Best Green Bay Packers player to wear No. 44 made the HOF despite having only one eye

Welcome back to Lombardi Ave's series on the greatest Green Bay Packers players to wear every jersey number from No. 0 to No. 99.

We've featured several legends here in the 40s (and throughout the entire series, of course), and we've got yet another here at No. 44, and this particular player is one of the all-time great success stories in NFL history.

But before we break all that down, let's first have a look at every player who's worn No. 44 for Green Bay over the years.

Johnathan Abram, S
Donny Anderson, RB
Vickey Ray Anderson, FB
Marger Apsit, B
Donatello Brown, CB
Cy Casper, B
Chris Darkins, DB
Najeh Davenport, RB
Bobby Dillon, S
Zaire Franklin, LB
Ralen Goforth, LB
Buckets Goldenberg, G/B
Charlie Hall, DB
Jerry Holmes, CB
Bob Kroll, S
Chris Mandeville, DB
Von Mansfield, DB
Larry Marks, B
Clarence McGeary, DE
Dexter McNabb, FB
Antonio Morrison, LB
Brayden Narveson, K
Dwayne O'Steen, CB
Henry Pearson, FB
Baby Ray, OT
Matt Snider, FB
James Starks, RB
Dave Stephenson, OL
Ty Summers, LB

As it's gone for many of our entries, several members of the Packers Hall of Fame are included on the list above.

The winner of the entry before this one, Buckets Goldenberg, wore it for a few seasons from 1935 to 1937 before switching to No. 43. And when he made that switch, legendary left tackle Baby Ray took it and sported it for 10 of his 11 seasons.

Running back Donny Anderson, who was a key contributor for the Vince Lombardi-led teams that won the first two Super Bowls, wore it for his entire six-year run in Green Bay from 1966 to 1971, and while not a Packers Hall of Famer, we certainly have to shout out James Starks, who showed out as a rookie during the 2010 postseason in helping the Packers to a Super Bowl victory and amassed 3,523 total yards from scrimmage during his seven-year stint with the club from 2010 to 2016.

But the clear-cut call here is safety Bobby Dillon, who sadly never won a ring as he got caught between the Lambeau and Lombardi eras but still put together a Hall of Fame career despite only having the use of one eye.

Bobby Dillon lost his left eye at age 10 but went on to a Hall of Fame career with the Green Bay Packers

A Texas native, Dillon got a piece of metal stuck in his left eye at a very young age, causing a cataract, which was surgically removed. But at the age of nine, he was accidentally hit with a board in that same eye, which led to deterioration and prevented it from dilating. As a result, at age 10, he ultimately had the eye completely removed, replacing it with a glass one.

Nevertheless, he became a football star in high school and earned a scholarship to play collegiately for the Texas Longhorns, for whom he starred at safety and also returned punts, earning both First-Team All-SWC and First-Team All-American honors in his final year with the team in 1951.

Dillon was taken by Green Bay in the third round of the 1952 NFL Draft with the 28th overall selection and made an immediate impact, starting all 12 games and tying for the team lead with four interceptions.

The following season, despite missing the final two games of the year with a knee injury, he tallied nine interceptions. And a portion of that total was historic, as he tied an NFL record that stands to this day with four picks for the Packers on Thanksgiving Day against the Detroit Lions. Green Bay still lost the game, 34-15, but that contest at least allowed him to showcase his skills to the entire country, as that was the first nationally televised Thanksgiving Day game in NFL history.

And his career just took off from there.

In the five-season stretch from 1954 to 1958, Dillon earned five total All-Pro selections, four on the First Team and one on the Second Team, and four trips to the Pro Bowl, recording 38 interceptions in that time.

Sadly, for the first seven seasons of his career, he never once experienced a winning season and played for four different head coaches. It wasn't until Vince Lombardi arrived in 1959 that Dillon finally knew what that felt like, as the Packers went 7-5 that season, which ultimately turned out to be Dillon's last, as he suffered a leg injury and lost his starting spot toward the end of the year. He ultimately retired from football following that '59 campaign at just 29 years of age.

While Dillon played just eight seasons, his 52 career interceptions, five of which he returned for touchdowns, remain the most in franchise history. While he was inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame in 1974, he was overlooked for the Pro Football Hall of Fame for more than half a century, as he wasn't voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame until 2020. Sadly, that announcement came after he passed away in 2019 at the age of 89.

Nevertheless, Bobby Dillon remains an all-time NFL and Packers great, and the fact that he had the career he did with only one eye is absolutely remarkable.

Other Green Bay Packers jersey honorees

This list will be updated daily until all 100 entries are complete, so be sure to check back in with Lombardi Ave for updates.

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Bobby Dillon lost his left eye at age 10 but went on to a Hall of Fame career with the Green Bay Packers

Other Green Bay Packers jersey honorees

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