Welcome back to the sixth installment of our 100-part series on the best Green Bay Packers players to wear every jersey from No. 0 to No. 99.
For the first five entries, we honestly haven't had to think very hard. Truth be told, the only one in which we've really had to make a genuine choice was, well, No. 1, as we had to decide between Curly Lambeau and Micah Parsons. But the rest have been no-brainers, and that's yet again the case here at No. 5, a digit that's been worn by a dozen different Packers players over the years.
- Hank Bruder, HB/FB
- Curtis Burrow, K
- Vince Ferragamo, QB
- Willie Gillus, QB
- Jack Gray, E
- Paul Hornung, HB/FB/K
- Don Majkowksi, QB
- Charlie Mathys, QB
- Bob Monnett, QB/HB
- Dick O'Donnell, E
- Pid Purdy, QB
- Ray Riddick, E
Now, it should be noted that there are actually five members of the Packers Hall of Fame on this list of 12, the first four of whom wore the number in either the 1920s or the 1930s, those being Hank Bruder, Charlie Mathys, Bob Monnett, and Dick O'Donnell.
But the clear-cut call here, of course, is Paul Hornung.
Paul Hornung led the NFL in scoring three times and still has the second-most points in a single season
A two-time All-American and the 1956 Heisman Trophy winner at Notre Dame, which is just absolutely wild considering the Fighting Irish were just 2-8 that year, Hornung was taken by the Packers with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1957 NFL Draft and quickly became one of the top players in the NFL, one whom the legendary Vince Lombardi would later say was the greatest player he ever coached.
While he didn't play on both offense and defense as he had at Notre Dame, Hornung did play multiple positions for the Packers, serving as both the team's primary rusher and the kicker. As such, the Louisville native was consistently among the league leaders in scoring and led the NFL in points in back-to-back-to-back years from 1959 to 1961, a three-season stretch in which he earned two trips to the Pro Bowl and three total All-Pro selections (two First Team, one Second Team) and was named 1961 NFL MVP.
Oddly enough, that MVP campaign was not the highest-scoring season of his career. That came a year earlier in 1960 when he put up 176 points, tallying 78 on 13 rushing touchdowns, another 12 on two receiving scores, 41 on extra-point attempts, and another 45 from 15 made field goals.
To this day, those 176 points still stand as the second-most in any single season in NFL history, trailing only the 186 posted by then-San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson in 2006. Had the two touchdown passes Hornung threw in 1960 counted toward his point total, he'd have the record, but that's not how things work.
Nevertheless, he held the record for nearly half a century, and he does actually still hold a few records, as he's the only player in league history with two games of 30 points or more, both of which came against the Baltimore Colts (33 1961, 30 in 1965), as well as the only player with three games of 25 points or more, as he added a 28-pointer against the Minnesota Vikings in 1962.
Hornung played nine seasons for the Packers, not including his suspension for the 1963 campaign due to gambling issues, and helped lead the team to four NFL titles. He also suited up for Green Bay in the first-ever Super Bowl, which was then called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game, but he was the only player wearing Green & Gold not to participate in the 35-10 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, as he was dealing with a neck injury that would ultimately end his career.
While Hornung's No. 5 was unofficially retired by Lombardi in 1967, it's not one of the six that have been officially retired by the team. That said, though, just four players have worn it since Hornung left the league, all in the 1980s, with kicker Curtis Burrow the last to do so in 1988.
Other Green Bay Packers jersey honorees
- No. 0: There's literally only one choice here
- No. 1: Micah Parsons isn't the pick just yet
- No. 2: The Packers' all-time leading scorer
- No. 3: The second player in franchise history to have his jersey retired
- No. 4: There's no introduction needed here
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