WEATHERWAX WAS SURROUNDED BY NFL HALL OF FAME TALENT

Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From the Super Bowl to the World Series, from the World Cup to golf’s U.S. Open, plus NCAA Final Four connections, Tour de France cycling, major tennis, NBA and a little NHL, aquatics and quite a bit more, the sparkling little city that sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10 has its share of sports connections. But … I-10 wasn’t even in existence when a future Green Bay defender was playing football in Redlands! – Obrey Brown

There are names that would roll off the lips of any Green Bay Packers’ fan. They could have been Bart Starr or Forrest Gregg, Herb Adderley or Dave Robinson, Henry Jordan or Ray Nitschke, Willie Wood or Willie Davis – or even Vince Lombardi.

Jim Weatherwax, an 11th-round pick in that 1965 NFL draft which produced the likes of linebacker Dick Butkus and running back Gale Sayers, was teammates with all of those Packers. Waxie was way behind those Chicago Bears picked third and fourth overall. He was 150th.

That Redlands High graduate, who played for Terriers’ venerable coach Frank Serrao in 1959 – one of Redlands’ best teams – took the field in 34 NFL games with the Pack from 1966-69.

Add another Hall of Famer from that era.

On Saturday, Feb. 2, 2018, Packers’ blocking great Jerry Kramer – author of Instant Replay – was granted that long-awaited spot in Canton after years of pondering by pro football historians on whether or not the one time right guard deserved the honor.

Instant Replay was, in fact, a book centered around that famous block thrown by Kramer, Green Bay’s right guard. It helped clear a small path for Starr’s QB sneak in the Packers’ 21-17 Ice Bowl win over Dallas.

That triumph led Green Bay into the second Super Bowl against Oakland.

Imagine, playing for a Hall of Famer – Lombardi – backing up Hall of Famers like Jordan and Davis on Green Bay’s defensive line, while practicing against Hall of Fame offensive blockers like Gregg and Kramer.

That’s 10 Hall of Famer players on one team, not counting Weatherwax’s historical coach.

In the Redlands newspaper office years later, Weatherwax reflected those glorious times. “I was lucky. I can’t even begin to describe it. Those were great times. Every man that played on that team was great.”

Jeff Lane, the sports editor of that paper, kept listening, taking notes, getting ready to write a story on this legendary local player.

“To play for the greatest coach of all time,” he said, pausing, searching for words that, perhaps, had never been used before, “was like nothing you could ever imagine. Like I said, I was lucky.”

Two of Weatherwax’s 34 career NFL games were the first two championship games – 35-10 over Kansas City in 1967, plus a 33-14 win over the Oakland Raiders in 1968.

Weatherwax started three games in 1967, even coming up with his only career fumble recovery that season. It the playoffs, Weatherwax got his share of snaps in wins over the Rams, Cowboys and, ultimately, the Raiders.

He was 23-years-old during his 1966 rookie season, well-schooled by the time that 1968 championship game against Oakland took place in Miami. The Packers’ era was slowly crumbling. Starr & Co. were aging rapidly. Whispers were rampant that Lombardi, too, was contemplating retirement.

All of which fed into the energy for Super Bowl II.

It was Kramer, said Weatherwax, who told the team in pre-game moments, “Let’s win it for the old man.”

Such a statement might have been Hall of Fame-worthy.

Weatherwax, whose knee injury knocked him out from football by 1969, seemed to bask in the glow of such prominent times. “The knee injuries that drove me out of the game, well, kind of make it worth it. I wouldn’t trade those moments – not the games, not the guys and not the coach.”