Report: Hornung auction will benefit charity

Paul Hornung's football career was about as successful as any player could hope for. The Green Bay Packers legend was a Heisman Trophy winner in 1956, the first overall pick in the NFL draft a year later and the league's Most Valuable Player in 1961. Now, Hornung has agreed to sell a few items from his college and professional football collection. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Hornung will donate the proceeds to charity. Hornung will auction off a reissue of his Heisman Trophy, an exact duplicate of the one he earned 56 years ago. It will take a minimum bid of 10,000 to have a chance at winning it in the auction. Hornung, 76, will also auction his class ring from Notre Dame. That item's minimum bid is 1,500 and has reissues of his 1961 Packers championship ring, as well as a 1965 Packers championship ring and his one from Super Bowl I. The auction will begin on Nov. 14 and run through Dec. 1. "I've got all my stuff in a drawer somewhere," Hornung told the Journal Sentinel. "I've got enough pictures in my office. That's all I need." Hornung later released a statement about the auction. "I hope everyone understands why I can't respond individually to all the media requests concerning the sale of part of my collection, Hornung wrote. I'm asking SCP Auctions to help me find new homes for some of these prized possessions. I'm doing this now as part of my family planning. My health and finances are good, so please understand that they have nothing to do with this sale. While Angela and I were not blessed with children, I have some charities that have long been very near and dear to my heart and I want to be around to see them benefit from some of the things that I've been honored to receive over the years. I am grateful to SCP Auctions for helping me do this." Follow Paul Imig onTwitter.