Red Dunn best at 11 for the Green Bay Packers

I know, you have never heard of him, but you should.

Here is how Maxymuk describes Dunn’s time with the Packers:

Curly Lambeau was the Packers first star passer, but Joseph “Red” Dunn was their first great quarterback. Red joined the Packers in 1927 along with former college teammate end Lavvie Dilweg. Both were born and bred in Milwaukee and both went to Maquette University.

Dunn spent 1924 with the hometown Milwaukee Badgers and then moved on to the Chicago Cardinals fro two years before coming to Green Bay.

Each year Red shifted clubs, the record of the team he left would decline, while the record of the team he joined would improve. The addition of Dunn to the Packers signaled their ascension into the elite teams of the league.

Dunn was the team’s field general, its signal caller. And who can argue with success? In his five years as a Packer, the team went 47-11-6, a .781 winning percentage. Moreover, they won an unprecedented three consecutive titles. For his part, according to unofficial counts, Dunn caught 50 pass for 618 years and a touchdown, rushed 80 times for 290 yards and five touchdowns and completed 275-of-620 passes for 4,641 yards and 48 touchdowns. In addition, he kicked two field goals and 48 extra points. Even with the fatter ball use at that time he was an expert at the long pass. On Dec. 9, 1928, he beat the Bears with a 50-yard scoring pass to Dick O’Donnell in the final two minutes of the 6-0 game.

Red Dunn retired after the third straight title and the team’s record decline from 12-2 to 10-3-1 in 1932. Under current rules with ties counting as 1/2 win and 1/2 loss in a team’s winning percentage, they would have won a fourth consecutive title.

However, ties did not count in the standings then, so the Bears with one loss and six ties faced off against the Spartans with one loss and four ties to win the NFL championship. Perhaps it was divine retribution for reneging on the Spartans the previous year. Of course the only team to win three consecutive NFL titles since then were Lombardi’s Packers from 1965-67.