Green Bay Press-Gazette from Green Bay, Wisconsin • Page 75

Packer draft-5 Green Bay Press-Gazette Sunday, April 19, 1987 ers chose Clark Pack veryfhing went wrong after 0 Starr claimed the Packers were not given the opportunity to respond to the Argonauts' offer. He accused Bennett of acting in his best interests, not his client's, and called Clark "a guinea pig" of Bennett. After he signed with Toronto, Clark regularly criticized the city of Green Bay and the Packers' organization. "For what I'm looking for, Green Bay doesn't have that much to offer, especially outside of football," Clark said in November 1980. "I'm looking for chances to set myself up (in business) and I don't think my chances are in Green Bay.

"I want to play in the NFL, but if that means playing in Green Bay, I'd rather stay in Toronto." The Argonauts got off to an 0-9 start in 1981 and Clark's interest in the CFL waned. When the contract with Toronto expired, Clark and Bennett began negotiations with the Packers. Again, Clark and Bennett found the Packers' offer unacceptable. After the 1982 draft, Clark was able to negotiate with any NFL team, although the Packers had the right to match the offer and retain Clark's services. Clark signed with the New Orleans Saints on June 10, 1982.

The Packers relinquished their rights to Clark in exchange for the Saints' 1983 first-round pick. The Packers used the choice to select corner-back Tim Lewis. "You go to Green Bay and see if you want to be there," Clark said upon signing with New Orleans. "I want to make sure life outside of football is dandy, too." ByJimEgle Of the Press-Gazette The Green Bay Packers can only hope their luck has changed for the better in the seven years since the Bruce Clark fiasco. The Packers had the fourth pick overall in 1980, just as they do this year.

They picked Clark, an all-America defensive lineman from Penn State. From there, Murphy's Law took over. Everything conceivable went awry. First, Clark contradicted the Packers' announced plans and said he didn't want to play nose tackle. His first visit to Green Bay, compliments of a local television station, caught the Packers off-guard.

Then, unhappy with the Packers contract offer and what the city of Green Bay had to offer, he opted instead to play two years for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. Only after Clark tired of the CFL did he return to the NFL. But it was the New Orleans Saints, not the Packers, with whom Clark established himself as a Pro Bowl-caliber player. In recent years, Clark has declined interviews with Wisconsin reporters, including phone calls from a Press-Gazette reporter last week. He has, however, clearly defined his views on Green Bay in past interviews.

It was on draft day April 29, 1980 when Clark first expressed his misgivings about playing for the Packers. Clark, a defensive end for most of his college career, had played nose tackle briefly at Penn State. He wanted no part of the position at which the Packers projected him. "I want to be playing five or 10 years down the road," Clark said in a telephone interview with the Press-Gazette the morning of the draft. "But nose tackle has the life span of a back.

I guess I'm not really sold on it." Shortly after the draft, Clark visited Green Bay courtesy of Channel 11, which paid for the trip. Bob Schulze, former sports director and news anchor with Channel 11 (WLUK) and now a vice-president of Schneider Communications in Green Bay, said he believed 1980 was the first time the station had flown the Packers' draft choice to Green Bay. The station dispatched a representative to the Penn State campus at State College, to meet Clark and convince him to take the Channel 11-paid trip to Green Bay. "There was strong competition to see who would beat who on draft day on the television stations," Schulze said. "We wanted to get his reactions to Green Bay." Clark appeared on WLUK's 6 p.m.

newscast for a live interview. When the show was over, Schulze said, he had a caller on the line. "Bart (Starr) or somebody called at 6:30 and wanted to know if it was all right to talk to him," 1 SI EDER Bruce Clark Spurned Packers, went to Canada Schulze said. Later, the Channel 11 crew took him to Kroll's West to sample that restaurant's distinctive, well-buttered hamburgers. "Yeah, he did (like the hamburgers)," Schulze said.

"He wolfed them down." A week after the draft, Clark returned to Green Bay, this time on the Packers' expense tab. He was more conciliatory toward the possibility of playing nose tackle. "I'm an easy man to get along with," he said. "They're set at linebacker and they need me at nose guard. That's fine.

There's no conflict there at all. I'm willing to give IFI People have been known to buy Rockport shoes because a friend raved about how comfortable they are. Or because they're on their feet all day. They'll even buy them on a podi Linda Wilson not a typical NFL scout atrist recommendation, but And we wouldn have it any other way. Because you're never going to be comfortable buying our shoes if you re not comfortable wearing them.

Rockport Marlboro, Mass. the Bills' owner, and inquired about scouting. "His reaction was great," Wilson said. "He called up Hank Bullough, who was the coach then, and said that I'd like to do it. Hank called me the next day." It wasn't an idea out of the blue.

She had scouted the infamous 1978 Gator Bowl game between Ohio State and Clemson, in which Buckeyes Coach Woody Hayes slugged Clemson nose tackle Charlie Bau-man out of frustration and was subsequently fired. Wilson's assignment was to watch three players: linebacker Tom Cousineau of Ohio State, and quarterback Steve Fuller and wide receiver Jerry Butler of Clemson. "I just happened to really like Jerry Butler," Wilson said. "I'm sure that's not why they took him, but they took Jerry Butler and he turned out to be a really great player for us. "It just turned out the one game I saw I picked out a great player." Wilson is a self-described sports fan.

The second of three daughters, she competes in amateur tennis tournaments. At one time, she was ranked in Florida. So Wilson was familiar with sports. She started scouting in earnest very rarely on a whim. Green Bay's Finest Shoe Store 213 N.

Washington 432-1938 i blevisionc 2MQ WmI Mown Tha Cabt Store Port Plaza A A Jbca it a shot." Those encouraging words probably weren't spoken from the heart. At that time, Clark was beginning to question his willingness to play in Green Bay. He later told Minneapolis Star columnist Doug Grow that several days after being drafted, he checked the World Almanac and found Green Bay's population to be 88,034. His heart sank to his knees, Clark told Grow. Meanwhile, the contract negotiations between the Packers and Clark's agent, Richard Bennett, were not progressing well.

Bennett reportedly asked for a signing bonus of $850,000 and a first-year salary of $125,000 for Clark. The Packers, who had recently signed first-round picks such as James Lofton and Eddie Lee Ivery to smaller contracts, balked at the demands. Packers management feared altering the team's salary structure. Clark said he was irritated with the way Packers management negotiated. "So I finally said to Richard, 'Go see what Canada like a joke," said Clark.

"And when he came back and told me, I said, 'Wow! Let's On May 28, 1980, Clark signed a one-year contract with an option year with Toronto, reportedly worth $618,000 if Clark played both years. Bart Starr, then coach of the Packers, reacted bitterly. That way, she could write her reports with the players fresh in her mind. If the game was televised, she said she taped it and watched it a second time, before filling out the reports. For her work, Wilson drew a salary.

"But not much," she said. As the owner's daughter, Wilson was a little concerned about what her relationship would be like with her colleagues. "I thought that a lot of people would resent it or not take me seriously," Wilson said. "The main thing is not taking me seriously. But they've been great." She said that Bill Polian, the Bills' general manager, has sat down with her in a film room and pointed out the technical things that she should be looking for.

Wilson said she planned to take some vacation days to voice her opinions about the Bills' possible picks in a two-day meeting the week before the draft, and then on April 28, the day of the draft. "They might listen to me," Wilson said. "Whereas if someone had just come in and started to scout, especially a woman, they wouldn't really listen to them. "But because of who my father is a chance younger brother play. I was talking to the coach, and he said that only a couple of the players from that team would go on to high school ball.

"I guess I never thought about it that way before. I realized it's kind of a pyramid. People drop out, and you see how many can last. "I never 6aw myself as a standout, but I think I've gotten better to meet the talent level. I play better against better players.

That's been the key." Can he make the jump to yet another level? "I hope so," he said. EU5 650 US' in: re eO'Strat'on ca' to mfl. bbaft Ml not, Hobbins will get By Sharon Raboin Of the Press-Gazette It is a rather unlikely combination. A woman who is a secretary for a publishing company and a part-time scout for a pro football team. Linda Wilson works 9 to 5 at Business International, a company in New York that publishes a newsletter about international business.

Each weekend of the college football season, she packs her bags and flies out of town, scouting the top college players across the country for the Buffalo Bills. What it adds up to is quite a hectic lifestyle. The 36-year-old Wilson is something of a pioneer in the business. It is believed that she is the only woman scout in professional football. The question is: How does a secretary become a weekend scout in the National Football League? i "You know my dad is the owner?" said Wilson, with a laugh.

'That's how I got into it. "I mean it was pretty easy to get in. I didn't really have to start at the bottom." i About 1V4 years ago, Wilson said that she got divorced and had some free time on her hands. She said she called her father, Ralph C. Wilson Drafted or By Brian White Of the Press-Gazette Jim Hobbins' dream is just around the corner, and he is being realistic about how it might come about.

Hobbins, a 1982 graduate of Green Bay Preble, is awaiting the National Football League draft after five years at the University of Minnesota. Hobbins was a standout offensive tackle at Minnesota, but not a superstar. Therefore, he knows there is a possibility he might not get drafted. He said the projections he hears is that he might be selected in the middle or late rounds. That would be great, he says.

But he seems prepared should his name not get called at all. If that is the case, a free-agent contract is sure to be waiting. That's fine with Hobbins, too. All he wants is a chance. "Whatever happens, happens," Hobbins said.

"The way I look at it, whether or not I get drafted, I'll get a chance to play. It all depends on what I do once I get there. "I'll just go all out no holds barred." It was that type of attitude that earned the 6-foot-6, 275-pound Hobbins the starting job at Minnesota two years ago. And it was that attitude that earned him, second-team all-Big Ten and honorable mention all-America honors last season. Hobbins earned varsity letters as a freshman and sophomore, and then missed the entire 1984 season with a foot injury.

He started as a junior and senior. At Preble, Hobbins earned five last season. "This sounds corny, but I really want to see my father have a great football team," Wilson said. "I wouldn't have done it for anyone else. "If I could just pick one good player who could contribute to the team Wednesday or Thursday of each week, Wilson said that Bullough, a former defensive coordinator of the Green Bay Packers, would call and tell her what game to cover.

Bullough was fired as head Coach of the Bills after the ninth game last season and replaced by Marv Levy. Some of the teams that Wilson saw were Alabama, Miami Ohio and North Carolina. Sometimes she sat in the press box, sometimes she purchased a ticket and sat in the stands. She said that she was assigned several players to watch each game. On a scale of one to 10, she graded the players in categories such as speed, quickness off the line, overall athletic ability and character.

In addition, she said she wrote a couple of paragraphs describing each player. On Bullough's advice, she said that she stayed overnight in the town where the game was held. with several NFL teams. He said the scouts rarely express their opinions to him, but he said he can tell how he did. "It's varied," he said.

"If you work out after four hours of classes, you don't do real well. But if it's in the morning and you're fresh, you can do well. I wish they'd all come and give one test." Most NFL scouts and personnel directors know of Hobbins but don't have him rated highly. Said one personnel director: "He' more of a suspect than he is a prospect. He's got the size, a little foot speed and quickness.

Any time you've got a man that big, if they put a good deal of effort into their work, you might end up with a player." At Minnesota, Hobbins played in a system that utilized an option offense one that is far different from offenses used in the pros. Hobbins said the habits formed in perfecting that offense might not be what NFL teams are looking for. "On an option team we worked a lot on run blocking, so we didn't do a lot of drop-back (pass) blocking," he said. "So that's a big weakness of mine, and I know the pros use that a lot. But I think I can pick it up.

The repetition is what I need. I think my quickness is good." Because few Green Bay natives have been drafted by the NFL, Hobbins is special. But the modest lineman said he never considered himself as extraordinary until a few years ago. "I never thought of myself that way," he said. "But a couple of years ago I went to a St.

Philip Falcons football game to see my APRIL 28 Beginning at 7 A.iV), Watch for local Packer cutaways GRAND OPENING WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22ND V01 -1 Jim Hobbins Second team all-Big Ten varsity letters in football, track and basketball. He was a first-team Press-Gazette all-metro pick and a second-team all-state selection in football in 1981. As his college career progressed, Hobbins realized that there might be football after college for him. "I've always wanted to play pro football," he said. "I've always kept it in the back of my mind since.

I was young, and since going to the university, I knew that if I worked hard I could do it. "The coaches said I had the basic skills and size, and that if I kept working, got bigger and kept my quickness, I'd be OK." Hobbins, who will graduate this spring with a degree in management and finance, has been working out daily and has had workouts CUSTOMERS WEDNESDAY, TAJ. cLii OWN HARDWARE In Allouez Central 1920 Libal Green Bay Plaza H0URS: $f-8 8 433-9988 sSn.M valley camera Your Choice of Either AUTO FOCUS PORT PLAZA MALL BAY PARK SQUARE EAST TOWN MALL KancEra The Paled Cartinstianol Autofocus Features YASHICA CAMERA Includes i Exclusive EOS Autofocus SLR System Exclusive Canon Depth-of-Field AE Mode 30 2000th sec. Electronic Shutter Flash sync, at 11 25th sec. "Green Zone" Full Auto Position for I Any C-41 Color Film i 1 roii 12 Price mistake-proof photography Built-in 3fps.

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