Green Bay Packers: Lee Roy Caffey one of the best to wear #60

The Green Bay Packers have a long and rich history of championships and Hall of Fame players gracing the fields in Packers News.

But as we continue to count down the jersey numbers, today we stop at #60, a number that has been worn by just 15 players over the past 50 years.

Frankly, there haven’t been many players whose names I recognize.

Maybe you remember Kurt Allerman, or Dave Croston, or Gene McGuire?

No, I don’t either.

You might remember Rob Davis, who served well as the team’s long-snapper for 10 years. He also just left the Packers organization as the Director of Player Development.

Thomas Evans, a rookie guard out of Richmond, is the player who now wears the number. Whether he makes it through training camp and sticks with the 53-man roster is highly unlikely, which will leave the team once again without a #60

Of all the players who have excelled while wearing #60 for the Packers, there was one who was exceptional – the late Lee Roy Caffey.

More from Lombardi Ave

He was a Packers linebacker who played for the Lombardi teams of the 60s, teaming up with Ray Nitschke and Dave Robinson as a linebacking trio that wrought havoc among Packers opponents at the time.

John Maxymuk, the author of “By the Numbers: Jersey numbers and the players who wore them,” focuses an entire chapter on Caffey.

Here’s what Maxymuk has to say about Caffey:

"Lee Roy Caffey … was drafted in 1963 by the Eagles and played alongside another future Packer linebacker, Dave Robinson, in the College All Star Game that August.Caffey went from helping beat the Packers 20-17 in the All Star Game to the Eagles training camp. On their request he had bulked up from 208 to 240 pounds, mostly by eating milkshakes fortified with eggs. He made the team, but spent just one year in Philadelphia before Lombardi traded Jim Ringo and Earl Gros for Caffey and a number one draft choice … Lee Roy would give the Packers all-league-caliber play for several years. Adding in the number one pick (who would turn out to be fellow Texan Donny Anderson) made the deal a steal.Lee Roy Caffey was big, fast, and smart; he played in the Pro Bowl in 1965 and was named All Pro in 1966. Furthermore, like his two fellow linebackers, Robinson and Nitschke, Caffey had been an offensive star as well in college and knew what to do with the ball when he came up with a turnover. He returned interceptions for touchdowns in both 1965 and 1966.Lee Roy’s biggest contribution to the Packers’ three-peat were two crucial plays he made in the third quarter of 1967’s Ice Bowl. For the first play, the Packers were up 14-10 early in the third quarter, but the momentum had shifted fully to the Cowboys. Dallas had driven to the Green Bay 22 and faced a third-and-14. Quarterback Don Meredith started to scramble and got down to the 13 when Caffey hit him just right, causing a fumble that was recovered by Herb Adderley. Later in the same quarter, after a short punt, the Cowboys moved the ball to the Packer 30 and faced a third-and-five. On a rare blitz, Caffey shot in and nailed Meredith for a nine-yard loss and forced a 47-yard field goal attempt that fell short.Lee Roy was with the Packers for six years. In 1970, he was traded to the Bears along with Bob Jeter and Elijah Pitts, and he moved on to the Cowboys in 1971 where he won another Super Bowl ring along with fellow former Packers Forrest Gregg and Herb Adderley.Sadly, he died at the young age of 52 of colon cancer."

Next: Breaking down the Packers roster: Outside linebackers

The following are all the players since 1950 to wear #6 for the Green Bay Packers, courtesy of profootballrefrerence.com:

	From	To	AV
Kurt Allerman	1980	1981	5
John Anderson	1978	1978	4
Ed Blaine	1962	1962	3
Lee Roy Caffey	1964	1969	50
Dave Croston	1988	1988	1
Rob Davis	1997	2007	9
Chris Donaldson	2011	2011
Bobby Houston	1990	1990	0
Steve Knutson	1976	1977	7
Jim Laslavic	1982	1982	1
Rydell Malancon	1987	1987	2
Gene McGuire	1996	1996	1
Blake Moore	1984	1985	4
Lance Zeno	1993	1993	0

Our countdown, from the beginning:

Home/Green Bay Packers News