Don Hutson

In this edition of the legends of Football History we discuss the football career of Don Hutson and his impact on the way the game is played today.

Don Hutson was born on January 31, 1913 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas - The legenday football end is celebrated as one of the finest offensive pass catchers of all time and really helped establish the end position as a viable weapon in an offensive arsenal. He grew up in Arkansas and became a terrific athlete and a few different sports at Pine Bluff High school. Hutson limited himself to only playing football during his senior high school season. In 1931, a teammate, Bob Seawall was recruited by Alabama and convinced his buddy Don to go with him to Tuscaloosa. Hutson was almost immediately signed to a baseball scholarship of all things and played centerfield for the Tide. He also joined the track team, competing in the 100- and 220-yard distances. In addition to competing in these sports, Hutson theen went after his real passion and walked on to the school's football team as a freshman. Initially, his small size—6-feet, 1-inch and 160 pound really concerned the coaching staff. However when they saw his performance on the track team, including a reported 9.7-second finish in the 100-yard dash, they knew this man could run like the wind so he ended up earning himself a spot on the roster. 

The footballfoundation.org site tells how with great route running, elusive speed and smarts Don Hutson set the standard for pass receivers to come. His teammate in 1934 was the legendary Paul Bear Bryant who once noted that Hutson was such a standout that Bryant later joked he was known as "the other end" during his time as a player. Known as the "Alabama Antelope," Hutson once hauled in six passes for 165 yards and two touchdowns in Alabama's 29- 13 victory over Stanford in the Rose Bowl. Don was an All-America selection in 1934. That season was brilliant by Hutson as he played signature games such as when he scored the winning touchdown on a 9-yard, end-around play against Tennessee in a 13-6 Tide victory. In the Clemson game that year he caught six passes and scored two for touchdowns. The National Football Foundation placed Don Hutson into the inaugural College Football Hall of Fame class in 1951. 

Hutson stood 6 foot-1 inch tall and weighed in at 183 pounds, and at the time he was sort of an oddball. What is a guy that skinny going to be able to do to help the offense? Surely he can't keep a charging defensive end at bay for very long. What he could do was run and run very fast. He was clocked at 9.71 seconds in the 100-yard dash. He could outrun every single defender in the game of football at the time. The other thing he could do was run set passing routes. Many give Hutson the credit for creating the route tree we celebrate as a fundamental in today's passing game.

After leaving Alabama, Hutson played 11 seasons with the Green Bay Packers. He was all-pro 9 times, even leading the league in pass receptions 8 different times as he led the league in scoring 5 times. Ends simply did not do these things. The Green Bay Packers exposed defenses by using the speed, skill, and maneuvering of a little guy and it worked as eventually everyone copied the format. This really opened up football to not just be a game of big brutes, but also to have room for the talented slighter-built players as well.

One of his crowning accomplishments on the gridiron was to be named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player twice! He finished his pro career with 7991 yards on 488 pass receptions. Don Hutson had no trouble gaining entrance into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963.

In a July 22, 1943 article found in that day's edition of the Harrisburg Telegraph in Pennsylvania. The article stated that Green Bay Packers star receiver Don Hutson confirmed that he would not be returning to the NFL to play in the upcoming season after setting 16 different records the year prior. Speculation was that Hutson made his decision to retire after quarterback Cecil Isbell announced that he was leaving the pro circuit to coach at Purdue. Hutson refuted these claims and said his decision to leave the playing field was made long before Isbell's. Despite these reports the Alabama Antelope played all the way through the 1945 season. We will assume the war effort limiting the amount of Pro players available and the persuasive manner of one Coach Curly Lambeau could have helped sway Hutson to return to the Packers.

During his time with the team, the Packers had won three NFL Championships and four Western Division Championships. Hutson held 18 major NFL receiving records when he retired in 1945 and his career total of 99 touchdowns would stand for more than four decades.
After hanging up his helmet for the last time, Hutson would stay on with the Packers as an assistant coach until 1948. In 1950 he had a career path change when he moved  to Racine, Wisconsin, where he opened a pair of car dealerships. He retired in 1984 and moved to Rancho Mirage, California, where he died on June 26, 1997. 

It is not winder that this amazing man was a charter member of both the College Football and the Pro Football Halls of Fame.

The picture in the banner above is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of 14 in the style used by the Green Bay Packers during the time of Don Hutson, for whom it was retired. Official colors confirmed by sportscolors.org.