Former Packers GM Ted Thompson dies at 68

[Cheesehead]

Mike Reinfeldt, a former Oilers teammate of Thompson's in his playing days, a former Packers executive with Thompson, and a fellow personnel executive for other teams, presented his longtime friend and colleague for induction in what became a very subdued but touching tribute to the architect of the Packers' Super Bowl XLV championship club.


"It's a great honor," Reinfeldt said that night, which turned out to be the last noteworthy public appearance for Thompson. "I've known Ted for 45 years, watched him work through the league, just his perseverance, his hard work, his dedication. Wherever he's been he's produced winning football teams."


Reinfeldt played a significant role in how it all started, recommending Thompson to Wolf in 1992 when the then-Packers GM was building his personnel staff. Eight years later, Thompson left Green Bay for Seattle, along with head coach Mike Holmgren, and helped construct a roster that reached Super Bowl XL, before returning to be the Packers GM in 2005.


The push that time came from Wolf, who told the team president who had hired him, Bob Harlan, that he was recommending Thompson to anyone who asked.


"The first man that Mike Holmgren wanted to take to Seattle with him was Ted Thompson," Harlan said. "Ted went to Seattle, built a Super Bowl team and I just thought when it was time for us to get somebody, he was the one I wanted. When I called him, I gave him the very same line I gave Ron earlier. I said, 'You're No. 1 on my list. I want to talk to you until you say yes.'"


Soon thereafter came the Rodgers, McCarthy and Woodson decisions. For the first, as controversial as it was going to be, Thompson made sure his boss had his back.


"That was Ted's first draft and Aaron kept falling and falling," Harlan said. "We were 24th and when we got on No. 19, Ted comes over and says, 'Can we go out in the hallway for a minute and talk?' He said, 'Rodgers is No. 1 on our board. If he's still there, I'm going to take him and we're going to get some heat because of Brett.'


"I said, 'It's your club to run. I told you that. I'm not going to interfere. You take who you want.'"


Rodgers, the soon-to-be three-time league MVP, became the first of 17 players Thompson would draft over a 13-year span who would go to a Pro Bowl from Green Bay.