Sometimes, it’s best to keep your damn mouth shut.
By 1958, Billy Howton was one of the Green Bay Packers’ all-time leading receivers. But in 1959, he got a new coach–some New Yawker named Lombardi.
Teammate Gary Knafelc had come to camp early, and got a good dose of his new coach. So, when Howton came to camp and said he was going to have a nice talk with “Vince”, Knafelc begged him NOT to call him by his first name—this was NOT Scooter McLean, the Packers’ coach the previous year. Nevertheless, Howton, confident in his star power with the team, ignored that advice.
It didn’t go well.
Within days, Howton was traded to the Cleveland Browns. And within a few years, Howton was given up in the expansion draft to the Dallas Cowboys. Meanwhile, by 1961 the Packers had three straight winning seasons and an NFL title.
Lombardi claimed that he traded Howton because he wanted his receivers to be good blockers. Others claim that Howton was traded because of his NFLPA activities. Mostly, history shows that a simple “Mister Lombardi” would have sufficed.
