Packers Pro Bowl QB & Depew Standout
When he was standing on the sidelines at Depew High School with a broken hand his senior year, Green Bay’s Lambeau Field had to seem like a million miles away.
Don Majkowski was able to bridge that distance making one of his many comebacks in a career that eventually saw him play 10 years in the NFL, including six with the Packers.
Majkowski caught plenty of breaks in his career, but they were the kind that required crutches and casts.
He broke his passing hand in two places on the first play of the first game as a senior at Depew in 1982.
As a senior at the University of Virginia, he separated his passing shoulder and missed six weeks.
In 1990 with the Packers he wracked up 1,925 yards in eight games before suffering a career-threatening torn rotator cuff against Phoenix.
In 1992 he suffered an ankle injury against Cincinnati and was replaced by Brett Favre, who held the job for the next 16 years. Majkowski has since had nine surgeries on the same ankle.
Through all the pain and rehab Majkowski never lost faith in himself.
He managed to come back and play the last three games of his senior year at Depew and he played well enough to earn an invitation to the summer Kensington Lions All-Star Game, where he earned MVP honors leading the South to a 31-0 victory.
When a college scholarship didn’t materialize, Majkowski enrolled in Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia and led them to a 8-0-1 record.
Majkowski spent his last three years of college at the University of Virginia where he became the Cavaliers’ all-time passing and total offense leader.
Green Bay selected him in the 10th round of the 1987 draft. It wasn’t long before he earned the nicknamed “Majik” for his penchant for late-game victories.
In his six seasons with the Packers (1987-92), Majkowski played in 68 games, completing 889 passes for 10,870 yards and 56 touchdowns. In 1989, Don led the NFL with 4,318 passing yards and was named to the Pro Bowl and All-Madden teams. He played two seasons each with the Indianapolis Colts and Detroit Lions. Majkowski was inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 2005.
Majkowski will join his high school coach at Depew in the Hall, the late Frank Constantino, who was enshrined in 1991.