LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Any Mount Rushmore list of Louisville’s greatest sports figures has Muhammad Ali, Pee Wee Reese, Wes Unseld and Paul Hornung.
Definitely Paul Hornung, who died Friday about six weeks shy of his 85th birthday.
The Golden Boy made his first golden moves for the Flaget High School Braves’ teams that many consider the best high school teams this city has ever seen.
Yes, Hornung won three NFL championships and set scoring records with the Green Bay Packers. They say Vince Lombardi loved Hornung the way he love his children and considered him the most complete football player he ever coached.
Yes, Hornung won the 1956 Heisman Trophy and became a national football hero to Notre Dame. When Hornung excelled under the Golden Dome, Notre Dame football was bigger than Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma or even the NFL.
But Flaget is where it all began. Flaget and his deep Louisville roots are what brought Hornung home.
"Paul would come to the (University of) Louisville football complex to work out after Howard (Schnellenberger, another Flaget grad) came back to coach," said Paul Gering, one of Hornung’s blockers on the Flaget offensive line.
"We’d get him started talking about Flaget, and his eyes would light up. He loved talking about that game when we beat St. Xavier at Parkway Field and a coach from Georgia Tech came into our locker room and offered the whole team a scholarship."
Legend has it that Bear Bryant made the same offer at Kentucky. Gering, who went to U of L, said the governor came to Hornung’s house in the Portland neighborhood to try to recruit him to Lexington.
"One school offered him a Cadillac," Gering said.
Hornung loved talking about those glorious days at Flaget as much as he loved talking about his time with Lombardi and Bart Starr with the fearsome Packers or his time with Frank Leahy at Notre Dame, where he was the only guy to win a Heisman playing for a team with a losing record.
Flaget mattered to Hornung. His coach, Paulie Miller, was his mentor. Sherrill Sipes, the speedy running back who went with him to Notre Dame, was one of his best friends. Never forget Schnellenberger, whom he encouraged to come home to take over the University of Louisville football program.
Hornung came back to Louisville after his remarkable run in Green Bay. He could have lived gloriously anywhere; his fame was nationwide.
Hornung helped recruit Schnellenberger to come home and make Louisville football something to talk about while reuniting with his Flaget pals.
The Kentucky Derby also helped. Hornung loved the horses. And the wagers.
Even the wagers that he was not supposed to make on pro football, which earned Hornung a place on commissioner Pete Rozelle’s hot seat as well as an entire year on the sidelines with Alex Karras, another five-star character.
Perfect? Not close. Hornung had detractors. He loved having a good time — even when Hornung knew he’d have to write a check to Lombardi if his coach found out about his carousing. The stories about Hornung and his sidekick, Max McGee, beating curfew at training camp or staying out until 4 a.m. on the day of Super Bowl I are not only incredible, they’re true.
But back in Louisville, after Hornung retired, a good time often meant an afternoon with his Flaget friends at Churchill Downs.
"Every year on Derby Week, Paul would send a car out to the football complex and take me, Howard, (trainer) Mike O’Shea and a few more of us to the barn area at Churchill Downs," Gering said.
"He’d take us to meet all the trainers and see the top horses. Paul loved doing. That’s how we got to meet (Green Bay legends) Bart Starr, Max McGee, Jerry Kramer and Ray Nitschke."
For all the talk about the amazing things that Hornung did on the football field or his celebrity friends or his work on television or the women he dated, sometimes the small print gets overlooked.
Hornung established an award to honor the best all-around player in college football. It has swiftly grown in stature during the 10 seasons it has been awarded, honoring players like Odell Beckham Jr., Christian McCaffrey, Rondale Moore and Lynn Bowden Jr. Don’t forget that Hornung thought it was also important to recognize the best high school players in Kentucky.
But this is the Hornung takeaway I will always remember. A friend once gave me a Paul Hornung bobblehead that he wanted autographed.
I made the ask. Hornung complied — with the one stipulation he generally had when somebody sent him something to sign: Please make a $20 donation to the Sister Visitor Center in the Portland neighborhood, on Market Street, not far from where he grew up with his Mother.
Paul Hornung never forgot where he came from — and Louisville will never forget him.
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