Rare radio shows added to Packers Hall of Fame

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Don Hutson was not only a star player for the Green Bay Packers from 1935 to 1945; he also hosted a radio program about the team in the late 1940s. Long forgotten vinyl disks of the broadcasts were recently found by his nephew and donated on Friday (4/22) to the Packers Hall of Fame.


“It’s wonderful that my uncle’s commentary about Packers football in 1949 has been digitized and can now be heard by Packer fans throughout the world,” said Steve Hutson of Mequon, WI in the announcement by the Packers Hall of Fame.

Only three of the disks exist, including one that was Don Hutson’s audition. It’s not even known which Green Bay radio station they aired on. WBAY-AM (now WTAQ), WDUZ-AM and WJPG-AM (now WNFL) were all on the air in that time frame.

“These records are a great addition to our archive of physical items,” said Packers Hall of Fame archivist Tom Murphy. The records have also been converted to MP3 digital audio files, which are being sold to fans as downloads on the Hall of Fame’s online store.

Don Hutson, who died in 1997 at age 84, was the first star receiver in professional football, helping to establish the modern passing game in what had been a sport built on rushing. Some of the records he established have yet to be broken. He was already a member of both the Packers Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Now his voice is in the Packers Hall of Fame as well.