Lynn Dickey

Clifford Lynn Dickey, born October 19, 1949, spent 15 seasons as an NFL quarterback, most of them with the Green Bay Packers. He played college ball at Kansas State and was picked in the third round of the 1971 draft by the Houston Oilers, where he stayed for five years. Dickey then played his final 10 seasons with the Packers, guiding them in 1982 to their first playoff appearance since 1972 and their first playoff win since 1967. In 1983, he led the league in touchdown passes. He was inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 1992.

Dickey grew up in Osawatomie, Kansas, after being born in Paola. He led Osawatomie High School to a state title and graduated in 1967. The school later named its football stadium after him and retired his number 10 in January 1971.

At Kansas State, Dickey finished tenth in Heisman Trophy voting after his senior season in 1970 and was named MVP of the North–South Shrine Game. His 6,208 career passing yards stood as the school record for 38 years, until Josh Freeman surpassed it in 2008.

The Houston Oilers selected Dickey in the third round of the 1971 draft (56th overall). Over four seasons there, he shared time with fellow 1971 pick Dan Pastorini. In 1972, Dickey competed for the starting job and had a strong preseason, but a dislocated and broken hip in the fourth exhibition game ended his season. He started ten games for the Oilers, winning two, including Houston’s only victory in 1973.

Traded to the Packers in 1976 for John Hadl, Dickey’s time in Green Bay began poorly. A broken leg in 1977 sidelined him for two full years. He returned as the starter in 1980. In the strike-shortened 1982 season, Dickey led the Packers into the 16-team playoffs. In the opening round, he completed 19 of 26 passes for 286 yards, four touchdowns, and no interceptions in a 41–16 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. The next week, Green Bay lost 37–26 to the Dallas Cowboys in the divisional round, with Dickey going 24 of 37 for 274 yards, one touchdown, and three interceptions.

The peak of his career came in 1983, when he powered the Packers to a then-team-record 429 points. His 4,458 passing yards that season stood as the team record until Aaron Rodgers broke it in 2011, and his 32 touchdown passes led the NFL. Sportswriter Alex Rubenstein of SB Nation called Dickey’s back-to-back performances on September 4 and 11, 1983, the best two-game stretch by any quarterback in the first 98 NFL seasons. Without the artificial cap on passer rating at 158.3, Dickey’s rating across those games would have been 164.1—a mark not reached again over multiple games until Peyton Manning in the 2003 playoffs and not surpassed in the regular season until Patrick Mahomes in 2018. In those two games—a 41–38 win over the Houston Oilers and a 21–25 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers—Dickey completed 41 of 51 passes for 623 yards, eight touchdowns, and one interception.

He was named second-team All-NFC behind Joe Theismann. That season, Dickey’s Packers beat Theismann’s Super Bowl champion Washington Redskins 48–47 on Monday Night Football after Washington kicker Mark Moseley missed a field goal in the final seconds. NFL Network later featured the game in its “Top Ten Quarterback Duels” program.

Dickey retired before the 1986 season after being waived late in training camp. He still holds Packers records for highest completion percentage in a game with at least 20 attempts (19 of 21, 90.48%, against New Orleans on December 13, 1981) and highest average gain in a season (9.21 yards per attempt in 1983), the latter an NFL single-season record for quarterbacks with 400 or more attempts. His 418 passing yards in a 1980 game against Tampa Bay (October 12) was broken by Matt Flynn on January 1, 2012, with 480 yards (Aaron Rodgers had 422 in a playoff game against the Arizona Cardinals).

After football, Dickey moved to the Kansas City area and opened a football-themed restaurant that failed.

In 1996, when the Big Eight became the Big 12, the Associated Press named Dickey the All-Time Big Eight Quarterback. Kansas State retired the number 11 to honor both Dickey and his successor Steve Grogan—the only number retired by the school’s football program. He is a member of the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame, Kansas Sports Hall of Fame, and Kansas State Hall of Fame.