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My mom never liked Forrest Gregg. Gregg, in case you’re unfamiliar, is a former Packer player and coach. I’m not sure why she didn’t care for him, but she used to say something about him “looking mean” and “snorting” a lot on the sidelines. Her opinion. I shrug… who knows with moms?
Despite this, when I found out Gregg would be at my local bookstore, I gladly went. Gregg is on a book tour these days promoting Winning in the Trenches: A Lifetime of Football. As a Packer fan, sports blogger, and book lover, I looked forward to seeing him.
My husband and I attended the signing, where Mr. Gregg, now in his 70s, talked about his early career with the Packers, on playing for Vince Lombardi, and (as any Packer discussion eventually leads these days) what he thinks of Brett Favre retiring and coming back to play for a competitor. (The short version is that Gregg himself retired from the Packers, only to unretire and play for the Cowboys, so naturally he choose the political route of saying that he understood both sides of things.)
Most of us there in the audience were too young to remember him play, but a few of us remembered him as coach. To be honest, he wasn’t a fabulous coach for Green Bay. But Packer fans are a forgiving lot, especially when it comes to the Lombardi legacy. In other words, he played for the greatest coach ever, and for that reason alone it was worth a trip to see him.
His talk was much of what you’d expect with some stories of long ago and a few thoughts on the game today. Gregg also posed for several pictures with the guys at the event. However, when I asked if I could have a picture with him, he said, “Let me tell you a sad story.” I thought he was going to say that he needed to sit down, because he is older and had been standing for an hour. I thought perhaps he was going to say that, despite that he’d already posed with several guys, he would have to draw the line somewhere.
Instead, he told me that a few years ago some woman had a picture with Bart Starr and claimed to have a relationship with him. Gregg said she had sued Starr, and ever since that he no longer posed with women.
?????
We all laughed, as people politely do when someone makes an incredibly sexist, ill-thought out, and downright rude comment such as that, but I was thrown for a loop. The woman who worked at the bookstore looked mortified. The guys looked at each other nervously. We laughed, but Gregg’s egotistical comment had changed the collective atmosphere.
My husband and I laughed about this all the way home. The absurdity that a man in his 70s would actually think he was so appealing that someone young enough to be his daughter would actually might to claim she was involved with him. The arrogance that he’d feel comfortable saying something like this to someone who sat through his (somewhat boring) discussion and bought his book (which she will undoubtedly never read.)
For me, this story is a far better “souvenir” than having the picture. The one thing that does bother me is that obviously my mother was right about Forrest Gregg. Don’t you hate it when that happens?
Image: Amazon
Forrest failed to mention in his book about his first marriage to Barbara Leach, his highschool sweetheart. They divorced after he finished at SMU. He also doesn’t mention he has no contact with his eight siblings, how sad. He should pose with his fans male or female at this age in his life.
I disagree with you. I think all men have to be careful now. The incident he described is not an isolated event. Many male athletes do not have their pictures made with women. Tom Landry is another “older” gentleman who did not have his pictures made with women. A lot of it was out of respect for his wife in case any one did try to pull a blackmail stunt.