Paul Hornung

Easton Press Paul Hornung books

Golden Boy - signed first edition - 2004

Football player Paul Hornung

Paul Hornung was an American football player who played in the National Football League (NFL) during the 1950s and 1960s. He was born on December 23, 1935, in Louisville, Kentucky, and passed away on November 13, 2020.

Hornung played college football at the University of Notre Dame, where he gained national recognition as a versatile and talented player. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1956, awarded to the most outstanding player in college football. During his college career, Hornung played multiple positions, including quarterback, halfback, and placekicker. In the NFL, Paul Hornung played primarily for the Green Bay Packers. He was selected by the Packers as the first overall pick in the 1957 NFL Draft. Hornung played for the Packers from 1957 to 1966 and was a key player in the team's success under head coach Vince Lombardi.

Hornung was known for his versatility on the field. He was a prolific runner, receiver, and kicker. In 1960, he set an NFL record by scoring 176 points in a single season, a record that stood for over 46 years. His ability to contribute in various ways made him a valuable asset to the Packers. Paul Hornung was a part of four NFL championship teams with the Green Bay Packers in 1961, 1962, 1965, and 1966. He also played in the first two Super Bowls, both won by the Packers. Hornung's contributions to the team earned him the nickname "The Golden Boy."

However, Hornung's career was marred by a suspension for the entire 1963 season due to his involvement in a gambling scandal. He and Detroit Lions defensive lineman Alex Karras were suspended by NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle for betting on NFL games and associating with gamblers.

After retiring from football, Paul Hornung remained involved in sports commentary and various business ventures. Despite the controversy surrounding his suspension, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986. Paul Hornung's impact on the Green Bay Packers and his contributions to the game of football are remembered by fans and historians alike.

Golden Boy

Paul Hornung was football's "Golden Boy" handsome, talented, and fabulously successful. He had a great career at Notre Dame, where he won the Heisman Trophy (the only player ever to win it on a team with a losing record). He was the #1 draft pick in the NFL and went to the Green Bay Packers, a terrible team soon transformed by a new head coach, Vince Lombardi. Hornung's Packer teams would become a dynasty, and ten of his teammates (as well as Lombardi) would eventually join him in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Hornung led the NFL in scoring from 1959 to 1961, setting a single-season scoring record in 1960 that still stands. He was Player of the Year in 1960 and 1961.
Hornung always loved the good life. He had girlfriends all across the country, and he was a regular at Toots Shor's and at clubs in Chicago and Los Angeles. A frustrated Lombardi once asked him whether he wanted to be a player or a playboy, and his teammates joked about his Hollywood ambitions. On game days Hornung was always ready to play, but the night after a game and sometimes even the night before was a different story.
For Hornung, the good life came at a his gambling cost him a year's suspension from the NFL in 1963. He accepted his punishment, refusing to implicate anyone else, but in this autobiography he reveals just how widespread gambling was in the NFL.
However, on the playing field Hornung and his Packer teammates made football history. Bart Starr, Max McGee, Jim Taylor, Ray Nitschke, Jerry Kramer, Jim Ringo, Ron Kramer, Forrest Gregg, Fuzzy Thurston, Willie Davis, Herb Adderley, Willie Wood they're all here, and Hornung has great stories to tell about them and about some of their biggest games together.
Golden Boy is a must-read for football fans, a colorful, candid slice of pigskin history from one of the game's immortal legends.