Bay's defense with nine tackles. Nitschke remained a starter through the 1970 season, but in 1971 he was benched by new coach Dan Devine and became a reserve to Jim Carter. At the end of the 1972 season, the Packers traveled to New Orleans to play the Saints on December 17 at Tulane Stadium, which turned out to be Nitschke's last regular season game. He recorded the only pass reception of his career, a 34-yard gain after a blocked Packer field goal attempt, and they won to finish , their best regular season record Green Bay had clinched the NFC Central division title the week before at Minnesota for their first playoff berth in In the divisional round of the playoffs on Christmas Eve, Green Bay lost Nitschke returned for a 16th training camp in 1973, then retired in Nitschke was known for his strength and toughness, exhibited prior to his third season in 1960. On the Packers' practice field on September 1, a steel coaching tower was blown over by a strong gust of wind, on top (It was erroneously first reported as Lombardi ran over to see what had happened, but when told it had fallen on Nitschke, said, "He'll be fine. Get back to work!" According to Nitschke's biography, a spike was driven into his helmet, but did not injure him. The helmet (with the hole) is currently on display in the Packer Hall of Fame in Green Bay. Although Nitschke was known for his hard hitting, he was an athletic all-around linebacker who also intercepted 25 passes over his career. Personal life Nitschke was married on June 26, 1961, to Jackie Forchette. Jackie was unable to have children, so they adopted three: John in 1963, Richard in 1966, and Amy in 1972. Ray and Jackie had a winter home in Naples, Florida. Lombardi gave partial credit for Nitschke's success to Nitschke's wife, whose calming influence helped Ray focus on his career. Nitschke remained popular in Green Bay after retiring, even having his phone number and home address published in the Green Bay phone book. In 1973, Mean on Sunday: The Autobiography of Ray Nitschke ("as told to Robert W. Wells") was published by Doubleday. The review in Kirkus Reviews concluded, "This lacks the wider appeal of, say, an Instant Replay and it's antithetical to the juicy Ball Four genre. But Packer fans and others around the