Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Dave Robinson, Class of 2013

One of the more exciting events to come out of Super Bowl week was the announcement that Packer linebacker Dave Robinson has been elected to the Hall of Fame in Canton, the 22nd Packer so honored.

Which is a great excuse to post some pictures of Lombardi's classic 1960s uniform, if we really needed one.

Robinson played ten seasons for the Packers (1963-72) before finishing up his career with two seasons in Washington. As a Packer, he was a three-time Pro Bowler, named first-team All-Pro two times and selected as part of the NFL's All-Decade Team of the 1960s.

Robinson's career in green and gold spanned into the 1970s, meaning he was among the first players to wear his name on the jersey. Names were added in 1970 as part of the merger agreement with the AFL.

Last year, Robinson published a book with Herb Adderly entitled Lombardi's Left Side. With Willie Davis, they anchored the left side of the defensive line during the glory days of the 1960s. Most quarterbacks of the era were right-handed, meaning that offenses were weighted towards the right for passing and running, and a defense's left side was with stopping them. Davis, Adderly and Robinson were perhaps the strongest defensive left side in NFL history, and with Robinson's selection, they are all enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

In 2010, Robinson was immortalized in a different way, as one of three Packer players represented in the Broadway play Lombardi, played by Robert Christopher Riley (far left):

Here he the man himself, attending the Broadway opening:

Congratulations, Mr. Robinson. An honor well-deserved.

No comments: