Forrest Gregg obit

Forrest Gregg, Hall of Fame lineman and former NFL coach, dies at 85
He was not on the list.

Hall of Fame offensive lineman Forrest Gregg, an ironman presence on championship Packers teams of the 1960s and later an NFL coach, died Friday, the Pro Football Hall of Fame confirmed. He was 85.

"The game lost a giant today. Forrest Gregg exemplified greatness during a legendary career that earned him a bronzed bust in Canton,” Hall of Fame President and CEO David Baker said in a statement. “He was the type of player who led by example and, in doing so, raised the level of play of all those around him."

A second-round draft pick out of SMU in 1956, Gregg — later described by legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi as "the best player I ever coached" — played in a then-record 188 consecutive games from 1956 through 1971, his final NFL season spent with the Super Bowl-bound Cowboys.

While with the Packers, Gregg — born the son of a farmer in tiny Birthright, Texas, in 1933 — was part of a rarity in what some consider the one of the NFL's golden eras: an offensive line that shined as a unit to the point that the individuals became household names.

Playing alongside Fuzzy Thurston, Jerry Kramer and Bill Curry, among others, Gregg — smallish even by the era's standards at 249 pounds — helped the Packers dominate the 1960s, including winning the first two Super Bowls.

A player on six NFL championship teams, Gregg was voted to the league's 75th Anniversary All-Time Team and enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977 in a class that included his Packers quarterback, Bart Starr.

After his retirement as a player, he coached 11 seasons in the NFL, going 75-85-1, the most noteworthy (and successful) year being 1981 with the Bengals, who he led that year to a 12-4 mark and the franchise's first Super Bowl appearance, a pulsing 26-21 loss to Joe Montana's 49ers.

Per the Cincinnati Bengals: "Two years later, on Christmas Eve, Gregg stunned the Bengals when he announced that he was taking the job that no son of Lombardi could turn down: Packers head coach."

The move didn't have a fairytale finish.

Gregg — like Lombardi, an imposing, iron-fisted disciplinarian — was 25-37 in Green Bay, never exceeding .500 or finishing higher than second place.

After his ill-fated turn as Green Bay's coach, Gregg had one last big contribution to make on the field — and an opportunity show a softer side in the process.

SMU, his alma mater, asked him in the late 1980s to return to the Hilltop to rebuild its football program from the ruins of the NCAA-mandated death penalty for paying players.

Wrote The New York Times in 2012:

"Gregg could not refuse his alma mater when it asked him to not so much return S.M.U. to glory but merely to the football sidelines honorably in 1989. He was not hired for the six championships he won as a player or his acumen with X’s and O’s. … S.M.U. needed a coach who could simultaneously restore integrity and endure a beating on and off the field. Gregg had 15 scholarships to use his first year and when he looked at his practice field, he saw the equivalent of 80 pocketknives hardly ready for a season-long fight with a flotilla of college football’s aircraft destroyers."

In two seasons under Gregg, the Mustangs went 3-19. “I never coached a group of kids that had more courage,” he said, adding, "It was one of the most pleasurable experiences in my football life. Period.”

Gregg was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2011 and became a high-profile spokesperson and advocate for those with the degenerative neurological condition.

 

Some of his former teammates, players he coached, team owners, coaches and other personnel include: 

Lisle Blackbourn, Bob Skoronski, Jack Losch, Al Carmichael, Tobin Rote, Bart Starr, Jerry Smith, Bobby Dillon, Billy Howton, Jim Ringo, John Sandusky, Buddy Brown, Len Szafaryn, Ray McLean, Dominic Olejniczak, Verne Lewellen, Paul Hornung, Jim Taylor, Ray Nitschke, Jerry Kramer, Ron Kramer, Max McGee, Bill Forester, Dan Currie, Vince Lombardi, Ken Gray, Babe Parilli, Len Ford, Don McIlhenny, Boyd Dowler, Henry Jordan, Fred Fuzzy Thurston, Norm Masters, Emlen Tunnell, Lew Carpenter, Timothy Brown, Tom Moore, Bob Jeter, Willie Wood, Lee Folkins, Elijah Pitts, Ben Agajanian, Hank Gremminger, Willie Davis, Bill Quinlan, Jesse Whittenton, Gary Knafelc, Herb Adderley, Earl Gros, Ernie Green, Tom Fears, John Thurman "Red" Cochran, Phil Bengtson, Zeke Bratkowski, Dave Robinson, Marv Fleming, Lee Roy Caffey, Donny Anderson, Lionel Aldridge, Ken Bowman, Bill Curry, Carroll Dale, Ron Kostelnik, Don Chandler, Tom Brown, Doug Hart, Gale Gillingham, Jim Grabowski, William Richard "Red" Mack, Bill Anderson, Steve Wright, Bob Brown, Travis Williams, Fred Carr, Mike Mercer, Dave Hampton, Mike McCoy, Ken Ellis, Dale Livingston, Clarence Sweeney Williams, Clint Murchison, Jr., Tom Landry, Tex Schramm, Ron Jessie Craig Morton, Roger Staubach, Calvin Hill, Duane Thomas, Bob Lilly, Bob Bullet Hayes, Jethro Pugh, Lance Alworth, Walt Garrison, Chuck Howley, Lee Roy Jordan, Ralph Neely, Mike Dtika, John Niland, Mike Clark, Rayfield Wright, Cliff Harris, Mel Renfro, Dave Edwards, Art Modell, Brian Sipe, Mike Phipps, Reggie Rucker, Greg Pruitt, Joe "Turkey" Jones, Mike Pruitt, Paul Warfield, Cleo Miller, Thom Darden, Robert E. Jackson, Earl Edwards, Don Cockroft, Dick Bam Bam Ambrose, Gerald Irons, Greg Coleman, Paul Brown, Anthony Muñoz, Ken Anderson, Frank Gansz, Dick LeBeau, Turk Schonert, Lindy Infante, George Sefcik, Jack Thompson, Charles Alexander, Archie Griffin, Pete Johnson, Isaac Curtis, Max Montoya, Don Bass, Dan Ross, Ross Browner, Jim Breech, Dick Jauron, Louis Breeden, Blair Bush, Reggie Williams, Pat McInally, Ken Riley, Cris Collinsworth, Dick Modzelewski, Eddie Edwards, Brad Oates, Rodney Holman, Jim McNally, Jim LeClair, Dave Lapham, Tim Krumrie, Dave Rimington, Stanley Wilson, Larry Kinnebrew,  Mike Wilson, Tom Flynn, Randy Wright, Lynn Dickey, Herb Paterra, Jessie Clark, Gerry Ellis, John Jefferson, Phil Epps, Harlan Huckleby, Paul Coffman, James Lofton, Al Del Greco, Ezra Johnson, Bucky Scribner, Mark Lee, Mark Murphy, John Anderson, Keith Uecker, Charles Martin, Larry McCarren, Mike Douglass, Eddie Lee Ivery, Bob Harlan, Ken Ruettgers, Rich Moran, Brian Noble, Jim Zorn, Don Bracken, John Dorsey, Greg Koch, Ron Hallstrom, Tim Harris, Robbie Bosco, Kenneth Davis, Chuck Fusina, Tom Coughlin, Vince Ferragamo, Paul Ott Carruth, Phil McConkey, Robert Brown, Tom Braatz, Brent Fullwood, Don Majkowski, Max Zendejas, Dave Brown, Johnny Holland and Joe Fuller.

 

Career history

As a player:

 

    Green Bay Packers (1956, 1958–1970)

    Dallas Cowboys (1971)

 

As a coach:

 

    San Diego Chargers (1972–1973)

    Offensive line coach

    Cleveland Browns (1974)

    Offensive line coach

    Cleveland Browns (1975–1977)

    Toronto Argonauts (1979)

    Cincinnati Bengals (1980–1983)

    Green Bay Packers (1984–1987)

    Southern Methodist University (1989–1990)

    Shreveport Pirates (1994–1995)