page_title: Don Hutson
section_title: Split end
hierarchical_section_title: Don Hutson / NFL career / Split end
caption_attribution_description: English: Don Hutson (1913-1997), American Football Player. Image first published in Howard Roberts, "Who's Who in the Major Leagues Football." Chicago: B.E. Callahan, [1940]; pg. 3. Published in the USA between 1923 and 1978 with no copyright notice in original publication, public domain. No photographer credited. Digitized and digital editing by Tim Davenport ("Carrite") for Wikipedia, no copyright claimed, released to the public domain without restriction. Grain removal by Storkk, using wavelet decomposition in GIMP: no authorship rights claimed for this.
context_page_description: Donald Montgomery Hutson was an American professional football player and assistant coach in the National Football League. He played as an end and spent his entire 11-year professional career with the Green Bay Packers. Under head coach Curly Lambeau, Hutson led the Packers to four NFL Championship Games, winning three: 1936, 1939, and 1944.
  In his senior season at the University of Alabama in 1934, Hutson was recognized as a consensus All-American and won a national championship with the Alabama Crimson Tide football team. After his career at Alabama, he joined the Packers in 1935 and played 11 seasons before he retired in 1945. He led the league in receiving yards in seven separate seasons and in receiving touchdowns in nine. A talented safety on defense, he also led the NFL in interceptions in 1940. Hutson was an eight-time All-Pro selection, a four-time All-Star, and was twice awarded the Joe F. Carr Trophy as the NFL Most Valuable Player.
  Hutson is considered to have been the first modern receiver, and is credited with creating many of the modern pass routes used in the NFL today.
context_section_description: Hutson's first catch as a professional was on an 83-yard touchdown pass from Herber on the first play from scrimmage against the Chicago Bears, in the second game of the 1935 season. It was the only score of the game as the Packers won 7–0. He caught six touchdowns total in his rookie season, which led the league. It was the first in a string of four straight seasons and nine seasons total that Hutson led the league in touchdown receptions. The next season the Packers won their fourth league title, with a 21–6 win over the Boston Redskins in the 1936 NFL Championship Game. Hutson scored the first touchdown of the game, on a 48-yard pass from Herber in the first quarter. Hutson completed the season with 34 receptions for 536 yards and eight touchdowns, which were all league records, and helped Herber set the NFL season passing yards record. Hutson's yardage record was broken the next season by Chicago Cardinals receiver Gaynell Tinsley, who challenged Hutson over the next few years for the title of best receiver in the NFL.
  In 1938, Hutson had nine touchdown receptions, again setting the league record, as he led the Packers to another NFL Championship Game, this time against the New York Giants. However, a knee injury he suffered four weeks earlier kept him out of the game's starting lineup. He entered as a substitute three separate times late in the game but was unable to be a factor, catching no passes as Green Bay was defeated 23–17.
  Hutson reclaimed the season receiving yards record from Tinsley in 1939 by catching 34 passes for 846 yards—an average of 24.9 yards per reception, the highest of his career. He again led the Packers to the championship game, for a rematch against the Giants. This time Green Bay was victorious, with a 27–0 shutout win. Hutson had two receptions in the game for 21 yards and a rushing attempt that went for three yards.
  In 1940, Hutson scored seven touchdowns and kicked 15 extra points to lead the league in scoring by edging out Rams fullback Johnny Drake by a single point. On September 29, Hutson caught his 38th career touchdown pass, breaking Johnny Blood's record. With 99 touchdown receptions for his career, he remained the record holder for almost 50 years, until surpassed by the last touchdown of Steve Largent's career in 1989.
  In 1941, Hutson became the first receiver to catch 50 passes in a season, doing so while again leading the league in receptions, receiving yards, and touchdowns. He also scored two rushing touchdowns, for a total of 12. After the season, he was awarded the Joe F. Carr Trophy as the league's most valuable player. He received six of the nine first place votes, finishing ahead of his quarterback Cecil Isbell, who received two first place votes.
  Hutson repeated as league MVP in 1942 as he shattered most of his own records; he caught 74 passes for 1,211 yards and 17 touchdowns and averaged over 110 receiving yards per game. He again received six of nine first place votes for the Joe F. Carr Trophy. "The selection did not rest alone on his great pass catching ability," reasoned the selection committee. "Also considered were his nuisance value as a disrupter of enemy defenses and his ability to transform the Packers into a confident, powerful aggregation in clutch situations." His production helped Isbell become the first NFL quarterback to throw for over 2,000 yards in a season.
  In February 1943, Hutson announced his retirement from football due to a lingering chest injury. He changed his mind and returned for the 1943 season, however, and caught 47 passes for 776 yards and eleven touchdowns, leading the league in all three. He also threw his first and only completed pass of his career: a 38-yard touchdown pass to Harry Jacunski against the Bears. Additionally, he successfully kicked 36 extra points on 36 tries, and had an 83-yard interception return touchdown. After the season Hutson again announced his intention to retire as a player, this time to be an assistant coach for the Packers. He once again returned as a player in 1944 and again led the league with 58 recepti
caption: Hutson making a catch c. 1940
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