Green Bay Packers NFL Draft history: Number one pick

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In the years before air travel, the Green Bay Packers would travel to their “away” games by rail, of course. After big games, hundreds or thousands of loyal Packer fans would turn out at the Chicago & North Western railroad depot to welcome the team home. After the 1939 world championship, we see the crowd above giving the Packers a proper celebration. Photograph courtesy of http://www.packershistory.net/1939PACKERS.html

Photos on this post courtesy of packershistory.net.

Here we are sitting just around the corner from the 2015 NFL Draft, a time when each of the 32 teams, including selections by the Green Bay Packers, will be made.

This year’s draft, for the first time in half a century, will be held this year in Chicago, Ill., beginning Thursday, April 30, and continuing through Saturday, May 2.

With that said, we’ve decided to take a look back at the Packers‘ top choices in each of the drafts through the years – the first of which was held in 1936.

Here is our countdown of first round draft choices already published:

1936 – Russ Letlow

1937 – Ed Jankowski

1938 – Cecil Isbell

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Yes, that was 79 years ago, so there are a few draft picks to sift through.

We’ve decided to provide you with a full list of the draft picks from each year and continuing right up until 2014 … which we will consider just as the draft is kicking off at the end of April and beginning of May.

Sounds like fun, right?

Well, if nothing else it will give us a chance to look at how the draft process has changed over the years and remember the top draft selections made by the Packers and how they impacted the team and the league.

So, let’s keep the ball rolling today with the full list of Packers’ picks of the college players that were brought to Green Bay during the 19 rounds (Yes! Nineteen rounds!) of the draft in 1939:

	Misc			Games	Passing	Rushing	Receiving
Rk	Year	Rnd	Pick		Pos	DrAge	From	To	AP1	PB	St	CarAV	G	GS	QBrec	Cmp	Att	Yds	TD	Int	Att	Yds	TD	Rec	Yds	TD	Int	Sk	College/Univ
1	1939	1	9	Larry Buhler	B	22	1939	1941	0	1	1	0	21	10							41	121	0				2		Minnesota
2	1939	3	24	Charley Brock	C	23	1939	1947	1	3	7	0	92	47													20		Nebraska
3	1939	5	39	Lynn Hovland	G				0	0	0																		Wisconsin
4	1939	6	49	Larry Craig	QB	23	1939	1949	0	3	9	0	121	76							10	16	0	14	155	0	2		South Carolina
5	1939	7	59	Frank Twedell	G	22	1939	1939	0	0	0	0	4	0															Minnesota
6	1939	8	69	Paul Kell	T	24	1939	1940	0	1	0	0	20	4															Notre Dame
7	1939	9	79	Johnny Hall	WB	22	1940	1943	0	0	2	0	37	21		2	9	24	0	4	118	296	3	28	537	5	4		TCU
8	1939	10	89	Vince Gavre	B				0	0	0																		Wisconsin
9	1939	11	99	Charley Sprague	E				0	0	0																		SMU
10	1939	13	119	Dan Elmer	C				0	0	0																		Minnesota
11	1939	14	129	Bill Badgett	T				0	0	0																		Georgia
12	1939	15	139	Tom Greenfield	C	21	1939	1941	0	1	0	0	22	3													1		Arizona
13	1939	16	149	Roy Bellin	B				0	0	0																		Wisconsin
14	1939	17	159	John Yerby	E				0	0	0																		Oregon
15	1939	18	169	Frank Balazs	FB	21	1939	1945	0	1	0	0	24	4		0	5	0	0	3	60	228	1	5	50	0	1		Iowa
16	1939	19	179	John Brennan	G		1939	1939	0	0	0	0	2	0															Michigan
17	1939	20	189	Charlie Schultz	T	23	1939	1941	0	1	1	0	21	8															Minnesota
18	1939	21	194	Willard Hofer	B				0	0	0																		Notre Dame
19	1939	22	199	Bill Gunther	B				0	0	0																		Santa Clara

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/17/2015.

Next: Larry Buhler - 1939 first round selection

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Green Bay Packers NFL Draft history: Number one pick – 1939

By Raymond Rivard | Feb 18, 2015

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