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fish Winter Classic,’ an annual event held by the former<br />
Miami Dolphins defensive end who today is a quadriplegic<br />
as the result of a 1998 skiing accident…Visited children’s<br />
hospitals and participated in Habitat for Humanity during<br />
VETERANS<br />
college…Hobbies/interests: Enjoys hunting, fishing<br />
and watching movies…Once worked as a telemarketer…<br />
Residence: Pensacola, Fla.<br />
Jo s h Si t t o n’s Pr o Ga m e s Pl a y e d/St a r t e d<br />
Year Team GP GS<br />
2008 Green Bay. ..............11 2<br />
<strong>NFL</strong> debut: at Seattle, 10/12/08<br />
First <strong>NFL</strong> start: at Tennessee, 11/2/08<br />
The Don Hutson Center<br />
On July 18, 1994, the Packers dedicated the Don<br />
Hutson Center, their state-of-the-art indoor practice<br />
facility across the street from Lambeau Field.<br />
Original cost ................$4.7 million<br />
Length ........................452 feet<br />
Width. ........................270 feet<br />
Tallest point (interior) .............90 feet<br />
Square footage .................112,400<br />
Fields. .One 70-yard (plus 10-yard end zone)<br />
One 60-yard (plus 10-yard end zone)<br />
Surface ....FieldTurf (installed March 2001)<br />
Other facilities . . . . . . Coaches meeting room<br />
Training room<br />
Weight/conditioning area<br />
Restrooms<br />
Lighting ...........249 1,500-watt fixtures<br />
Heating ........23 gas-fired radiant heaters<br />
Maximum temperature .........65 degrees<br />
Ventilation ..Four exhaust fans (100,000 CFM)<br />
Construction ........ Midstate Corporation;<br />
Columbus, Wis.<br />
Architect .....................Bill Doyle<br />
(Berners-Schober Associates, Inc., Green Bay)<br />
CAREER TRANSACTIONS<br />
u2008 Selected by Green Bay Packers as second of two<br />
fourth-round selections (135th overall) of ’08 <strong>NFL</strong><br />
Draft, April 27 (free agency <strong>com</strong>pensatory pick)…<br />
Signed first contract, July 24.<br />
CURRENT CONTRACT EXPIRATION: After 2011<br />
Hutson settles on the Bay<br />
1962 Lambeau Field program feature, by Steve Boda Jr.<br />
Green Bay has always had that special somebody, either on the field<br />
or in the background, offering inspiration or carrying on the tradition for<br />
the City of the Bay that is unique in the annals of professional sports.<br />
And yet, the Packers came perilously close to being denied one of<br />
their most popular on-the-field performers. Instead of catching passes<br />
and acquiring immortality in Green Bay, Don Hutson might well have<br />
been relegated to obscurity in, of all places, Brooklyn.<br />
By 1935, the Packers and Green Bay had fought side by side through<br />
one crisis after another, adversity and discouragement. A proud and<br />
determined <strong>com</strong>munity rallied time and again to save ITS football team<br />
from the brink of disaster and forfeiture of a coveted franchise. Then came<br />
the formation of Green Bay Packers, Inc., and the Packers belonged to<br />
Green Bay and Green Bay belonged to the Packers.<br />
It was also a time to reward the faithful Bayers by laying the foundation<br />
for an overdue championship. After sweeping to three titles in succession in<br />
1929-30-31, the Packers had slipped from contention and the vaunted Bears<br />
were now the kingpins of the West.<br />
In the early 1930s, Coach Earl L. (Curly) Lambeau found it necessary<br />
to replenish his forces as one by one, he, Verne Lewellen, Jug Earp, Lavvie<br />
Dilweg, Red Dunn, Tom Nash and other stalwarts wrote the final chapter<br />
on their active playing careers.<br />
Lambeau was carefully grooming a hometown product to step on the<br />
firing line and resume the aerial attacks so brilliantly conducted through<br />
the years by the Packer Coach himself, Lewellen and Dunn. He was Arnie<br />
Herber and his passing arm lacked nothing…except targets.<br />
For years Lambeau was a familiar figure at the workouts of the Rose<br />
Bowl game participants and the December of 1934 found him at his favorite<br />
haunts in Pasadena. As he watched Alabama prepare for Stanford, his eyes<br />
were riveted on a lean and lanky Crimson Tide end.<br />
Don Hutson was not merely fast, he was blinding fast. In addition to<br />
his <strong>com</strong>bination of speed and agility, he had an uncanny ability to estimate<br />
the speed of a pass in flight, just the exact instant it was going to arrive<br />
at a given point. He could run in one direction with an opponent trailing<br />
him, while the pass he eventually was to receive was thrown in another;<br />
then, like a flash he would turn and<br />
invariably get to the point where the ball<br />
and he were to arrive, and he caught by<br />
sure hands.<br />
But landing this target for the<br />
accurate-throwing Herber was another<br />
matter.<br />
Hutson frankly admitted to the<br />
Packer coach that John (Shipwreck)<br />
Kelly of the football Brooklyn Dodgers<br />
had approached him and he had a tentative<br />
agreement to sign with Kelly.<br />
Both Lambeau and Kelly redoubled<br />
their efforts. Lambeau pointed out that Green Bay, with its emphasis on passing, was the place for Hutson in pro football. He stressed<br />
that Brooklyn, under Paul Schissler, relied on a ground attack, featuring power plays and that Hutson, at 185 pounds, would not fit in<br />
with the Dodgers’ pattern of play.<br />
Hutson was unveiled in Green Bay on Sept. 22, 1935, taking a starting position at left end against the Bears. The visitors kicked<br />
off and Herber carried back to the 17. On the first play, Herber drifted back to pass. The Bears, familiar with previous Green Bay pass<br />
patterns, converged on the most likely receiver, Johnny Blood. The rookie left end was ignored.<br />
Herber let go from the Packer 6 and Hutson pulled in the toss at midfield. Challenging him was the Bears’ fastest back, Beattie<br />
Feathers. Hutson sped on, eluded a futile, frantic lunge by Feathers, and crossed the goal for the game’s only touchdown.<br />
ADMIN. &<br />
DRAFT &<br />
COMMUNITY COACHES SITTON FREE AGENTS<br />
2008 REVIEW HISTORY<br />
RECORDS &<br />
LAMBEAU<br />
FIELD<br />
MISC.<br />
229
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