The Green Bay Packers have had plenty of worthy names in No. 46, but the one that stands out most from the Vince Lombardi years is Hank Gremminger.
That’s not because he piled up the loudest accolades. It’s because he did the kind of work winning teams lean on and too often gets overlooked. Gremminger was a versatile defensive back who kept moving wherever Green Bay needed him, and he helped stabilize the Packers defense as the franchise climbed back to the top.
A First-Team All-SWC pick at Baylor in 1954 and 1955, Gremminger entered the league when the Packers took him in the seventh round of the 1956 NFL Draft with the 80th overall selection. He earned a starting job as a rookie at what was then called defensive halfback and made an early impact, picking off 10 passes over his first three seasons. The problem was that Green Bay wasn’t winning much during that stretch, going 8-27-1.
Everything changed when Lombardi arrived in 1959, and Gremminger fit right into the new order. In 1961, when the Packers won their first NFL Championship in 17 years, he started at left cornerback and added five interceptions, including one in the 37-0 win over the New York Giants in the title game. The next season, with future Pro Football Hall of Famer Herb Adderley taking on a bigger role, Gremminger shifted to strong safety and delivered again, finishing with five interceptions as Green Bay captured another championship.
His value was clear enough that he was named a defensive captain in both 1964 and 1965, and that 1965 season ended with yet another title. It also turned out to be his final year in Green Bay. After falling down the depth chart, he asked for a trade.
The Packers dealt him in 1966 to the Dallas Cowboys, who then sent him to the Atlanta Falcons when the two sides couldn’t agree on a contract. Gremminger never played a snap for Atlanta, choosing retirement instead, then coming out of it to sign with the Los Angeles Rams. He played eight games for the Rams that season before retiring for good.
In 10 seasons with Green Bay, Gremminger never made a Pro Bowl or earned All-Pro honors, but he did finish with 28 interceptions, which still rank 11th in Packers history. The recognition may not have matched his impact, but the production and versatility were there, and his place in the Packers Hall of Fame, earned in 1976, says plenty about how important he was to those Lombardi-era teams.
There were five Packers Hall of Famers to wear No. 46, with Verne Lewellen, Milt Gantenbein, Lon Evans and Russ Letlow all doing it earlier in the franchise’s history. But when it comes to the Lombardi era, Gremminger is the name that belongs at the top.
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