What Are Hall Voters Missing About Packers' Lavvie Dilweg?

By John Turney

Now, consider if that player had the following credentials:

-- A six-time consensus All-Pro, including as a rookie, and a second-team All-Pro twice more.

-- A member of an all-decade team.

-- A key player on three NFL champions.

-- An impressive statistical mark that stands among the best of his era.

-- Praise from some of the most respected NFL historians.

-- Recognition from former NFL greats who acknowledged his excellence.

If a player with those achievements were repeatedly denied entry to the Hall of Fame, you'd be outraged ... and you should be. But you may not be as upset as you might because you've seldom heard of Packers' two-way end Lavvie Dilweg and because he played nearly a century ago.

However, if you're a pro football fan who cares about the history of the league and believes in fairness—that is, that players of similar achievement should be recognized equally, regardless of era—then Dilweg’s exclusion should concern you.

Because it does me.

Yes, Dilweg has had his chances. He appeared on the Hall-of-Fame’s preliminary list for a handful of years and was later included on the seniors' preliminary roster. Plus, when the Hall created a special Centennial Class in 2020 to celebrate the NFL’s 100th anniversary, he was a semifinalist. Yet, when the inductees were named, the Blue-Ribbon Centennial Committee largely chose more recent players.

Meaning that Dilweg was left out again.

Given his resume, you have ask: Why? It's a simple question, though the answer is not. No one knows for certain. Some speculate that Hall voters suffer from Packers' fatigue and hesitate to induct many Packers from the league’s formative decades when Green Bay dominated. 

After all, when the Hall was established in 1963, there was a significant backlog of deserving candidates. From 1963-66, multiple Packers' legends were inducted, including Curly Lambeau, Cal Hubbard, Johnny "Blood" McNally, Mike Michalske, Arnie Herber, Clarke Hinkle, and Don Hutson. Later, in 1974, two years after the creation of the seniors' category, another pre-World War II Packer, Tony Canadeo, was added to the list of Packers in the Hall.

That’s a lot of Green Bay representation in a short span, and perhaps voters grew weary of enshrining Packers. Still, even if "Packer fatigue" played a role, it shouldn't. If a team was a dynasty. then elite players and perennial All-Pros should not be left out. Yet Dilweg has been, and that's a mystery.

More than that, it's downright unfair.

I say that because players of similar or lesser caliber who played his position -- end -- were inducted. The WWII-era two-way ends in the Hall of Fame are Red Badgro, Ray Flaherty, Bill Hewitt, Wayne Millner, Guy Chamberlin, George Halas, and Don Hutson. Hutson was in a league of his own, entering the league in 1937 and revolutionizing the receiver position. So no one ...  and I mean no one ... compares to him. 

But, when compared to the rest of the field, Dilweg stands shoulder to shoulder. He played as many or more seasons as the Hall-of-Fame ends of his time, with only Hutson and Bill Hewitt catching more touchdown passes. However, his impact went far beyond that. While a fine receiver and excellent blocker, he made his biggest mark on defense. On that side of the ball, few made more plays than the former Marquette All-American.

Most individual NFL statistics weren’t recorded in the early years and only became official in 1932. But extensive research by historians David Neft and Richard Cohen—both experts who compiled multiple sports encyclopedias—revealed that Dilweg intercepted 27 passes, a skill that set him apart from his peers. Unlike Dilweg, players such as Badgro, Flaherty and Millner rarely, if ever, recorded interceptions. But Dilweg's ability to pick off passes highlights his versatility and effectiveness in the Packers' defensive scheme.

"Without question," said his coach, Hall-of-Famer Curley Lambeau, "he was the greatest end in the seven-man line type defense ever developed."

Dilweg’s contributions weren’t empty stats; they directly fueled Green Bay’s historic success. From 1929-31, the Packers dominated the league -- winning three consecutive NFL championships, compiling a 34-5-2 record, leading the league in scoring and allowing the fewest points. It was pure dominance, and Dilweg was a cornerstone of that team.

Opponents and teammates knew it. That's why Hall-of-Famer Cal Hubbard named Dilweg to his personal all-time team, and Bronko Nagurski did the same. Red Grange went even farther, calling Dilweg "the greatest end who ever brought me down." 

Now, fast-forward to today to see what historians and football researchers have to say. Not surprisingly, they echo those sentiments:

-- Bob Carroll, founder and long-time executive director of the Professional Football Researchers Association (PFRA), once stated that "nobody played end better than Dilweg."

-- Ken Crippen, former PFRA president and founder of the Football Learning Academy, has long advocated for Dilweg’s Hall-of-Fame inclusion.

-- Chris Willis, head of the NFL Films Research Library, author of multiple football books and former president of the PFRA, pushed for Dilweg's induction after he was denied in 2020, saying, "Hopefully, that won’t be his last chance to make the Hall, where he deserves to be."

-- Yet another PFRA historian and author John Maxymuk, noted that Dilweg "overall, was consistently excellent ... Dilweg deserves to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as the finest end of his era by far."

-- Even the editors of "Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League" recognized his magnificence. "Lavern Dilweg," they said, "by nearly all contemporary accounts, was the best end in pro football almost from his first game in 1926 until his last in 1934."

The support for Dilweg among historians, researchers and peers is overwhelming. Hall-of-Fame player/coach Jimmy Conzelman named him to his all-time team. Two of his teammates -- Arnie Herber and Verne Lewellen -- included Dilweg on their personal teams. As did Lambeau.

My point is that there are no more reliable experts on Dilweg's candidacy than those who played with or against him -- individuals like Grange, Nagurski, Hubbard, Conzelman, Lambeau and others. If they thought Lavvie was one of the game's most accomplished players, it should mean something. Strike that. It should mean a LOT. But, so far, it hasn't been enough to persuade the Hall's board of selectors to act.

And it's had over six decades. 

Remember what I said about fairness? It demands that voters change their attitude and re-examine a great player whose exclusion from Canton is one of the great injustices in football history. 

I repeat: All-Pros? Check. All-Decade? Check. Championships? Check. Impressive statistics? Check. Unqualified support by coaches, teammates, opposing players and coaches? Check. Unqualified support by pro football historians and authors? Check.

Lavvie Dilweg checks all the boxes for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Enshrinement should be the last for one of the NFL's best-ever players.