A 12th round draft choice out of the University of Illinois in 1973, center Larry McCarren was a longshot to make the Green Bay Packers' roster.
McCarren started his rookie season on the taxi squad, but clawed his way onto the active roster by the tenth game of the season.
The following year, McCarren started 13 of the Packers' 14 games. For the next 10 years, "The Rock" was entrenched at the starting center position. Along the way, he earned a reputation as a highly intelligent performer and a tireless workaholic.
By 1981, McCarren began to receive long overdue recognition when he was chosen to Pro Football Weekly's All-NFC team. A year later, he was named to the Pro Bowl. McCarren followed up his 1982 trip to the Pro Bowl with a return trip in 1983.
During week 12 of the 1984 season in a game against the Los Angeles Rams in Milwaukee, McCarren suffered a career ending neck injury. Despite missing the final four games of the season, he was named as an alternate to the Pro Bowl at center.
By the time his career ended, Larry McCarren had left his mark on the Green Bay Packers. He is only the 6th player in the history of the Packers to play as many as 12 seasons, the others being Bart Starr (16), Ray Nitschke (15), Forrest Gregg (14), Charlie "Buckets" Goldenberg (13) and Dave Hanner (13).
His 162 consecutive game playing streak is tied for second in Packers history with Willie Davis, trailing only Forrest Gregg's 187 game streak.
McCarren's ability to play with pain is well documented. In 1980, he underwent hernia surgery in the second week of August, only to return 3 1/2 weeks later to start the season opener against the Bears. He played the final 11 games of the season with a broken hand suffered in week 5 against Cincinnati.
After retiring from pro football in 1985, Larry was involved with the sports medicine field. In 1988, he went to the other side of the microphone from his playing days, becoming a reporter with WFRV-TV5 in Green Bay. Paralleling his storied Packers career, McCarren quickly rose to the top of local television sports.
Perhaps his greatest accolade came in march of 1994 when Larry McCarren was inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame along with teammate Lynn Dickey.
In 1995, he joined Jim Irwin and Max McGee in the radio booth for the weekly Packers Radio Network broadcasts.
Today he continues to live in Green Bay with his wife Becky and daughters Meghann and Marie. He continues to be a visible face in the Green Bay community through his various charity work, as the sports director at WFRV-TV5 and through his Packers radio broadcasts.
GREEN BAY PACKERS SEASON RESULTS (1973-84)
1973: 5-7-2 (3rd, NFC Central)
1974: 6-8 (3rd, NFC Central)
1975: 4-10 (T-3rd, NFC Central)
1976: 5-9 (4th, NFC Central)
1977: 4-10 (4th, NFC Central)
1978: 8-7-1 (2nd, NFC Central)
1979: 5-11 (4th, NFC Central)
1980: 5-10-1 (T-4th, NFC Central)
1981: 8-8 (T-2nd, NFC Central)
1982: 5-3-1 (3rd, NFC)
1983: 8-8 (T-2nd, NFC Central)
1984: 8-8 (2nd, NFC Central)
