Jim Tayjor
Pro Football Hall of Fame photograph

Thursday, March 7, the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Allstate Insurance will team together in its ongoing program to honor Hall of Fame inductees by focusing on Jim Taylor as part of the Hometown Hall of Famer program.

The national program selects pro football legends and gives them a special day of recognition in their home town – this time for Taylor in Baton Rouge, La.

Taylor was described in a special press release issued this week:

A Baton Rouge native, Taylor was a standout fullback at Louisiana State University, and an All-American player in 1957. Taylor was a second round draft pick (15th overall) in the 1958 NFL Draft where he was selected by Green Bay. At the same time that the legendary Vince Lombardi took over the coaching reigns, Taylor quickly became a key player for the Packers, best known for his rugged fierceness on the field.

Thousand-yard seasons became a specialty for Taylor. He went over the 1,000-yard mark in five straight seasons beginning in 1960, reaching his peak in 1962 with a career-high of 1,474 yards and was named NFL Player of the Year. Taylor was a member of four Green Bay Packers NFL Championship teams, the Super Bowl I Packer team, and was selected to five consecutive Pro Bowls. He won the NFL rushing title in 1962, and remained the Packers’ all-time leading rusher until his record was broken in 2009.

After playing nine seasons with the Packers, Taylor played one final season with the New Orleans Saints before retiring from pro football in 1967. He ended his career with 8,597 yards and 83 rushing touchdowns.

Taylor was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1976.

Here are Taylor’s career statistics:

For more information about the program, visit the Pro Football Hall of Fame website, and view event videos at www.youtube.com/allstate.

Here’s some rare 1960 season newsreel highlights including Jim Taylor …

The Packers of the 1960s …

Jim Taylor …

The post below was provided today by the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame and details one’s retelling of a story told by the late great Vince Lombardi’s wife, Marie, way back in 1975. However, it’s one that I’ve never heard and doubt that you have either.

Take a short moment to give it a read. Packers fans everywhere are sure to understand exactly what Vince meant at the time he uttered his final remembrance of Green Bay.

Vince Lombardi’s Final Remembrance of Green Bay

This remarkable memory is courtesy of Jim DeWees. Jim is a Hall of Fame Executive Committee Member on the Board of Directors for the Packers Hall of Fame, Inc.

As a long-time member of the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame Board of Directors and Executive Committee, I have my own personal collection of Packers stories.

One I’d like to share one with you today stands out in my mind as truly unique.

Several years ago, the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame Induction Banquet was held at the Riverside Ballroom in Green Bay. It was 1975, the year that Vince Lombardi and several of his players were inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame. This group included Don Chandler, Willie Davis, Paul Hornung, Henry Jordan, Jerry Kramer, Ron Kramer, Max McGee, Jim Taylor and Fuzzy Thurston. The banquet, of course, was sold out, and packed with admirers and fans.

Marie Lombardi was there to accept the award on behalf of her husband. It was an emotional time, as it was a short time after he had passed away. She told the audience about a conversation she had with Vince a couple days before he died.

She said, “I was sitting on the edge of the bed and Vini (as she always called him) was so sick and semi-conscious. He awoke and said, “Marie, honey, I want to go home.”

I said, “You are home.”

And Vini said, “No, I mean I want to go home to Green Bay.”

This was a tear-jerking moment for everyone.

There was never a question about how the city of Green Bay felt about Vince Lombardi.

Now we know how Vince Lombardi really felt about Green Bay.

Ahman Green is the Packers all-time leading rusher.

The Green Bay Packers’ all-time leading rusher announced Friday his career was done.

Ahman Green said Friday that after 12 seasons in the league he was hoping to arrange for a ceremonial one day contact with the Packers so he could officially retire as a member of the team.

And rightly so.

Though Green left the Packers in 2006 in free agency, he gave the team several years of production and left just 47 yards shy of Jim Taylor’s team rushing record. After leaving the Packers, Green’s career was never the same but he did get the chance in 2009 to return to Green Bay in a back-up role and capture the rushing record.

In 2009 as a backup for the Packers, Green carried the ball 41 times for 160 yards – good enough to break Hall of Famer Jim Taylor’s team mark. (more…)