Revered pass catcher Don Hutson played for three Green Bay Packers championship squads between 1935 and 1945 and was a charter-class member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963. An All-American wide receiver for the University of Alabama, the Pine Bluff, Arkansas, native was a pioneer of the position, mastering the passing game just as it was reaching maturation.
Hutson invented many of the pass routes still in use today and retired from the game with 19 NFL records, some of which stood for decades. This first book-length biography chronicles Hutson’s life and career during football’s leather helmet era of the Great Depression and World War II.

Lew Freedman is a long-time, prize-winning journalist for such newspapers as the Philadelphia Inquirer, Chicago Tribune, Anchorage Daily News and Wyoming’s Cody Enterprise. Specializing in sports and the outdoors, he has written more than 100 books. He lives in Columbus, Indiana.

Lew Freedman
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 234
Bibliographic Info: 12 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2022
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8782-7
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4633-6
Imprint: McFarland

Preface 1
Introduction 5
1. Growing Up in Arkansas 9
2. High School Play 17
3. The Passing World Gets Ready for Don Hutson 24
4. Alabama 31
5. Alabama Reigns 37
6. Last Days at Alabama 44
7. The Rose Bowl 52
8. Off to Green Bay 59
9. Starting with the Packers 66
10. Making a Mark 73
11. Baseball Still Beckons—For a While 85
12. First Championship 92
13. Aiming for Another Title 103
14. Close to Winning It All Again 111
15. 1939—Another Crown 119
16. The Biggest Little Town 128
17. Trying to Repeat 134
18. 1941 142
19. ­War-Time Football 155
20. Making the Most of It 161
21. New Looks for 1943 169
22. One More Crown 176
23. The Last ­Go-Around 184
24. Legacy 192
Epilogue 201
Chapter Notes 209
Bibliography 217
Index 219