Green Bay Packers, sit here with 30 weeks..."/> Green Bay Packers, sit here with 30 weeks..."/>

Thirty Sundays to NFL football: 30 reasons why we love the Green Bay Packers

Don Majkowski with the guy who succeeded him as Packers quarterback. Raymond T. Rivard photograph
Don Majkowski with the guy who succeeded him as Packers quarterback. Raymond T. Rivard photograph /
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Johnnie Gray was a hard-hitting safety for the Green Bay Packers. Raymond T. Rivard photograph
Johnnie Gray was a hard-hitting safety for the Green Bay Packers. Raymond T. Rivard photograph /

Johnnie Gray

Johnnie Gray isn’t always included in lists of this type, but I was always a huge fan of Johnnie. He was a hitter and the guy who always seemed to be around the ball.

Known these days as a television personality, Johnnie in his day was one heck of a free safety.

Though he scored just one touchdown off of interceptions, he was productive over the course of his nine years in the league with Green Bay. His best years in interception numbers was in 1979 and 1980 when he had five in each of those two seasons. During his career he picked off 22 passes.

Tackle statistics weren’t kept during his career, but he was a tackling machine – the type of safety who was always sticking his nose into ball carriers and into piles of bodies.

One might note that he also recovered 22 fumbles during his career, an indication of his toughness on the field.

Johnnie is probably one of the most underrated of those who manned defensive backfields for the Green Bay Packers in the modern era.

Next: Vince Lombardi