He was surely one of the NFL’s unlikeliest stars, lacking vision in his left eye after a childhood accident. His parents wouldn’t let him play football until he was a high school senior, but he showed such potential as a speedy pass defender that the University of Texas recruited him. (He had to sign a waiver freeing the school of responsibility for further eye damage.) He made up for his lack of depth perception with an intuitive knack for knowing where quarterbacks would throw, and after joining the Packers in 1952 had recorded fifty-one interceptions in seven seasons.
