Hall of Fame profile: Raiders-Bucs-Jets-Packers executive Ron Wolf
The Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2015 gets inducted on Aug. 8. Shutdown Corner will profile the eight new Hall of Famers, looking at each of their careers and their impact on the game.
Ron Wolf
Oakland Raiders 1963-74, 1979-89
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1976-78
New York Jets, 1990-91
Green Bay Packers, 1991-2001
Contributor
Greatest moment
Late in Super Bowl XXXI, Wolf was shown on the television broadcast and on the video board at the Louisiana Superdome, and gave an emphatic thumbs up as Packers fans cheered. That was the moment when all of Wolf’s work with the Packers came to fruition.
Wolf arrived to an absolute mess in Green Bay. The Packers won just one playoff game from 1968-1991, and that win was in the strike-shortened season and tournament of 1982. It was a terrible organization. Then Wolf built a champion.
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He traded for Brett Favre. He signed Reggie White. He drafted players like Antonio Freeman, Robert Brooks, Mark Chmura and Dorsey Levens in the late and middle rounds. Wolf acquired just about every player that was part of a dominant champion which led the NFL in points scored and points allowed. He brought the Lombardi Trophy back to long-suffering Green Bay.
When Favre was inducted in to the Packers Hall of Fame this summer, he asked the crowd to look around the renovated Lambeau Field and its lush atrium, the fruit of the Packers’ extended success the past two-plus decades. Favre said none of that would have happened without Wolf. He might have been right.
Impact on the game
Wolf is an interesting case, because without one trade he’s literally not going to the Hall of Fame. It’s one of the most famous trades in NFL history. And it took a lot of guts to pull it off.
Wolf traded a first-round pick to the Atlanta Falcons for Favre, a second-round pick who was 0-for-4 with two interceptions as a rookie with the Atlanta Falcons. Wolf never cared what anyone else thought, but imagine the heat he would have taken in today’s instant reaction age. A first-round pick for last year’s second-round pick who didn’t even complete a pass? But Wolf thought Favre was the best player in the 1991 draft. He couldn’t believe how well Favre threw the ball. He was right.
Think about how NFL history is different if the Packers just stuck with Don Majkowski because they wouldn’t give up a first-rounder for Favre. The Packers likely don’t win a Super Bowl in the 1990s. White might have signed elsewhere. Green Bay might still be the same terrible franchise it was before Wolf got there. And Wolf wouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame.
Case against his bust in Canton
It’s always tough to make a great case for a contributor. And while Wolf was a great personnel man for a long time, pulled off one of the greatest trades in NFL history and brought a title to Green Bay, he didn’t necessarily re-invent how the NFL does business. And for as good as his Packers were, they won just one Super Bowl. Does he deserve to get in while other great players (cough, Terrell Davis, cough) haven’t made it?
Case for his bust in Canton
Wolf was one of the best personnel men in the game for nearly four decades. His career is impressive, and his work with those Packers of the 1990s was what pushes him over the top. He put on a clinic on how to build a championship team his first few years there.
Notable quote
“Brett Favre changed the whole complex of the Green Bay Packers. When I got to the Packers, the Packers were not very well thought of. That’s not the case today.” – Wolf, via Packers.com.
Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2015 profiles
July 31: Ron Wolf
Aug. 1: Mick Tingelhoff
Aug. 2: Will Shields
Aug. 3: Junior Seau
Aug. 4: Tim Brown
Aug. 5: Charles Haley
Aug. 6: Jerome Bettis
Aug. 7: Bill Polian
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
