Tom Brady’s suspension and the harshest all-time NFL penalties

Paul Hornung and Alex Karras gambling suspension

Now let’s take things much further back. Brady’s suspension is harsh, but it’s not as harsh as what Green Bay Packers running back Paul Hornung and Detroit Lions defensive tackle Alex Karras got back in 1963. Their crime: gambling.

Both stars were suspended for a year by commissioner Pete Rozelle for betting on football. Both players bet repeatedly on their own team and other NFL games throughout their careers, despite the NFL rule against gambling of any kind.

Hornung’s suspension, in particular, is probably the only time the NFL has come close to suspending a player of Brady’s stature. Hornung was the 1961 MVP, known as the NFL’s “Golden Boy.” With football still a growing sport, it took some real guts to suspend a star of this stature, but Rozelle did it. Hornung admitted his guilt, and was reinstated in 1964.

Ironically, theses suspensions were the first steps the commissioner position took to becoming what it is today. The Sports Illustrated story from the time says of commissioners, “These sports bosses are all too often only glorified secretaries, mere shadowy projections of the club owners. They are hired by owners, fired by owners and are manipulated like puppets by the owners whenever important decisions have to be taken. Alvin (Pete) Rozelle, the commissioner of the National Football League, does not seem to fit this string-dance pattern.”

So in a way, Rozelle’s suspension of Hornung and Karras is what led to the seemingly limitless power of commissioners today, and to Goodell’s power to make the Brady decision.

Hornung himself actually weighed in on the Brady suspension, per USA Today. The now 79-year-old ex-Packers star said that “I absolutely sympathize with Tom. It’s a hell of a punishment for him if he didn’t do it. … My God, it’s not fair.”

Next: Other Past Punishments