Cliff Christl started gathering oral histories with former Packers and others associated with the team in 2000 and will continue to gather them as Packers historian. Excerpts from those interviews will be periodically posted at www.packers.com.
John Roach served as Bart Starr’s backup quarterback from 1961 to 1963. The Packers acquired Roach from the Cleveland Browns on Aug. 8, 1961, three weeks into training camp, for what turned out to be a third-round draft pick. The Browns had acquired Roach only a month earlier from the St. Louis Cardinals. Drafted in the third round in 1956, Roach was the Cards’ backup punter, a backup safety and third-string quarterback as a rookie.