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Cleveland Traded Six Players to Get Bobby Garrett Back. He Never Played a Down for Them.

October 12, 2026

Cleveland Traded Six Players to Get Bobby Garrett Back. He Never Played a Down for Them.

On the night of April 18, 1957, the Cleveland Browns traded six veteran players to the Green Bay Packers for two: quarterback Bobby Garrett and linebacker Roger Zatkoff. The Green Bay Press-Gazette put the headline in the next morning's paper: "PACKERS GET 6 FOR 2 IN TRADE, EYE MORE DEALS." The paper billed it as the largest switch of all-veteran players in the history of the NFL.1

Here is the return Cleveland got for those six players. Garrett quit football during the preseason.2 Zatkoff refused to report, forced a trade to Detroit, and never played a game in a Browns uniform either.6 Two players acquired, zero games played for the team that acquired them.

The six who went to Green Bay: quarterback Babe Parilli, defensive end Carlton Massey, backs John Petitbon and Billy Kinard, linebacker Sam Palumbo, and tackle John Macerelli.1 Three of them, Massey, Petitbon, and Palumbo, had won the 1955 NFL championship with Cleveland,111314 and Massey had won the 1954 title as well.11 Garrett was the prize of the deal, and he is the reason the trade happened twice.

The best college player in the country

Garrett was a first-team All-American at Stanford in 1953. He played quarterback, defensive back, punted, and kicked extra points left-footed while throwing right-handed. In 1953 he led the nation with 1,637 passing yards and 17 touchdown passes, and intercepted nine passes on defense.3

In October 1953, Stanford beat fourth-ranked UCLA 21-20. Garrett played every minute on offense and defense, threw three touchdown passes, kicked all three extra points, recovered a fumble, and intercepted a pass.3 UCLA coach Red Sanders said afterward: "I've never seen a man dominate a game so completely as Garrett did. I mean anytime, anywhere."2

Garrett stuttered. At Stanford it was a managed problem. End Sam Morley stood next to him in the huddle, and when Garrett got stuck on a word, usually one starting with F or Th, Morley slapped him on the rear end and he came right out of it. Morley said the trick failed once in Garrett's career, and Stanford called a timeout.2

Drafted first, gone before he arrived

Cleveland took Garrett with the first pick of the 1954 draft and signed him to a record rookie contract: $15,000 a year with a $5,000 signing bonus. What Paul Brown learned after the draft, according to Garrett's son Bill, was that Garrett owed the Air Force two years of service for his ROTC commission at Stanford.217 Brown traded him to Green Bay before Garrett ever reached Cleveland. Garrett heard about it on the radio, driving across the country with his new wife, Joan.2

Green Bay sent Parilli and tackle Bob Fleck to Cleveland in that August 1954 deal.17 Parilli owed the Air Force time too, and did not play for the Browns until 1956.10 Garrett backed up in Green Bay for one season, appearing in nine games and completing 15 of 30 passes for 143 yards, then left for the Air Force for 1955 and 1956.3

So by the spring of 1957, the two quarterbacks had crossed paths twice. Each club had held both of them. Neither club had gotten much from Garrett.

What changed in Cleveland

Paul Brown still wanted him. Brown was running a system of audibles, play changes called at the line, and he wanted Garrett running it.2 By the account of Garrett's family, Brown made the stutter a public mockery in Cleveland, and the more attention it got, the worse Garrett stuttered.2

Paul Wiggin, a Stanford teammate who joined the Browns as a rookie defensive end in 1957, watched it happen.2 "What Luck is to Stanford now, Garrett was then," Wiggin said. On Brown's handling of the stutter: "It was just a misunderstanding of what stuttering was. It didn't solve the problem, it enhanced the problem."2

The version of the story that stuck to Garrett's name for decades is that the stutter made him unable to call plays, full stop. His family's version is narrower: the stutter was manageable in a huddle at Stanford, Brown's offense and Brown's methods made it worse, and Garrett chose to leave.2 What is not in dispute is the price Cleveland paid to find out.

Six for two

Cleveland thought it was buying a starting quarterback for Brown's audible system and a linebacker who had made three straight Pro Bowls.26 Green Bay saw the deal from the other side. It was a straight player swap, no draft picks, and the two players leaving were, in the words of a Press-Gazette preseason writer that summer, "neither of whom figured in Green Bay's 1957 blueprint."4 Lisle Blackbourn took six veterans for them. Green Bay finished 3-9 anyway, and 1957 was Blackbourn's final season in Green Bay; Ray McLean replaced him in January 1958.5

Zatkoff drove the terms of his own exit. He wanted Detroit, near his Michigan home, so he could start a business while he played, and Cleveland was not his choice. When the trade landed, his wife was eight and a half months pregnant. Zatkoff announced he would retire rather than report to the Browns, got the league commissioner on the phone, and held out until Cleveland gave in.67

Cleveland first tried to move him to the Los Angeles Rams. Zatkoff refused the Rams too, and that deal was called off.6 In September 1957 the Browns traded him to Detroit for running back Lew Carpenter and a future draft pick.6 On December 29, Zatkoff started at linebacker for the Lions in the NFL Championship Game and beat the Browns 59-14.68 Carpenter, the man Cleveland got back for him, scored one of Cleveland's two touchdowns that day, a five-yard run in the third quarter.9

Garrett's exit came earlier and quieter. During a preseason trip to Southern California, near his hometown, he walked into a coaches meeting and told Brown he would not be taking the trip back. His young son had nearly drowned while he was away at camp. Brown, caught off guard, offered to trade him to Philadelphia instead. Garrett turned that down too. He was 25.2

What the six became

Parilli is the lasting damage. Green Bay got two seasons out of him as Bart Starr's backup, then he went to Canada, then to the new American Football League. In Boston, from 1961 to 1967, he became one of the AFL's best quarterbacks: three All-Star selections, and in 1964 he threw for 3,465 yards and 31 touchdowns, the touchdown total a Patriots record that stood until Tom Brady broke it in 2007. He finished his career holding for Jim Turner on the New York Jets team that won Super Bowl III, retired at 40 in 1970, and made the College Football Hall of Fame. His professional career ran 18 seasons.10

The other five were shorter-term.

Massey, a consensus All-American at Texas who had won championships with Cleveland in 1954 and 1955, gave Green Bay two seasons, 1957 and 1958.11

Kinard, a second-round pick out of Ole Miss, also played both seasons for the Packers and later became the head coach at Ole Miss.12

Palumbo started eight games at middle linebacker for Green Bay in 1957, his only season there.13

Petitbon, a Notre Dame back who had won a championship with Cleveland in 1955, retired after the 1957 season.14

Macerelli never appeared in a game for Green Bay; his only NFL season was 1956, with Cleveland.15

Cleveland survived the trade. The Browns went 9-2-1 in 1957 behind Tommy O'Connell at quarterback and a rookie named Jim Brown, and reached the championship game, the one Zatkoff helped Detroit win 59-14.16

Garrett went home to California and worked for Sears, Roebuck for the rest of his life.2 He died of a heart attack in 1987, at 55.23 His son Bill, who played at Stanford himself, summed up the ending: "He chose to stay home."2

The first overall pick in the 1954 draft finished with nine games, 30 passes, 143 yards, and no touchdowns.3

Sources

Trade terms, teams, and dates verified against the site's trade tree for this deal and cross-checked with the sources below.

  1. Packers History: 1957 Green Bay Packers season page (packershistory.net) — the April 18, 1957 transaction log entry (Garrett and Zatkoff to Cleveland for Parilli, Massey, Petitbon, Palumbo, Kinard, and Macerelli), the Press-Gazette headline "PACKERS GET 6 FOR 2 IN TRADE, EYE MORE DEALS," and the paper's billing of the deal as the largest all-veteran player switch in NFL history
  2. Sam Scott: "The First Number One" (Stanford Magazine, May 2012) — Sanders's quote after the UCLA game, the Morley huddle detail, the record contract, Brown learning of the Air Force obligation after the draft, Garrett hearing of the 1954 trade on the radio, the audible system and Brown's treatment of the stutter, Wiggin's quotes, the preseason resignation, the declined Philadelphia trade, the son's near-drowning, the Sears career and 1987 death, and Bill Garrett's account
  3. Wikipedia: Bobby Garrett — the 1953 season (1,637 passing yards and 17 touchdown passes, both leading the nation, nine interceptions on defense), first-team All-American honors, the UCLA game line, nine games and 15-of-30 passing for 143 yards with Green Bay in 1954, the two Air Force years, never playing a game for Cleveland, the career totals (30 attempts, 143 yards, no touchdowns), and his death at 55
  4. Green Bay Press-Gazette: 1957 preseason coverage (via Packers History) — the description of Garrett and Zatkoff as players who "neither of whom figured in Green Bay's 1957 blueprint"
  5. Wikipedia: 1957 Green Bay Packers season — Green Bay's 3-9 finish and Blackbourn's final season, replaced by Ray McLean in January 1958
  6. Wikipedia: Roger Zatkoff — three Pro Bowls (1954-56) and two first-team All-Pro selections with Green Bay, the refusal to play for Cleveland, the called-off Rams deal, the September 1957 trade to Detroit for Lew Carpenter and a future pick, and his starting role on the 1957 champion Lions; his career history (Green Bay and Detroit only) confirms he never played a game for Cleveland
  7. Roger Zatkoff obituary (University of Michigan School of Kinesiology) — his wife's pregnancy at the time of the Cleveland trade, the call to the commissioner, the negotiated move to Detroit, and Zatkoff Seals & Packing
  8. Wikipedia: 1957 Detroit Lions season — the December 29, 1957 championship game, Detroit 59, Cleveland 14, at Briggs Stadium
  9. Pro Football Archives: 1957 NFL Championship Game box score — the scoring summary, including Lew Carpenter's five-yard touchdown run for Cleveland in the third quarter
  10. Wikipedia: Babe Parilli — Air Force service and his single Cleveland season in 1956, Green Bay 1957-58, Canada in 1959, Boston 1961-67 with the 1964 season (3,465 yards, 31 touchdowns, the touchdown total a Patriots record until 2007), three All-Star selections, holder for Jim Turner on the Super Bowl III Jets, retirement at 40 in 1970, 18 professional seasons, and the College Football Hall of Fame
  11. Wikipedia: Carlton Massey — Texas consensus All-American, Cleveland 1954-56 with NFL championships in 1954 and 1955 and a 1955 Pro Bowl, Green Bay 1957-58
  12. Wikipedia: Billy Kinard — Ole Miss, Cleveland's second-round pick in 1956, Cleveland 1956, Green Bay 1957-58, Buffalo 1960, later head coach at Ole Miss (1971-73)
  13. Pro Football Reference: Sam Palumbo — Cleveland seasons in 1955 (the championship year) and 1956; his 1957 season in Green Bay: nine games played, eight starts at middle linebacker; one game for Buffalo in 1960
  14. Wikipedia: John Petitbon — Notre Dame, member of Cleveland's 1955 championship team, traded to Green Bay in 1957 and retired after that season
  15. Wikipedia: John Macerelli — Saint Vincent tackle whose only NFL season was 1956 with Cleveland (12 games)
  16. Wikipedia: 1957 Cleveland Browns season — Cleveland's 9-2-1 season with Tommy O'Connell at quarterback and Jim Brown's rookie year, ending in the 59-14 championship loss at Detroit
  17. Stephen Thomas: "The Bobby Garrett Debacle" (247Sports) — the August 1954 deal (Garrett, John Bauer, Don Miller, and Chester Gierula to Green Bay for Parilli and Bob Fleck), Garrett's Air Force ROTC obligation, and Parilli not joining Cleveland until 1956
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About this article: it was drafted with AI assistance from the Football Trade Trees database and public reporting, then reviewed by a human editor. Spot an error? Email [email protected].