The Packers have cycled through plenty of No. 75s over the years, but this one belongs to the biggest name on the list by a wide margin: Forrest Gregg.
Ken Ruettgers has a strong case of his own and stands as the other Packers Hall of Famer among the No. 75 group. He started 147 games for Green Bay across the regular season and postseason from 1985 to 1996, and while his final season was trimmed to four games, he still got a ring after Super Bowl 31. That’s a fitting finish for a player who earned every bit of his place in team history.
Still, Gregg is the easy choice at the top.
A two-time All-SWC selection at SMU in 1954 and 1955, Gregg was drafted by Green Bay in the second round of the 1956 NFL Draft with the 20th overall pick. His early career was interrupted by military service, which cost him the entire 1957 season, though he stayed in shape by playing for the 11-man all-Armed Forces All-Star Team. He started only three games over his first two seasons, but once Vince Lombardi became head coach in 1959, Gregg locked in at right tackle and took off.
From there, he turned into one of the league’s premier linemen. He earned Pro Bowl honors and a Second-Team All-Pro selection in his first season as a full-time starter under Lombardi, and the accolades kept piling up as Green Bay stacked championships. The Packers won five NFL Championships in the 1960s, and Gregg was right in the middle of that run as the team reached the first two Super Bowls.
At 6-foot-4 and 250 pounds, Gregg was versatile enough to move wherever Green Bay needed him. He filled in at right guard at times and spent the entire 1965 season at left guard.
Wherever he lined up, the production stayed elite. Over the final nine seasons of the Lombardi era from 1960 to 1968, Gregg made eight Pro Bowls and earned seven First-Team All-Pro nods, the second-most in franchise history behind only Don Hutson’s eight.
That kind of résumé makes him the most decorated player of the Lombardi dynasty, and that says plenty all by itself.
Gregg stayed with the Packers through the 1970 season, working as a player-coach in his final two years in Green Bay. He wrapped up his playing career with one season in Dallas and picked up a sixth championship as the Cowboys won their first Super Bowl to finish the 1971 campaign.
After that, he moved into coaching full-time and eventually became head coach of the Cleveland Browns, winning NFL Coach of the Year in 1976. He later coached the Cincinnati Bengals, leading them to a Super Bowl, and then returned to Green Bay for four seasons from 1984 to 1987 before going back to SMU.
Gregg was inducted into both the Packers Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977.
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