The World's Most Dangerous Packer?

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Riddick
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The World's Most Dangerous Packer?

Post by Riddick » 02-02-2019 05:20 PM

William Frederick “Dick” Afflis aka Dick The Bruiser played guard, tackle, and defensive line in his four years with Green Bay and wore a higher uniform number each year.

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A credible performer, Dick wasn’t the greatest lineman the Packers had, but he was one of the most interesting characters. In college he moved around a lot. He left Purdue after punching one of the coaches and departed Miami after being caught making book. He lasted only two weeks at Notre Dame and also passed through Alabama before landing in the desert at Nevada-Reno.

He was drafted in the 16th round by the Packers and was most noteworthy for his strength. He was an early proponent of body building and looked odd in his football uniform with his 52-inch barrel chest and 30-inch wasp waist.

Afflis was not someone to make angry. In the early 1950s many Packer fans would take the train to Chicago and back for the Bears game, and sometimes they would run into players in the dining car. Once a fan got in Afflis’ face about the game on the trip home, and Dick broke off a beer bottle on the bar and invited the fan to do something about it. The sight of an angry Dick the Bruiser holding a broken beer bottle was enough to quell the disturbance.

He made an impression when he arrived in Green Bay for his first training camp in 1951 fresh from working as a bouncer in Las Vegas. He was packing two .45s in shoulder holsters and asked to check them at the Northland Hotel front desk. Another time, Hawg Hanner attempted to instigate some trouble when he told Afflis that fellow lineman Jerry Helluin considered himself stronger than Dick.

Dick went and found Helluin and they engaged in a series of feats of strength smashing beer cans with their hands and so forth until Afflis smashed a beer can on his face causing the blood to run down his contorted visage. At that, Helluin grasped that discretion truly is the better part of valor and said simply, “You win.”

Dick was a good man to have on your side, though. The Packers’ first black player Bob Mann once hailed a cab in Baltimore, but the driver would not let him in the car. Dick took matters in his own large hands by opening the passenger door and dragging the driver out on to the sidewalk. At that point, the cabbie decided to cease his discriminatory business practices, and Mann got his ride.

Afflis left the game after the 1954 season to go into professional wrestling from which he made a lucrative income for 35 years. Reminiscent of his altercation with Jerry Helluin, Dick’s trademark was blood streaming down his face from a hidden patch on his head, and his billing was the “World’s Most Dangerous Wrestler.”

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Re: The World's Most Dangerous Packer?

Post by Doka » 02-02-2019 08:28 PM

Who is going to win Super Bowl 2019? Inquiring minds want to know? :huhsmile:
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Those Who Can Make You Believe Absurdities, Can Make You Commit Atrocities': Voltaire

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Re: The World's Most Dangerous Packer?

Post by Riddick » 02-02-2019 08:45 PM

Doka wrote: 02-02-2019 08:28 PM Who is going to win Super Bowl 2019? Inquiring minds want to know? :huhsmile:
I'd not bet against the Patriots. But I'd sooner see the Rams win.

In the end it's not who wins or loses, it's about the commercials.
A mind should not be so open that the brains fall out; however, it should not be so closed that whatever gray matter which does reside may not be reached. ART BELL

Everything Woke turns to Image
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