Probably not many people remember the subject of today’s posting... and if they do, they may be like us folks who only know of him from reading books or watching old highlight films. He is #10 in your game program — John Roach, backup quarterback for the Green Bay Packers from 1961 to 1963. Roach came to the Packers after playing for the Chicago (now Arizona) Cardinals in 1956, and again in 1959 and 1960. His numbers in Chicago for 1960 apparently made someone in the Packers’ front office take note. He played in 12 games, completing 87 out of 188 passes for 1,423 yards — including 17 touchdowns and 19 interceptions.
The Packers were in the market for a backup to new starter Bart Starr, whose backups in 1960 were Lamar McHan and Paul Hornung. McHan was let go, and John Roach brought over from Chicago in 1961. Hornung did still remain a backup quarterback in 1961 as well.
In his three seasons in Green Bay, Roach won NFL Championship rings for the 1961 and 1962 seasons with the team, even though he played very sparingly. His stats for the three years in the green and gold are: 45 passes completed out of 96 attempts for 1,002 yards — including 5 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.
Roach went on to play for one more season in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys in 1964.
