Don Hutson - Honors and Recognition

Honors and Recognition

Hutson has been honored in a variety of ways. He was elected to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 1951. His number 14, was the first number retired by the Packers (in a public ceremony at a game at City Stadium) on December 2, 1951. Hutson Street in the Packerland Industrial Park in Green Bay is named for him, and in 1994 the Packers named their new state-of-the-art indoor practice facility across the street from Lambeau Field the "Don Hutson Center". Hutson was inducted as a charter member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963, and he is a member of the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame. Current and former Packer executives, such as Bob Harlan and Ron Wolf, have traditionally referred to Hutson as the greatest player the game has known. There is a park named after him in his hometown of Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

Super Bowl XXII was dedicated to Hutson on the occasion of his 75th birthday. He performed the ceremonial coin toss to end the pregame ceremonies.

In 1999, he was ranked sixth on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players, the highest-ranking Packer and the highest-ranking pre-World War II player.

In 2005, the Flagstad family of Green Bay donated to the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame an authentic Packers #14 jersey worn by Hutson. The jersey was found in a trunk of old uniforms in 1946 at the Rockwood Lodge, the Packers' summer training camp from 1946 to 1949, owned by Melvin and Helen Flagstad. The jersey, a rare NFL artifact valued at over $17,000, was donated by son Daniel Flagstad in memory of his parents.

Most sportswriters and football enthusiasts consider Jerry Rice the best receiver ever, but a few critics believe Hutson could have been as good as Rice if he'd played in the same era. Hutson played in an era where the run dominated the game, the pass interference rule favored defenses, and players played both offense and defense. Rice's career touchdown reception record of 197 almost exactly doubled Hutson's 99 TD receptions. Yet Rice played 20 seasons in the modern pass-friendly NFL with 16 regular season games, plus playoffs. In comparison, Hutson played 11 seasons in an era of 10-12 games per season, and when there was a championship game but no playoffs. However, in Rice's defense, it should be noted that Hutson's most productive seasons were from 1942-1945, a time in which the NFL was severely depleted with many its most talented players and prospective college athletes serving in the military during World War II . Hutson's record 99 TD receptions stood for 44 years, not being broken until well into the modern era.

In 2012, the NFL Network named Hutson the greatest Green Bay Packer of all time, beating out other greats like Brett Favre, Bart Starr, and Paul Hornung.