The BIZARRE DRAMA of the 1969 Green Bay Packers | Herb Adderley

After the 1969 NFL season, Green Bay Packers and future Hall of Fame cornerback Herb Adderley was so upset at head coach Phil Bengtson that he retired, and said that he was never going to play for the Packers again. True to his word, Adderley, to the surprise of just about everyone, never played for the Packers again. This is the story of the ugly exit by Herb Adderley leaving Green Bay.

Get early access to videos, your name featured in the credits, and the ability to request future video topics by joining today for as low as $3!

Play live NFL trivia every Tuesday night at 9 PM Eastern/6 PM Pacific with the chance to win cash prizes!

See videos like this condensed down to 60 seconds by following JaguarGator9 on Tik Tok!

See videos like this condensed down to 60 seconds by subscribing to 60 Second NFL History on YouTube!

See daily highlight videos on random players throughout NFL history!

#nfl #packers #nflthrowback

Members of the 1969 Packers:
Billy Stevens
Don Horn
Bart Starr
Bob Jeter
Elijah Pitts
Travis Williams
Willie Wood
Dave Hampton
Herb Adderley
Chuck Mercein
Perry Williams
Booth Lusteg
Jim Grabowski
Mike Mercer
Doug Hart
Donny Anderson
John Rowser
Gordon Rule
Bob Hyland
Fred Carr
Jim Flanigan
Ken Bowman
Francis Winkler
Lee Roy Caffey
Dave Bradley
Bill Lueck
Ray Nitschke
Gale Gillingham
Rich Moore
Francis Peay
Dick Himes
Jim Weatherwax
Henry Jordan
Forrest Gregg
Bill Hayhoe
Robert Brown
Marv Fleming
Lionel Aldridge
Phil Vandersea
Carroll Dale
John Spilis
Boyd Dowler
Willie Davis
Ron Jones
Dave Robinson
Phil Bengtson (head coach)

Herb Adderley played for the following teams:
1961 Packers
1962 Packers
1963 Packers
1964 Packers
1965 Packers
1966 Packers
1967 Packers
1968 Packers
1969 Packers
1970 Cowboys
1971 Cowboys
1972 Cowboys

[yeildo]

Those Packer teams frequently led the NFL in pass defense.

[JDMatthias]

No, the true story is that Herb Adderley as quiet as he was was unhappy playing flankerback.

Reasons aren't known, he didn't really say why, and yes Halfback was his position at Michigan State, but he played both ways.

Lombardi recruited savvy veteran safety Emlen Tunnell from knowing him as NYG coach. Emlen became Lombardis Aide de Camp to the young black players on the team.

It was Tunnell who told Lombardi that Adderley had his heart set on playing DB or Cornerback.

This was written in Lombardis "Run to Daylight!" If you need to check my information

[robertholmberg]

I met Herb Adderly and he was a Friend on Facebook before he passed away. He was, like most Lombardi Packers (if not all), a great man on and off of the field. From what I have seen in documentaries about the post Lombardi Packers, coach's replacement had more problems than just messing up naming Herb to the Pro Bowl. By the way, isn't it interesting how for years the Pro Bowl was a mark of having had an outstanding season and now it has pretty much become a joke?!

[ronsmac]

I wish they had advanced stats back then. Interceptions alone aren’t the only stats for a top db.

[GetBenched]

"Herb Adderly was the best DB in the NFL in the 60s."

Willie Brown has entered the chat.

[DolFan]

SO...Adderley "retires" on purpose to force the Packers to get rid of him, wins a ring with rival Dallas, then years later says he never wanted to be a Cowboy and is all about the Packers again? Seems to me like this guy had a bit of a loyalty problem.

[edpinkerton]

Packers had so many great players in the 60s

[jacksmith]

Adderley's issue in Dallas was how Landry treated the black players how the team was divided. With Lombardi he never experienced that! Dave Robinson, Willie Davis also loved Lombardi!

[brodyj]

Wow great video! Well edited and very well researched. Thanks so much for the history.

[leebowens]

Herb Adderley has the only football jersey I want number 26 Green bay Packer throw back, I have Reggie Whites number 92 Green bay Packers jersey, I was in grade school in Wisconsin when Adderley was playing for the greatest football team in league history and Herb and Bobby Jeter were the players I tried to imitate .

[marlins]

So Adderly blamed his coach and threw a much of a team player at all.

[dontdoittoyoself]

High School sports got to rely on that vote for my player I vote for yours system. It becomes more about politics then it should be. Doesn’t mean they don’t get it right but there’s a lot of favoritism.

[jacklane]

Bro Herb Adderly was inducted in the Hall a decade before Mel Renfro. That GB secondary was acclaimed, the best unit of the defense and it wasn’t a secret.

[porterwake]

Coaches just got worse and worse after Lombardi. Bengston was just a weakling. Devine was an unmitigated disaster who set the franchise back for over a decade with the Hadl trade. Bart Starr, while the players loved him, was probably not ready to be a coach. Forrest Gregg is one of the best Packer players in history, had a reputation of being the worst kind of underhanded dirty coaches. Infante had 1989.... Each coach with a worse winning percentage than the previous.

[tomitstube]

we lost herb last october, rip. i think herb knew the packers dynasty was over and didn't want to finish on a bad team.

[malarie-susangold]

Everyone's talking about Rodgers. Adderly retired then unretired, like a certain Packers QB...

[cannotwaittoseedavanteadam]

Was this made before the Rodgers situation?

[Colt-iiqn]

I’m sure he wanted to play the race card but had enough class not to . 😐

[DMS-pq]

Adderley is proof that football prima donnas aren't just a modern phenomenon

[ced]

do not know when this video was made but that statement on not ever having a disgruntled player again with what is going on now is wrong