Packers veteran Dan Orlich, last surviving player from Curly Lambeau era, dies at 94
Dan Orlich , the last surviving player from the Curly Lambeau era, was believed to be the oldest living Green Bay Packers player.
Packers veteran Dan Orlich, last surviving player from Curly Lambeau era, dies at 94 Dan Orlich , the last surviving player from the Curly Lambeau era, was believed to be the oldest living Green Bay Packers player. Check out this story on greenbaypressgazette.com: https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/2019/01/25/packers-veteran-dan-orlich-who-played-curly-lambeau-dies-94/2678011002/
Richard Ryman, Green Bay Press-Gazette Published 12:59 p.m. CT Jan. 25, 2019 | Updated 10:58 a.m. CT Jan. 26, 2019
Packers head coaches: Curly Lambeau to Matt LaFleur
Packers coach Curly Lambeau, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1963. Press-Gazette archives
Gene Ronzani, left, coached the Packers from 1950 to 1953. Press-Gazette archives
Lisle Blackbourn, left, coached the Packers from 1954 to 1957. Press-Gazette archives
Ray (Scooter) McLean (left), coached the Packers in 1958. Journal Sentinel files
Vince Lombardi coached the Packers from 1959 to 1967 Journal Sentinel files
Phil Bengtson coached the Packers from 1968 to 1970 Press-Gazette archives
Dan Devine (middle) coached the Packers from 1971 to 1974. Press-Gazette archives
Bart Starr coached the Packers from 1975 to 1983. Press-Gazette archives
Forrest Gregg coached the Packers from 1984 to 1987. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel files
Lindy Infante coached the Packers from 1988 to 1991. Press-Gazette archives
Mike Holmgren coached the Packers from 1992 to 1998. Rick Wood, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Ray Rhodes coached the Packers in 1999. File/AP
Mike Sherman coached the Packers from 2000 to 2005. USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
Mike McCarthy has coached the Packers since 2006. Jim Matthews/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur during practice at Clarke Hinkle Field on Tuesday, May 21, 2019 in Ashwaubenon, Wis. Adam Wesley/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wis Adam Wesley/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wis
Dan Orlich, believed to have been the oldest living former Green Bay Packers player, died Jan. 18 in Reno, Nevada, the team said Friday.
Orlich, who was 94, played from 1949-51 and was the last surviving player from the Curly Lambeau era.
"I was a defensive end most of the time and played some end on offense. Back then, with 32- or 33-man rosters, everyone played quite a bit. No one really sat too long on the bench," Orlich said for a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel profile in 2014.
Dan Orlich, a member of the University of Nevada Athletic Hall of Fame and the International Trapshooting Hall of Fame, and former Green Bay Packers player, died Jan. 18 in Reno, Nevada, at age 94. He is shown at age 90. (Photo: Tom R. Smedes/Special to the RGJ)
After his retirement, Orlich returned to Reno for a career in the casino industry and took up trapshooting. From 1956 to '71 he won 37 trophies at the Grand American World Trapshooting Championships, including 13 major championships. Orlich was inducted into the national Trapshooting Hall of Fame in 1979.
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Orlich was drafted in the eighth round by Lambeau, the 74th overall pick of the 1949 draft, which included Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees Chuck Bednarik, Doak Walker, Norm Van Brocklin, Jim Finks and George Blanda. Finks and Blanda were drafted after Orlich.
The 6-foot-5, 225-pound Orlich was a key member of the University of Nevada-Reno basketball and track teams, and he did not want to give up his eligibility by signing a professional football contract.
"So Curly gave me a contract and said to sign it and mail it back when I was done with track. So that's what I did," Orlich said.
He played one year for Lambeau before Gene Ronzani became coach. Orlich did not like Ronzani and retired after two more years.
Dan Orlich played for the Green Bay Packers in 1949-1951. He died Jan. 18 at age 94. (Photo: Courtesy Green Bay Packers)
Those were not winning years for the Packers, who were 2-10 during Lambeau's last year and 3-9 in 1950 and '51. Orlich played in all 36 games.
"We didn't win a lot of ball games," Orlich said. "When Ronzani came in, it was awful."
Orlich said he enjoyed his three-year career in Green Bay, playing a sport he loved, but he never made more than $5,000 a season.
"They were good years," Orlich said. "We didn't have agents or the controversies of today. I had lineman playing next to me making 100 bucks a game. That's the way it was."
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