A Chat With Former Green Bay Packer Ron Hallstrom

During his 12-year career, Hallstrom, a durable, versatile lineman, rarely missed a game: "I was very fortunate. I didn't have a lot of injury issues. I had some injuries, but just played through them. It's not like today (laughs), I think they're a little softer today than when we played. But again, we go back to the money thing. I was just glad to play in the era that I played in. It was the cusp before the free agency thing took off and it really took a lot of the personality out of the game. Back then, you were just happy to be playing, you didn't care where you played, you were just happy to be playing. Today, everything is predicated by (players asking), 'How much are you going to give me? I want to go here. My agents going to hold me out.' It's a double-edged sword. I'm a firm believer in paying them what they should be paid, but the owners are to blame as much as the players. The money's there, there's no doubt the money's there, it's just a matter of how you want to share it. I'm glad I played when I did, it was fun. Not that it isn't now, but to a player, it meant a lot more. Longevity meant a lot more back then. If you played more than four or five years back then, you were a player. That's what I can always hang my hat on; I made it longer than average and a lot longer than most.

Since retiring in 1993, Hallstrom enjoys a low-key lifestyle: "(My kids) prod me all the time, 'Dad do the (Packers) alumni stuff.' It was a great stepping stone, it was a great part of my life, but my life has moved on. It was a great history that I have, but I'm not one to live in the past. But I had a great time playing.

On playing for the 1983 Packers, who played in a record five overtime games but finished with an 8-8 record: "We could score on anybody. We had Lynn Dickey, James Lofton, John Jefferson. We had some really above average running backs at the time, Gerry Ellis was playing in the backfield ... Eddie Lee Ivery was there. We had a good offensive line (and) we had a good defensive line. We had Mike Butler, Ezra Johnson, Rich Wingo, a linebacker, Mike Douglass at outside linebacker. We had some Pro Bowl guys. But we did get some injuries. That season, there was a lot of pressure to be successful and we were on the down side to a lot of those games that were close. That can predicate a season and can fire a coach and that's what happened. I love Bart Starr, I thought he was a great guy and a great coach. But he had been there nine years and the frustration level was high because he had been 8-8 three years in a row.

Hallstrom was drafted by Starr in 1982: "I love the fact that I was drafted by him. If you meet him and talk to him, the guy is a great person.

He nearly ended up playing for the Saints: I played one year (at Iowa) and the projections were, because I had one great year, that I was going to be a third-round pick. Which I thought at the time, 'Great.' The day of the draft, (New Orleans coach) Bum Phillips called me and said I was going to be the first pick in the second round. I said, 'Okay, unbelievable.' Especially after the year we had, we went to the Rose Bowl, the team hadn't won in 20 years, so I was thinking, 'Wow, what an accumulation of a year.' Then, all of a sudden, the secretary from Green Bay called and said, 'Can you hold for Bart Starr?' He got on the phone and said, 'We're going to make you the 22nd pick in the first round. Do you want to come to Green Bay?' It was ironic because after the draft all the teams that picked after Green Bay said that they were going to pick me. Green Bay somehow knew this and that's why they drafted me. It's funny when you look back at it. One of the teams was the Giants and they went to the Super Bowl two years later. In the off-season, I did all the combines and everything. I flew out and saw the Jets and the Giants at the same time. I had dinner with, oh what's his name? ..."The Tuna" ... (Bill) Parcells. He took me out to dinner, it was neat.

At Iowa, Hallstrom played with Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops:

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