PHILADELPHIA — The U.S. Coast Guard christened a new Sentinel-class ship for former Green Bay Packer player Emlen Tunnell. During World War II in the Paacific, Tunnell suffered burns saving a shipmate after a Japanese torpedo hit their ship. Two years later off Newfoundland he jumped into the freezing Atlantic to save another shipmate who had fallen off a ship. After his military service, Tunnell played football for the New York Giants and then the Packers. He was with the 1961 championship Packers. At the Giantsvhis jersey had been Number 45. In1963 he returned to the Giants as the National Football League’s first black full-time assistant coach. He was the first black player inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Tunnell died in 1975 at age 50. The new ship bearing his name is the Coast Guard’s 45th fast response cutter. It’s the first military ship to carry the name of a professional athlete. The 154-foot Emlen Tunnell will join three other Sentinel-class ships in the Arabian Gulf homeport in Bahrain.
Number 45 lives on at sea. Tunnell’s jersey number with the New York Giants was 45. The ship named in his honor is the Coast Guard’s 45th fast-response cutter. It’s the first military ship to carry the name of a professional athlete. The 154-foot ship soon will join three other Sentinel-class vessels in the Arabian Gulf and homeport in Bahrain.
Tunnell. Later with the 1961 championship Packers