A Hall of Fame love story

Former Packer linebacker Nelson Toburen texted me a few weeks ago.

He and his wife Helen had a Hall of Fame love story and we were lucky to feature it in our book, Lambeau Ladies: The Boundary-Breaking Women behind Lombardi’s Packers.

“Thank you Laura,” he wrote. “Your book arrived here just in time for us to read Helen’s chapter to her before her passing. We’re convinced she heard us, thought we caught a glimpse of a smile. So yes a just in time gift. Bless you Laura and best wishes for much success.”

Helen passed away on August 24th. That Nelson followed just a few weeks later, on Oct. 4th, would surprise no one who followed their inspirational love story.

High school sweethearts, the Toburens married young and had a toddler son named Christopher Robin when they arrived in Green Bay in 1961. Daughter Penny arrived the next year.

Nelson was my dad, Ron Kostelnik’s, roommate when the Packers played on the road. Each remembered the other’s kindness when I interviewed them years later, and Nelson, like all my dad’s roommates, also recalled how loudly my dad snored.

The two players were part of an outstanding 1961 Packer rookie class that included Herb Adderley, Lee Folkins, Ben Davidson and Elijah Pitts.

The team won an NFL championship that season thanks to a 37-0 rout of the New York Giants. Nelson played in every game.

The next season, he made the first start of his NFL career against the Baltimore Colts. His father Harold had flown in for the game, riding an airplane for the first time in his life. Helen sat in the stands, while Harold watched from the sidelines.

Late in the fourth quarter, Nelson tackled quarterback Johnny Unitas, but didn’t get up from the pile. He had broken his neck.

Nelson spent six weeks in the hospital and several months rehabbing back at their Green Bay apartment. Helen nursed him while also looking after Christopher and Penny.

Nelson described having to avoid tripping over the children and their toys as he moved from room to room in his giant body cast.

They both thought he’d be able to return to the field some day, but the neck injury proved to be career ending.

Dr. Nellen broke the news.

“I cried like a baby,” Nelson said.

He used his championship checks from the 1961 and 1962 seasons to go to law school. He said he’d hoped to recreate some of the excitement he felt on a football field by pursuing a career as a trial lawyer.

Though he enjoyed a stellar legal career and retired as the Chief Judge of the Kansas District Court, Nelson said he never was able to recapture the excitement he’d felt on the football field.

He and Helen suffered other tragedies in their 67-year marriage. Their son Chris, a Division I athlete and decorated Marine, died in a helicopter crash while on a training mission. Daughter Penny passed away in 2004.

Through it all they remained each other’s biggest supporters.

Helen is one of the women featured in the mink stole picture that appeared in Life Magazine following the 1961 season.

That picture hangs in the Packer Hall of Fame.

“I like to tell people I never made it into the Packer Hall of Fame,” Nelson said. “But Helen did.”

Their legacy of love lives on as do other members of their family including daughter Leigh, five grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.