[1] Enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1978, he was the anchor of the defense for head coach Vince Lombardi in the 1960s, leading the Packers to five NFL championships and victories in the first two Super Bowls.

He was a poor student and his grades eventually caught up with him as he was declared academically ineligible to play sports his sophomore year.

He starred on the varsity football team, playing quarterback on offense and safety on defense for coach Andy Puplis.

Nitschke never wore a face mask and one of the Buckeye's player's helmets hit him in the mouth knocking out two teeth initially; the other two were hanging by the roots.

[11] Growing up in the outskirts of Chicago, Nitschke had idolized the Bears and he hoped to be chosen by them in the 1958 NFL draft, held on December 2, 1957.

However, he was chosen by the Green Bay Packers late in the third round (36th overall) of what is considered the greatest draft in the franchise's history.

[12] It included three other significant Packers of the 1960s, linebacker Dan Currie of Michigan State (3rd overall), fullback Jim Taylor of LSU (15th overall) and right guard Jerry Kramer of Idaho (39th overall).

Their rookie season in 1958 under first-year head coach Ray "Scooter" McLean was dismal, with just one win and one tie for the worst record in the 12-team league.

Nitschke became a full-time starter in 1962, the anchor of a disciplined defense that helped win five NFL titles and the first two Super Bowls in the 1960s.

[15][16] Green Bay had clinched the NFC Central division title the week before at Minnesota for their first playoff berth in five seasons.

On the Packers' practice field on September 1, a 1,000-pound (450 kg) steel coaching tower was blown over by a strong gust of wind, on top of Nitschke.

But Packer fans and others around the league who admired Nitschke's professional skills might pick this up as a reminder of the man beneath the armor.

He appeared in the comic film Head, starring The Monkees, as a football player who repeatedly tackles Peter Tork in a mock war movie sequence.

Prior to its retirement, number 66 had remained in circulation and was last worn in 1983 by offensive lineman Lawrence Pfohl, who would go on to fame as a professional wrestler under the ring name Lex Luger.

[31] Every year, the Pro Football Hall of Fame has a luncheon the day before its induction ceremony, attended by most of the living members and honoring the new inductees.

Nitschke always spoke at this luncheon, telling the new inductees what a great honor they were receiving, and that they were now members of the greatest team of them all.

[32] Upon the election of former teammate Henry Jordan to the Pro Football Hall of Fame on the eve of Super Bowl XXIX in Miami Gardens, Florida, Nitschke flew down to Florida to participate in the game's coin-toss ceremonies, joining three other 75th Anniversary Team representatives--Otto Graham (1950s), Mean Joe Greene (1970s) and Gale Sayers (1960s), all three of whom had been announced as representatives of their respective decades in the ceremony months prior to the PFHOF election—as well as three of Jordan's fellow Class of 1995 newcomers, all of whom represented the 1980s: Kellen Winslow, Lee Roy Selmon, and then-U.S.