Frederick Charles "Fuzzy" Thurston (December 29, 1933 – December 14, 2014) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player who played

offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

for the Baltimore Colts and the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

Early years

Born and raised in the small western

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

town of Altoona, Thurston accepted a

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

scholarship to

Valparaiso University Valparaiso University (Valpo) is a private university in Valparaiso, Indiana. It is a Lutheran university with about 3,000 students from over 50 countries on a campus of . Originally named Valparaiso Male and Female College, Valparaiso Universit ...

in northwest

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, and didn't play collegiate football for the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

until his junior season (1954). He played basketball because his high school didn't have a football team. Thurston played junior varsity basketball as a 190-pound freshman at Valparaiso before gaining 40 pounds and joining the football team his sophomore year. He led Valparaiso to an

Indiana Collegiate Conference The Indiana Collegiate Conference (ICC) was a college athletic conference in the United States from 1951 to 1978. It consisted solely of schools in Indiana. The charter members of the conference were Indiana State University, Butler University, ...

title and was twice selected All-American. Thurston was also named All-Conference for the 1954 and 1955 seasons, while being named the conference's top lineman in 1955. He was selected by the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

in the

fifth round Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a contagious rash th ...

of the 1956 NFL Draft.

Pro football

As the left guard, Thurston was a key member of the Packers'

offensive line In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numb ...

during the team's glory years under head coach

Vince Lombardi Vincent Thomas Lombardi (June 11, 1913 – September 3, 1970) was an American football coach and executive in the National Football League (NFL). Lombardi is considered by many to be the greatest coach in football history, and he is recognized a ...

, when they won five

NFL championships Throughout its history, the National Football League (NFL) and other rival American football leagues have used several different formats to determine their league champions, including a period of inter-league matchups to determine a true national c ...

and the

first First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

two 2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many cultur ...

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

s. Paired with

hall of famer A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

Jerry Kramer at right guard, they led the vaunted

Packers sweep The Packers sweep, also known as the Lombardi sweep, is an American football play popularized by Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi. The Packers sweep is based on the sweep, a football play that involves a back taking a handoff and running ...

running attack. Thurston was named to the and

All-Pro All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list t ...

teams. Prior to joining the Packers, Thurston played the 1958 season with the

NFL champion Throughout its history, the National Football League (NFL) and other rival American football leagues have used several different formats to determine their league champions, including a period of inter-league matchups to determine a true national c ...

Baltimore Colts. Thus, Thurston is one of only four players in pro football history to play on six NFL championship teams. He was inducted into the

Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...

in In response to a sportswriter's question about how he prepared for the famous Ice Bowl game in 1967, when the gametime temperature was (with a wind chill well below that), Thurston responded that he drank "about ten

vodka Vodka ( pl, wódka , russian: водка , sv, vodka ) is a clear distilled alcoholic beverage. Different varieties originated in Poland, Russia, and Sweden. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impuriti ...

s" in order to stay warm. He remained popular in

after his playing days and could often be found at ''Fuzzy's'', a bar he owned not far from Thurston was elected to the Indiana Football Hall of Fame in 1982, and the

Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michi ...

in 2003. He was the first athlete ever to be voted in by the people of Wisconsin, even though the Hall had been founded in 1951. The Professional Football Researchers Association named Thurston to the PRFA Hall of Very Good Class

Death

After several years of declining health, Thurston died at age 80 in Green Bay,Megan Pospychala.
Packers legend 'Fuzzy' Thurston dies
", ''Fox 6 News'', December 14, 2014. battling

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

References

External links

*
Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame
- (inducted 1975)
Valparaiso University Athletics Hall of Fame
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thurston, Fred 1933 births 2014 deaths People from Eau Claire County, Wisconsin Players of American football from Wisconsin American football offensive guards Valparaiso Beacons football players Baltimore Colts players Green Bay Packers players Valparaiso Beacons men's basketball players