Two Outstanding Players to be Inducted into Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame

The Green Bay Packers have officially announced who will get the great honor of joining other franchise legends in the organization’s Hall of Fame. Two all-time franchise greats and a longtime associate of the Packers will be inducted on July 20, 2013 at Lambeau Field.

Defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, placekicker Chris Jacke and contributor Emil Fischer will be members of the 43^rd Packers Hall of Fame class. These three gentlemen will have the privilege of joining some of the greatest football heroes to ever grace the NFL while playing for the best franchise in all of sports.

Gbaja-Biamila is one of the top defensive players to ever put on a Packers uniform. The only blunder in his career was that he never got the opportunity to win a Super Bowl ring. Gbaja-Biamila spent all nine years of his career in Green Bay and retired in 2008 as the all-time sacks leader surpassing the great Reggie White. He also won the Ed Block Courage Award in 2002, which was presented to him for being a role model of inspiration, sportsmanship and courage.

Gbaja-Biamila was selected to the 2003 Pro Bowl for recording 10 sacks, 34 tackles, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. The very next season he was the NFC sacks leader for dropping quarterbacks 13.5 times, which tied a career high. All in all, Gbaja-Biamila made every defensive player who walked onto the grass at Lambeau Field before him proud. He finished his career with 286 tackles, 74.5 sacks and one interception.

Jacke played for three teams in his career but the first eight seasons of his 10 years in the league came with the Packers. He scored the most points on the team in seven of his eight seasons and is ranked third all-time in scoring in franchise history with 820 points. Jacke also leads the organization in most 50-plus yard field goal conversions (17), most field goals of 50-plus yards in a season (six) and most field goals converted in a single regular season game (five).

Drafted out of Texas-El Paso in the sixth round of the 1989 NFL Draft, Jacke was lucky enough to help Green Bay to a 13-3 record and a memorable victory in Super Bowl XXXI against the New England Patriots. It was the last game he would ever play as a member of the Packers.

Fischer began a long career with the Packers in 1926 when he became a member of the team’s board of directors. He joined the executive committee in 1935 and then was named president of the franchise from 1948-52 before finally becoming the chairman of the board from 1953-58. Fischer is regarded as one of the greatest contributors to the organization that went through many hardships.

He oversaw the team’s third stock sale, which took place in 1950. This stock sale helped keep the team afloat as the league’s smallest market attempted to secure some sort of financial future. Fischer also accepted Curly Lambeau’s resignation that very same year. His biggest contribution might have been in 1949 when he was the president of the National Conference and guaranteed the Packers a place in the new league that combined the NFL with the All-America Football Conference.

Green Bay typically inducts two to three Packer greats into the team’s Hall of Fame every year with the exception of years in which legends are inducted, such as last season with head coach Mike Holmgren and in 2006 when White became an official member. The Hall of Fame has its own 25,000-square foot facility located in the Lambeau Field Atrium in which 148 members (soon to be 151) are honored along with other various game balls and equipment used in memorable games.