Former Packer Nitschke Is Dead

A terror in a football uniform and a soft-spoken guy in civilian clothes.

That was Ray Nitschke, Hall of Fame linebacker for the Green Bay Packers, who died Sunday of a massive heart attack in Venice, Fla.

Nitschke, 61, was stricken while driving with his daughter, Amy Klaas, and granddaughter, Jacqueline, from his summer home in Naples, Fla. to visit friends. “Dad suddenly started having chest pains,” Klaas said. “We stopped at a service station and I went in for water and a soft drink. When I came back to the car, he had had a heart attack. A man at the station helped get him out of the car and started CPR.”

Nitschke was taken to Venice Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:30 p.m. (EST).

Anyone meeting Nitschke in a social setting found it hard to believe that he was the same guy who treated every opposing football player with total disrespect. With his bald head, horn-rimmed glasses and impeccable attire, he could have passed for a business executive or a college professor.

On the field or off, though, Packer fans had an unwavering love affair with Nitschke. Of all the heroes that the Packers had in their glory years under Coach Vince Lombardi, which included five NFL championships and victories in Super Bowls I and II, Nitschke was probably the most popular.

Even when he was relegated to backup duty in the twilight of his 15-year career, they cheered his every move. They couldn’t wait until they saw No. 66 dash onto the field.

And whenever Nitschke met any of his admirers, he rewarded them handsomely for their loyalty.

Lee Remmel, the Packers’ public relations director and a former beat writer for the Green Bay Press-Gazette, recalled how well Nitschke treated fans.

Said Remmel: “I remember sitting in hotel lobbies when the team was on the road and watch Ray obligingly pose for photographs and sign hundreds of autographs. He was also a great family man, a devoted father to his three children.

“On the field, he was a thunderous tackler, and he was as intense about his profession as any performer in the history of the game.”

Jerry Kramer, an all-pro guard on the Packers’ title teams, was quoted in the book, “Great Linebackers,” by Stephen Majewski, as saying of Nitschke, “He seems incapable of letting up, even against his own teammates. He’s always grabbing people, hitting people, throwing elbows.”

Nitschke had a remarkable knack of being where the football was. He intercepted 25 passes and ran two of them back for touchdowns, and also recovered 20 fumbles.

In a poll conducted in conjunction with the NFL’s 50th anniversary, Nitschke was voted the all-time best linebacker. In a poll that marked the league’s 75th year, he was voted to the all-time all-star team. In a poll taken recently to pick the Packers’ greatest player ever, he placed fourth behind Don Hutson, Brett Favre and Bart Starr.

Incredibly, Nitschke played in the Pro Bowl only once. The Packers had so much talent that there were not always enough honors to go around.

Nitschke grew up in Maywood, Ill., lost his father at age 3 and his mother when he was 13. He was adopted by an older brother, and grew up as a self-acknowledged bully.

In the book, “The Defenders,” author Murray Olderman quoted Nitschke as saying: “I took it out on all the other kids in the neighborhood.”

But along the way, Nitschke became an all-around athlete, and turned down a $3,000 bonus from baseball’s St. Louis Browns to accept a football scholarship to Illinois. He was a fullback and linebacker for the Illini, and the Packers drafted him as a linebacker on the third round in 1958.

After three seasons of part-time duty in the middle, Nitschke took over full-time in 1961 on Lombardi’s first Packer championship team.

Nitschke’s death was the second to strike the ranks of Lombardi’s great Packer teams in the last month. Lionel Aldridge, a defensive end, died Feb. 12 at age 57.

Besides Klaas, Nitschke is survived by two sons, John and Richard. His wife, Jackie, died of cancer in 1996.

Nitschke will be buried in Green Bay. Funeral arrangements are pending.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.