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Freeman and Levens in the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame

Last year's ceremony was a bit of a media circus because QB Brett Favre was in attendance when C Frank Winters was inducted. This year, it's WR Antonio Freeman and RB Dorsey Levens turn as both of them have been inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame.

The news made me wonder whether those two really deserved to be in the hall of fame, but when I scanned the list of players inducted (Here's the complete list) it's obvious there are a bunch of feel good stories inducted. It's not all about stats.

Here's the list of players who have been inducted over the last 10 years:

Star-divide

  1. LB Johnny Holland. As a middle linebacker in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was a bright spot on what was usually a poor defense. Often he led the team in tackles and he was a fan favorite, so it's easy to see why he was inducted.
  2. WR Sterling Sharpe. His career lasted from 1988 to 1994 and he was easily the best player on the team during that time, until Favre and DE Reggie White came on board. An easy choice.
  3. LB Mike Douglass. He was probably the star player on defense in the early 1980s. He was an undersized guy who had no business playing in the NFL, it's probably generous to list him on Pro Football Reference at 6'0" and 220 lbs. But he succeeded anyway. And the Packer organization owed him something too; his Packer career was cut a little short when he was caught up in the roster purge by then new head coach Forrest Gregg.
  4. RB Edgar Bennett. I'll admit that I was never much of a fan. He played hard and was a good receiver, but he never did anything as a runner. But he started on a winning Super Bowl team, so I understand why he was inducted.
  5. QB Don Majkowski. Let's face it; overall he was a lousy QB. But 1989 was magic. It was the first season with double digits in wins since 1972, and that didn't happen again until 1995. A glimmer of hope, a true feel good story, at the end of a disappointing and depressing decade.
  6. DE Reggie White. Of course. He made it in the Packer Hall of Fame the same year as the NFL Hall of Fame, unfortunately posthumosly in 2006.
  7. SS LeRoy Butler. He had an amazing career; 4 time All-Pro (1993, 1996-1998). He wasn't quite as good in 1999-2001, but it was only a slight decline until a severe shoulder injury ended his career on one play. 
  8. WR Robert Brooks. His 1995 season was brilliant (102 rec., 1497 yards, 13 TDs) but it was the only year he was the true No. 1 receiver; Sharpe before then and Freeman after. I can see why that great season alone would get him inducted.
  9. NT Gilbert Brown. The stats don't show it, it's hard to use statistics to rank a nose tackle, but he was a force during the 1996 Super Bowl winning season. Then the injuries and Gilbert Burgers took that dominant player away. From 1997-1999, 2001-2003 (he didn't play in 2000), he never dominated again but managed to provide a wide load in the middle of the field. I could see his induction as either a fan favorite (which led Burger King to name a burger after him) or in the Robert Brooks wing for having one great season.
  10. C Frank Winters. An obvious choice for induction. Either as a fan favorite for being Ol Bag of Donuts, starting over 140 games as a Packer, or making the Pro Bowl as a starter on the winning 1996 Super Bowl team.
  11. WR Antonio Freeman. He was one of the best in the NFL in 1997 and 1998, and productive the rest of the time (1995, 1999-2001). Although his speed was gone by 2001, he was a very productive receiver overall and deserved induction.
  12. RB Dorsey Levens. Another induction into the Robert Brooks wing for having one great season in 1997, so I understand why he made it.

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Levens...

… had the one great season in 97. But he also had a series of big performances in late 96, about 150 combined yards in the Superbowl against the Broncos (before Holmgren inexplicably stopped calling his number) and that huge, huge, huge diving TD catch against the Panthers in the conference championship game. That last play is what I think of when I think of Levens…

by Ted Simmons Speed Camp on Jul 19, 2009 8:46 AM CDT reply actions   0 recs

Same here
That last play is what I think of when I think of Levens…

battlekow: Bill is having an oppo-gasm

by Michael M on Jul 20, 2009 12:16 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

What I have always found cool about that play...

If you have a recording of that NFC Championship Game, listen carefully during that play and you can hear the entire stadium gasp and hold breaths before exploding when it was ruled a TD. I have never seen/heard anything quite like it in a football game!

by NYCPac on Jul 21, 2009 10:36 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Freeman...

…is a shoo in, if not for his three 1000+ yard seasons, then simply for “”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_dQrqiFIKI" >The Play."

"stay (green and) gold"

by Green and Bold on Jul 19, 2009 11:05 AM CDT reply actions   0 recs

Bottom Line

The Packers’ HoF is a bit different from the NFL HoF, in that our team does not need to be nearly as stingy as the overall league in admissions. The danger of inflation on the level of the NFL is serious, since there are so many teams and players in the league overall.

On the other hand, I know that I can live with honoring whichever players embossed themselves into our memories as fans, regardless of how long they excelled. Each story saved in the Packer hall of fame simply adds to the incredible, unique story of the only publicly owned team in the sport world’s smallest city.

by NYCPac on Jul 19, 2009 3:37 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

being a pretty young pack fan....

these are two of my favorite packers.

What you fail to understand in your joyless myopia is that baseball is the key to life-- the Rosetta Stone, if you will. If you just understood baseball better all your other questions your, your... the, uh... the aliens, the conspiracies they would all, in their way be answered by the baseball gods.

by winchester5 on Jul 19, 2009 10:48 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

Loved both these guys

Congrats to them!

battlekow: Bill is having an oppo-gasm

by Michael M on Jul 20, 2009 12:17 AM CDT reply actions   0 recs

What? Not a fan of Bennett?

I think that it is reasonable that Edgar Bennett was inducted for much more than just “starting on a winning Super Bowl team.”
To begin with, what he did as a runner was to be the Packers’ first 1,000 yard rusher since The Terd (Terdell Middleton) in 1978!
Sure, three other Packers have rushed for 1,000 SINCE he did it, but Edgar was the first in, what, about 16 years?
He showed that a Packers rusher could actually do it. (In fact, he more or less opened the floodgates.
The Packers weren’t necessarily looking to replace or upgrade from Bennett when he was displaced as the starter in 1997.
Edgar was, in fact, a very good running back, both as a rusher AND as a receiver.
It’s just that Levens was simply better, and the Packers were fortunate to have both on the roster, so Dorsey became the starter.
I will always believe, however, that, had that not been the case, the Packers would have been just fine with Edgar as the guy (at least until Ahman Green came along).
That said, I am pretty certain that, in addition to being the starter on a Super Bowl winning team, EB was inducted for his talent, his work ethic, his (smiling) personality, his character, his service to the community AND, probably as much as anything else, what he has done for the Packers since his playing career ended.
I have ALWAYS been a fan of Mr. Bennett, always will be and, as an avid bowler, hope to get down to Green Bay for his annual charity bowl-a-thon in the not-too-distant future.
This man absolutely deserves to be in the GBPHOF!

The glass is more than half-full.

by NorthStarr on Jul 20, 2009 11:51 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

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