Verne Lewellen

Verne Clark Lewellen (September 29, 1901 – April 16, 1980) was an American professional football player and executive.

In his day, Lawewllen was known as an excellent punter and back for the first three world champion Green Bay Packers teams, who won championships from 1929 to 1931 as the first dynasty of the NFL. While records do not exist in full for his punting, the two-way player Lewellen led the NFL in most career touchdowns from 1929 to 1940, becoming the first player to score 50 career touchdowns. Despite this, he has not been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Early life

Verne Lewellen was born on September 29, 1901, in Garland, Nebraska. A four-sport high school athlete at Lincoln High School in Lincoln, Nebraska. Lewellen attended University of Nebraska, where he captained and quarterbacked the Cornhuskers to a 14–7 defeat of a Notre Dame squad in 1923. Also a pitcher, the Pittsburgh Pirates were ready to sign him until an injury from a train wreck affected his pitching arm.

Professional career Player Jim Crowley - who played against Lewellen in the 1923 Nebraska-Notre Dame matchup - recommended Lewellen to Green Bay Packers coach Curly Lambeau. Lewellen signed with the team and played most of his nine-year career with the Packers. Lewellen played in 102 games for the Packers from 1924 to 1932 (in 1927, the team "lent" him to the New York Yankees for three end-of-season games) and earned all-league first-team honors from 1926–29. His career total of 50 touchdowns remained an NFL record until 1941 when he was passed by Don Hutson. Lewellen's former teammate Charlie Mathys once said that “if he doesn’t get in the Hall of Fame, it’s a joke.” When Lewellen was not announced as one of the 11 players included in the inaugural Hall of Fame class of 1963, his former teammate Johnny Blood, who was a member of the inaugural class, claimed that Verne “should have been in there in front of me and Cal Hubbard.” Despite playing in an era of extremely low scoring football, Lewellen still sits fifth on the Packers list of all-time rushing touchdown leaders.

Executive In 1950, he joined the Packers as a member of the executive committee, served as the Packers' general manager from 1954 through 1958 and business manager from 1959 to 1967.

Together, they helped the team draft many notable stars that would eventually help coach Vince Lombardi win the franchise five NFL Titles, such as Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, Ray Nitschke, Forrest Gregg, Jim Taylor, Jerry Kramer, Ron Kramer, and Max McGee.

Legal career Completing a law degree from University of Nebraska College of Law during his professional football career, Lewellen was named a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame centennial class of 2020.