Thursday, October 22, 2015

The Best Packer Not in the Hall?


This is Packers safety Bobby Dillon, who played in Green Bay from 1952 through 1959.

He was a truly great player who had the misfortune of being on some downright awful Packer teams, and only played one season under Vince Lombardi before retiring. Still, he holds to this day the team record for career interceptions with 52. And all with one eye, having lost his right eye at the age of 10 following an accident on his family farm.

Despite the overall quality of the teams he played on, Dillon was an All-Pro from 1954 through '57 and earned Pro Bowl nods from 1956 through '59. When Lombardi reviewed game film of the players he was inheriting, he identified Dillon as one of only three The Milwaukee Journal recently called him a "bright light during (a) dark period". When Ron Wolf went into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this past summer, he identified Dillon as the overlooked Packer most deserving of induction.

That photo above was colored for the 1955 Bowman set of trading cards, giving us an interpretation of what the uniform might have looked like at City Stadium.


It's classic early 1950s. The plastic helmets were new at the time, replacing leather. A version of this jersey is on display in the recently-renovated Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame. You can find it in the uniform timeline display, where it's paired with green pants.

© Jeff Ash, used with permission

As for Bobby Dillon, Cliff Christl has a great piece on him up on Packers.com. Hopefully we can get him in the Hall of Fame where he belongs.

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