The Packer who the NFL molded their Man of the Year trophy after

🏆 DID YOU KNOW the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year trophy is molded after a Packer?

Steve Wright — a 6-foot-6, 250-pound tackle — was a GIANT for his day! Drafted by both the Packers in the NFL and the Jets in the AFL in 1964, he chose to play in Green Bay, where he won three championships and Super Bowls I and II.

In an era when football players were expected to follow their coaches’ orders, Wright — despite playing for the hard-nosed Bear Bryant in college and Vince Lombardi in the NFL — gained a reputation for questioning everything.

🏈 DEEP DIVE: Who Was Steve Wright?

At the end of his career, he published a memoir, “I’d Rather be Wright: Memoirs of an Itinerant Tackle,” that gave fans an inside look at life in pro football from an irreverent perspective that had rarely been shared.

But there’s one thing Wright begrudgingly said yes to during his football days that forever cemented — or rather, “bronzed” — his legacy…

Wright was hand-picked by Lombardi himself to pose (because of his impressive stature) to pose for the then-new trophy the NFL wanted to give to the player who best represented the game on AND off the field.

“The Gladiator Award,” which features Wright donning a helmet and cape, debuted in 1969 and the inaugural winner was Packers Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr.

The award was renamed NFL Man of the Year Award in 1970 and was changed to Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award in 1999 to honor the late Chicago Bears running back.

Although Wright passed away at age 82 in June 2025, his towering, bronzed legacy will live on forever 💚