Former Green Bay Packers general manager Ron Wolf may finally be getting his due.
Wolf, along with former Bills, Panthers and Colts GM Bill Polian, have been named finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame under the newly-created contributors category.
The category was created to single out non-players who contributed to the game, but weren’t likely to get elected because, well, there are plenty of players to elect.
Much like the senior committee nominees, contributors who are nominated need to receive 80 percent of votes in favor of their election to get in.
Here’s a little tidbit for you about Wolf.
There are 24 names listed on the inner facade of Lambeau Field. All of those guys are in the Hall of Fame, except for one. That one guy is Ron Wolf, whose name was added in 2006.
So clearly the Packers organization thinks quite a bit of Wolf and they’re absolutely in the right in doing so. Before Wolf strolled into town, the Packers were a laughingstock mired in two decades of losing and a recurring pattern of awful decision making.
Wolf hired The Walrus. Wolf traded for Lord Favre. And most impressively, Wolf convinced Reggie White that he wanted to live and play in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Wolf should get in the Hall for that last one alone. That singular move changed the NFL forever.
Wolf did so much more for the Packers than just those things, though. He was the architect that oversaw the so-called return to glory in the 1990s.
The Packers are now a perennial winner because of the culture Wolf established (or reestablished). After Lombardi left town, the Packers were pretty much a clown show with that Benny Hill music playing at all times.
Wolf literally took a franchise that was at or near rock bottom for over two decades and turned it 180 degrees in the other direction.
If you had the misfortune of sitting through those seasons in the 1970s or 80s, then you know what I’m talking about when I say there is probably not many guys who deserve to be in the Hall of Fame more than Ron Wolf.