Fellow Packers Speak on Nitschke
Many Packers of the Lombardi era wrote books describing
the teamwork that went into their successful run.
Sometimes I thought of Ray as more of an opponent than a teammate, he
inflicted so much damage in practice. He and Jimmy (Taylor), just didn't
know what it was like to brother-in-law, to ease up.
-Jerry Kramer in Distant Replay
In practice I went against Nitschke. Its true that he approached practices,
essentially, like he was approaching games. Ray took the position that he
had a reputation to uphold, so he'd go out on the field and whether he had
a helmet on or not, you'd better have your eyes open because Ray was
just liable to try to make you eat a bone. He was certainly tough.
Lombardi used to have this great big tower that he'd climb up and he'd
watch practice from. Well, one day the doggone thing, the wind came up,
and ... the damn thing started toppling and it came over and hit Ray right
on top of the helmet and, in fact, drove one of the bolts right through the
plastic on his helmet and knocked him to the ground. It could have been a
bad situation. He got up and said, "Whoa wait a minute," and walked
away.
-Ken Bowman in
Glory of Titletown
Nitschke loved to tell the story of when a tower fell on him, hit him on the
head flattened him.
"Who is it?," Lombardi shouted, "Who got hit?" Coach was obviously
worried. "Nitschke," Bart Starr said. Coach was obviously relieved,
"Oh," he said. "Lets get back to practice."
-Jerry Kramer in Distant Replay
The most amazing thing about Nitschke is that he played his entire career
on one leg. His left leg had been injured so much in High School and
College that the muscles had atrophied and never fully regenerated His
left leg was 50 percent smaller than his right.
-Domenic Gentile, Packer trainer, The Packer Tapes
Ray didn't have an easy childhood. He grew up without any luxuries,
without anyone coming close to spoiling him. "You know," he told me
tonight, "once when I was a little kid, someone gave me a ride in a
Lincoln. Ever since then I've dreamed of owning one. I never thought I
would." I swear Ray was ready to bawl, but I don't suppose any NFL
ball carrier would believe that.
-Jerry Kramer,Instant Replay, on the Christmas Jackie
gave Ray a Lincoln
Ray had great study habits and analyzed as much film as Starr. He used
to drive Lombardi crazy during practice because he was able to call out all
the offensive plays before the snap. He would run around screaming,
"Watch out for the pass; watch out for the draw!" Vince would tell him to
shut up. Ray would just grin; after a play or two he would start
screaming again.
-Domenic Gentile, Packer trainer, The Packer Tapes
"It gets so they want to know where Nitschke is lined up on every play --
they become quite conscience of his presence."
-Phil Bengtson, 1961
Ray Nitschke is just really starting to come into his strength. He hits
harder than anyone I've ever seen. He likes it. He loves to hit.
-Paul Hornung, Football and the Single Man, 1965
Compilation (c) 1998 Keith Brewster. Items as noted.
Not endorsed by Ray Nitschke, the Green Bay Packers or the NFL.
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