College, with three unbeaten seasons, from 1946-52. What some players, Remmel and others from the 1950s believed was that if Hearden was named Blackbourn's successor instead of McLean in 1958, it would have been unlikely that the Packers would have finished 1-10-1. He was too good a coach. Thus, if the Packers had gone 4-8 or 6-6, for example, they probably wouldn't have been in the market for a new coach when they hired Lombardi.


Michael from Milwaukee


I saw the Packers signed Joe Fortunato, a long snapper. Man, if he can play like the Joe Fortunato you and I saw play with the Bears, they've got something. Is he a descendant of Joe?


Tom Fanning, our assistant director of communication, checked with young Joe and he said he was no relation to the old Bears linebacker, although he said he gets asked that all the time. The Packers already have a Butkus (Luke) on the coaching staff. Add a Fortunato to the roster and on name only, the toughness quotient skyrockets thanks to those old Bears.