Paul Hornung

It’s not good to be an old Green Bay Packer. Paul Hornung is the fourth Lombardi-era Packer to die this year, joining former teammates Willie Wood and Willie Davis along with Herb Adderley. Hornung died Friday at the age of 84 from dementia. I was too young and not that interested in football to know much about the “Golden Boy” from Notre Dame, Heisman winner and, almost by definition, Bears-killer. According to the Washington Post, Hornung scored five touchdowns the same day in December 1965 that Gayle Sayers scored six. Sayers died in September, again with dementia a likely contributing factor. Apparently, I’m the only person who remembers Hornung’s time in Chicago as a sportscaster, for Ch. 2, I think. He wasn’t particularly good and definitely didn’t show any great interest in working to get better. Many years later, I caught Hawk Harrelson trying to do sports on the 10 O’clock news, and it sounded like the second coming of Hornung. Yes, I’m being a little petty here. Hornung and Harrelson were both ex-jocks trying to do the best they could with what they had. Life can get tough even for the best of athletes once they step off the field. And it certainly doesn’t help when someone has trauma suffered from his playing days (Hornung was part of a lawsuit alleging helmet manufacturer Riddel with liability for his condition) with them. The Hawk, as ever, was lucky. He played a sport that let him become something more. Hornung had to deal with a condition that kept chipping away at him, year after year.