Packers Linebacker Brian Noble Retires

Feb. 18, 1994 – Brian Noble announces his retirement more than five months after suffering the injury that forced him to end his playing career. The linebacker was lost for the season to a knee injury on Sept. 12, 1993 in a 20-17 setback to the Eagles. So devastating was the injury that seven operations followed. “Somewhere in the back of my mind, I always thought, ‘What if I could come back,’” the nine-year veteran says. But Noble says he was told by team physician Patrick McKenzie that “there’s no way you could play football again at the level necessary.” Packers trainer Pepper Burruss calls the injury the worst he has seen in 20-plus years working with athletes.