Babe Parilli Headlines Packers’ Six-Player Swap

August 6, 1954 – Less than two weeks after training camp opens, Green Bay Packers coach Liz Blackbourn pulls off a major trade. The first-year headmaster sends Vito (Babe) Parilli and second-round draft pick Bob Fleck to the Browns in return for quarterback Bob Garrett, guard John Bauer, defensive back Bob Miller and tackle Chester Giarola. “We needed help at quarterback badly and needed it now,” Blackbourn explains. With Parilli having gone into the Air Force for a two-year stint, Green Bay was down to just one quarterback in Tobin Rote. Even with Garrett in the fold, Rote handles most of the workload setting a then NFL record with 382 pass attempts in 1954.