Green Bay Packer and founder of the NFL Players Association has died at 95. File Photo by Kevin M. Cox/UPI | License Photo
Billy Howton, former Green Bay Packers star and founder and first president of the NFL Players Association, has died. He was 95.
Howton, born in Littlefield, Texas, in 1930, is regarded as one of the most productive wide receivers of the pre-Super Bowl era. He was believed to be the oldest living NFL player.
Howton died in Houston on Monday, according to an obituary. The funeral home confirmed his death Friday.
Howton played for Green Bay from 1952 to 1958. He was two-time All-Pro and caught 303 passes for 5,581 yards and 43 touchdowns. He still has the franchise record for single-game receiving yards in a game in 1956 against the Los Angeles Rams. He was the first rookie to pick up more than 1,000 receiving yards in a season.
He was traded to the Browns before Vince Lombardi’s first season with the Packers. He ended his career playing for the Cowboys from 1960 to 1963.
His career finished with 503 catches for 8,459 receiving yards. At the time of his retirement, both of those statistics ranked first in NFL history.
He was inducted into the Packer Hall of Fame in 1974. He helped found the NFLPA in the 1950s and was its president from 1958 to 1962.
