Former Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson was inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame inside the Lambeau Field Atrium on Saturday.
Thompson, who was with the Packers as general manager for 13 seasons, was the only individual inducted into this year’s hall of fame.
"He put together a Super Bowl team in Seattle, came here and put a Super Bowl team together,” Ron Wolf, former Packers GM said of Thompson. “One thing I want say is when I got here, as everyone knows, the Packers were not very good. They hadn't been winning, had the worst record in the NFL and when I left nine years later, we had the best record in the league-that’s partial because of guys like Ted Thompson."
Thompson’s legacy is glaring from his start working for the player personnel department for the Packers to his first draft pick Aaron Rodgers.
"Ted comes over and says can we talk for a minute,” former Packers president Bob Harlan said about his first draft with Thompson. “He said ‘Rodgers is number one on our board. If he's still there, I'm going to take him and we are going to get some heat for it because of Brett.’ I said ‘it's your club to run, I told you that. I'm not going to interfere, take who you want’."
Thompson was introduced into the hall of fame by long-time friend and teammate, Mike Reinfeldt.
"The longer he's retired, the longer people will appreciate him,” Reinfeldt said. “I think time is going to be kind to Ted, when they look back and see what he's accomplished…it was a golden era for the Packers.”