JOHN GORMAN
Fort Myers, FL

By electing my husband, John Gorman, into the Packers Fan Hall of Fame now, you will pay tribute to him, the truest of Packer diehards, but also greatly honor John's mentor, #66, Ray Nitschke. Their enduring friendship is perhaps the greatest Packers story ever told! John was a Packers fan almost from birth. He'd watch every game, looking for his hero at middle linebacker. "Finding Ray was easy. Just look for the guy with his arms around the ball carrier at the bottom of the pile", says John. My in-laws say that after Sunday church, John would head for the TV or the radio upstairs to pick up WTMJ. I'm told he hasn't missed a game since he was 6, 43 years and counting. Win or lose, John is there.

John, like Nitschke, had to learn to be tough. Ray's toughness came from the streets. John's was learned while battling the cerebral palsy that he has had since birth. Immobilized so often, he loved to read, especially about the Packers. The amazing part of the story begins with John reading Jerry Kramer's Instant Replay. John read that Ray kept his number listed in the Green Bay phonebook. Summoning his courage, John called Mr. Nitschke to say, "Sir, you are my favorite player!" That phone call was the beginning of an incredible friendship of nearly 30 years, so deeply profound that it moved Ray to tell a live radio audience, "I'd love to have him as a son!" It meant so much to John, in turn, that at age 18, John did what no man with cerebral palsy has ever done; he played linebacker for the 1976 Marquette University football team, in tribute to Nitschke. "Ray taught me to how to read backs and how to forearm the center", says John. Mind you, my husband has metal plates holding some of his leg bones together. A broken leg would've meant medical disaster for him, but he was determined to succeed and did. "I asked God for 1 year, injury-free. It's something I had to do! Ray loved that."

John first attended a game at Lambeau in 1968 and attended Milwaukee home games with Ray while at Marquette. In 1996, Ray invited John to the Alumni Weekend Game. Today, John still makes the trip from Florida for that and the yearly Packers Hall of Fame Inductions, saluting the man he calls "my extra Dad" or "Uncle Ray".

Ray called John "The Packers Greatest Fan". John says Ray is "The Greatest Packer Ever". Please honor them both! Elect John Gorman to the Packers Fan Hall of Fame.

Submitted by his wife, Nefla Gorman.