'Who wore it best' at Michigan State: No. 57

Ever see a number on a Michigan State football jersey and think of all the great players to wear it? Me, too. In this daily series, I’ll give you my take on which Spartan football player was the best ever to wear each number. The criteria are simple: How did he perform at MSU? And what kind of impact did he have on the program?

No. 57 – Norm Masters

Defensive tackle, 1953-55, Detroit

Résumé

1953: 10.4 points per game allowed, shutout

1954: 17.6 points per game allowed

1955: 7.7 points per game allowed, 3 shutouts

Total: 11.9 solo tackles, 4 shutouts

*No defensive stats available

Why Masters?

Norm Masters earned the nickname “Stormin’ Norman” during his three years in East Lansing, leading one of the nation’s top defenses, including the 1955 national championship team that allowed only 7.7 points per game. That is still the fourth-best mark in program history.

Masters earned All-American status that season, chosen by the United Press, Look Magazine, International News Service, Newspaper Enterprise Association, NBC-TV, central Press and Fox Movietone.

Standing 6-foot-2 and 249 pounds, the big defensive tackle from Detroit helped lift Duffy Daugherty’s Spartans to a 17-14 win over UCLA in the Rose Bowl.

After the season, Masters was selected in the second round of the NFL draft by the Chicago Cardinals.

During his nine-year career, Masters won a pair of NFL championships with the Green Bay Packers.

Masters, along with fellow Spartan Dan Currie, played on the championship teams in Green Bay in 1961 and 1962. Masters played 104 games for Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay squad from 1957-64. He retired from the Packers in 1965 at 31 years old.

“(Masters) has been a great credit to the team, not only for his football ability but for his jovial attitude," Lombardi told the press at Masters’ retirement. “(He is) one of the great tackles in the league."

Masters was not only known for his prowess on the field, he was also known for his humor off it.

"A rainstorm interrupted an afternoon scrimmage, and Lombardi ordered all of us into a nearby shed," former Packers’ teammate Gary Knafelc told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "Norm found a pail of ice chips and when Vince wasn’t looking, he would throw some against the wall of the shed. It sounded like hail. Lombardi believed it and called off the scrimmage. We loved it."

Masters died of cancer on April 19, 2011. He was 77.

Some will say that this decision is Dixon Edwards, hands down.

You have a point.

He won three Super Bowl titles with the Dallas Cowboys in the 1990s. Before that, he teamed up with Percy Snow to win a Rose Bowl title at MSU. Edwards finished his career in East Lansing with 277 total tackles, including 223 in his final two seasons.

Who else wore No. 57?

Mark Birchmeier (C, 1992-94), Steven Blank (MLB/OG, 1980-81), Adam Brown (OG, 2014), Collin Caflisch (SN, 2016), Rocco Cironi (OT, 2006-09), Dixon Edwards (OLB, 1987-90), Paul Harker (OG, 1998-03), Ellison Kelly (G, 1956-58), Robert McClowry (OT/C, 1970-72), Jeffrey Richardson (C/OG, 1966), James Rinella (NG/DT, 1982-85), Larry Savage (LB, 1976-79), Robert Sherman (QB, 1939-41), Johnathan Strayhorn (DE, 2008-11), Frank Traylor (DT, 1967)

Contact Cody Tucker at (517) 377-1070 or cjtucker@lsj.com and follow him on Twitter @CodyTucker_LSJ.

MORE ON NORM MASTERS:
* Norman D. Masters Obituary
* Former Packers' tackle Masters dies at 77