HORNUNG, Paul Vernon

(b. 23 December 1935 in Louisville, Kentucky), Heisman Trophy winner and Pro Football Hall of Fame halfback who is recognized as the premier all-purpose back of the 1960s.

Hornung was an only child of Paul and Loretta Hornung. His father, an insurance agent, separated from his mother when Hornung was three. His mother worked in the personnel section of the Louisville Army Medical Depot.

A star athlete at Louisville's Flaget High School, a Catholic institution, Hornung scored a school record thirty-two points in one game and averaged just under twenty points per game as a senior. He was a standout pitcher on the school's baseball team and the starting quarterback and placekicker in football. His senior season, Hornung was named All-City, All-State and All-Catholic school quarterback while maintaining an A average. He received scholarship offers from nearly fifty major universities and surprised many observers by turning down Kentucky football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant to attend Notre Dame.

Hornung played his first game for the Notre Dame varsity as a sophomore in the 1954 season opener against Texas, handling the placekicking duties in a 21–0 victory. He saw his first action at offensive and defensive halfback against Navy in the fifth game of the season and later played quarterback for the first time as a collegian, completing five passes in a backup role in a 42–13 win over North Carolina.

Hornung also played basketball for the Fighting Irish in his sophomore year, scoring sixty-one points in ten games. Hornung became a varsity starter at quarterback his junior season, gaining 1,215 total yards to rank fourth in the country and lead Notre Dame to an 8–2 record. At the end of the 1955 season, he was named to four All-America teams. As a senior, Hornung led Notre Dame in nine statistical categories and on 4 December 1956 became the only player to win a Heisman Trophy as a member of a losing team, the Irish having gone 2–8.

Using their bonus choice, the Green Bay Packers made Hornung the top pick in the 1957 NFL draft, and on 9 January 1957 Hornung agreed to a three-year contract at $16,000 per season. During his first two seasons with the Packers, the team went 4–19–1 under two different head coaches. Hornung's career turnaround began in 1959, when the Packers hired Vince Lombardi as head coach and general manager, and Lombardi made Hornung the team's starting left halfback.

Finally secure in knowing he would no longer be shuttled from one position to another, Hornung blossomed under Lombardi. The left halfback position was key in Lombardi's offense, and the six-foot, two-inch, 220-pound Hornung immediately established himself as a triple threat who could run, throw the option, or block for fullback Jim Taylor. Hornung and Taylor became the NFL's version of "Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside," and the Packers enjoyed a winning campaign in Lombardi's first year, finishing 7–5 in 1959. Hornung led the Packers in rushing with 681 yards and the league in scoring with 94 points on 7 touchdowns, 7 field goals, and 31 point-after conversions.

Hornung's breakthrough season came in 1960. Displaying his talents as a runner, passer, pass receiver, blocker, and placekicker, Hornung scored an NFL record 176 points to lead the Packers to an 8–4 record and the Western Conference title. He was the NFL's dominant player, rushing for thirteen touchdowns, scoring twice on pass receptions, converting fifteen of twenty-eight field goal attempts, and making forty-one straight point-after conversions.

In the 1960 NFL championship game against the Eagles in Philadelphia, Hornung suffered a third-quarter neck injury that would hinder his career, and Green Bay lost 17–13. He was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Berlin crisis and missed part of the 1961 regular season, when the Packers went 11–3 during the regular season to repeat as Western Conference champions. Hornung did score a personal-best four touchdowns and a team-record 33 points in a 45–21 win over the Baltimore Colts on 8 October. He finished the season with 146 points.

Hornung was on Christmas leave from the army when the Packers met the New York Giants in the NFL title game on 31 December 1961 in Green Bay's City Stadium. Scoring a playoff-record 19 points, Hornung enhanced his reputation as a clutch player and was named most valuable player as the Packers defeated the Giants 37–0.

Hornung opened the 1962 season in style, scoring twenty-eight points in a 34–7 win over the Minnesota Vikings on 16 September. A knee injury suffered four weeks later in a rematch against the Vikings hampered his performance and caused him to miss six games, but the Packers still rolled to another Western Conference title with a 13–1 record. In the 1962 NFL championship game, which was played against the Giants amid bitter cold and wind in Yankee Stadium on 30 December, Hornung set up the Packers' only touchdown of the game with a long completion on a halfback option pass. Green Bay won 16–7, to repeat as NFL champions.

Hollywood handsome with curly blond hair and blue eyes, Hornung gained fame as pro football's "Golden Boy." He was the NFL's most eligible bachelor and a noted playboy. But his career endured a serious setback on 17 April 1963 when NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle suspended Hornung and Detroit Lions defensive tackle Alex Karras for betting on pro football games. Hornung was contrite—he admitted he had bet on NFL games but never against the Packers.

Hornung was reinstated on 16 March 1964, but a year's absence had dulled his skills. He missed five straight field goals against Baltimore and an extra point in another game that meant the difference for the Packers between a loss and a tie. He finished the 1964 season with 107 points but converted just 12 of 38 field goal attempts.

Hornung's struggles continued in the 1965 season, and he was benched by Lombardi for three games. Reinstated for a 12 December showdown with the Colts in Baltimore, Hornung ran through a thick fog to score a new personal-best five touchdowns. Totaling 61 yards rushing and 115 receiving, Hornung starred in Green Bay's 42–27 win over the Colts. Two weeks later, the Packers and Colts met in Lambeau Field in a one-game playoff to decide the Western Conference title. Playing with an injured knee, swollen wrist, and bruised chest, Hornung scored Green Bay's lone touchdown in a 13–10 overtime victory. On 2 January 1966 the Packers faced the defending NFL champion Cleveland Browns for the NFL title. Amid ice, snow, and frozen mud, Hornung carried the ball eighteen times for a game-high 105 yards. He scored the game-clinching touchdown on a thirteen-yard sweep in the third quarter to give the Packers an eventual 23–12 victory.

Hornung was slowed in the 1966 season by the recurrence of a painful pinched nerve in his size-eighteen neck, and he missed the Packers' post-season victories over Dallas in the NFL championship game and Kansas City in the first AFL-NFL World Championship Game. Still plagued by injury, Hornung decided to retire in July 1967 rather than risk severe injury.

Hornung played the game of football with flair and skill. During his nine-year career, he rushed for 3,711 yards, scored 760 points, owned a 4.2 yards-per-carry average, and ran for 50 touchdowns. He gained an additional 1,480 yards receiving and finished his career with a total of 62 touch-downs. Hornung was famous for his good looks and clutch play, and he is generally considered one of the best big-game players and goal-line runners in NFL history.

In retirement, Hornung became a sports commentator and an analyst for Notre Dame football and enjoyed success as a businessman and real estate investor. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986 and is also a member of the Packers' Hall of Fame.

There are two books about Hornung. The first is Dick Schaap, Paul Hornung: Pro Football Golden Boy (1962), the second, an autobiography, is Football and the Single Man, as told to Al Silverman (1965). Hornung's life and career are chronicled in Jack Hand, Great Running Backs of the NFL (1966), and Lud Duroska, Great Pro Running Backs (1973).

Edward Gruver