Arnie Herber is the easy answer for the best Green Bay Packers player to wear No. 38.
That number has had plenty of Packers hands on it over the years, from Jug Earp, Cal Hubbard and Tobin Rote to more recent names like Tramon Williams. Hubbard and Earp both landed in the Packers Hall of Fame, and Hubbard also made it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Rote wore No. 38 early in his Green Bay run. Williams never reached Packers Hall of Fame status, but his case is strong all the same: 30 interceptions in 10 seasons and a Pro Bowl nod during the 2010 title season.
Still, Herber sits above the rest. He was the record-setting quarterback who helped power Green Bay to four NFL titles and piled up numbers that stood at the top of the sport for years.
A Green Bay native, Herber’s path to the Packers was anything but typical. He played only two seasons of college football, spending 1928 on Wisconsin’s freshman team before moving on to Regis University in Denver in 1929.
That school shut down its football program after his season. Back home, Herber worked odd jobs around the Packers’ clubhouse before Curly Lambeau gave him a tryout.
He joined the team at 20, only two years after graduating from Green Bay West High School.
Herber wore a few different numbers in Green Bay before settling into No. 38.
He played with No. 12 in 1930, No. 26 in 1931, No. 41 in 1932 and 1933, and No. 45 in 1934. Then came the stretch that defined him: No. 38 for the final six years of his 11-season Packers career, from 1935 to 1940.
Calling Herber simply a quarterback doesn’t quite tell the full story. He started only 11 games at quarterback and did most of his throwing from the halfback spot, usually on the right side. Wherever he lined up, though, he was ahead of his time as a passer.
By the time he put on No. 38, he already had two passing yards titles. In 1935, he finished second in the league, and that season also marked Don Hutson’s first year in the NFL. The Herber-to-Hutson connection quickly became one of the league’s most dangerous combinations.
It exploded in 1936, when Herber became the first player in NFL history to top 1,000 passing yards. He finished with 1,239 yards and tied a league record with 11 touchdown passes. The Packers won the NFL Championship that year.
He hit another milestone in 1939, becoming the first player ever to reach 1,000 passing yards twice. He threw for 1,107 yards that season, even while splitting passing duties with Cecil Isbell, who added 749 yards of his own. Green Bay won the title again.
When Herber retired after the 1940 season, his 6,749 passing yards were the most in NFL history, and he was tied for the league lead with 66 touchdown passes. He later returned for two seasons with the New York Giants in 1944 and 1945, but his Packers legacy was already set: four NFL championships and a place among the great passers of the league’s early days.
Herber was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1966 and into the Packers Hall of Fame in 1972.
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