HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

According to a 2000 Census Report on the state of Wisconsin, 10.9% of the state's population is Irish. Behind German at 42.6%, that is the second highest percent of ethnic origin. That surprised me. I knew German would be number one, but I assumed that Polish and possibly Norwegian would both be ahead of Irish. Ah, but what a wonderful surprise!

I come from a pretty interesting Irish background, so it is the heritage that I celebrate and associate with most. So in honor of St. Patrick's Day, we shall celebrate the Irish and "Irish" members of the Green Bay Packers!

Matt Flynn - origin: Irish. shortened Anglicized of Gaelic O Floinn 'descendant of Flann', a byname meaning 'red(dish).' surprisingly to many has exceeded Brian Brohm's play through current times.
Ryan Grant - played at the University of Notre Dame.
Nick Collins - origin: Gaelic. From Cuilein, darling, a term of endearment applied to young animals, as Catulus, in Latin. 2008 Pro Bowler.
J.J. Jansen - played at the University of Notre Dame.

And again, thanks to my calendar, I will mention Carlyle Holiday, because he played at the University of Notre Dame. He was a quarterback with the Fighting Irish, but became a wide receiever in the NFL. He caught the pass from Brett Favre that broke Dan Marino's career completions record.

Other notable Irish Packers:
Curly Lambeau - Notre Dame. He chose blue and gold as the Packers original colors after wearing them at ND and playing for Knute Rockne.
Hugh Devore - Notre Dame.
Dan Devine - coached at Notre Dame.
Paul Hornung - Notre Dame. NFL Hall of Famer.
Jimmy Crowley - one of Notre Dame's famed four horsemen. Played at Green Bay East High School and after Notre Dame played for the Pack in 1925.
John McNally - Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac an Fhailghigh ‘son of the poor man’. NFL Hall of Famer.

Interesting Irish Packers facts:
The jersey colors as mentioned above.
Three of eleven of the Packers starters in their first game played at Notre Dame.
After playing for the Packers, Jimmy Crowley became a coach and coached Vince Lombardi at Fordham.
The Packers have drafted 27 players from Notre Dame, and 51 players from South Bend have played for Green Bay, the most of any college.