With plenty of time to decide when and how to retire Brett Favre's number, the Green Bay Packers should fulfill another long overdue promise sometime soon.

Retire Paul Hornung's No. 5.

Actually, Hornung's number was retired. The Packers just never got around to holding an official ceremony.

Vince Lombardi made the announcement on July 10, 1967, at what was then the Packers' annual press party at the Oneida Golf and Riding Club.

Five months earlier, much to Lombardi's dismay, Hornung had been selected by the New Orleans Saints in an expansion draft.

Within 11 days of the Oneida event, the Saints would announce Hornung's retirement due to a neck injury that doctors warned could lead to "permanent, detrimental results" if he continued playing.

The press party served as a kickoff to the Packers' training camp for a number of years and received extensive media coverage. And there was little doubt that reporters interpreted Lombardi's remarks to mean that Hornung's number was retired.

The top headline in the sports section of the Green Bay Press-Gazette the following day read:

"Vince Tabs Hyland Potential Starter, Retires Paul's '5' "

Lee Remmel, then a Press-Gazette sportswriter and later the Packers' public relations director and team historian, wrote that Lombardi made the announcement after being questioned about the team's new Hall of Fame.

At the time, Lombardi was coach and general manager of the Packers, and when he spoke, it was automatically assumed that he spoke for the entire organization. It's no secret that even team president Dominic Olejniczak cowered in his presence.

"I might say in this connection," Remmel quoted Lombardi as saying, "we will not have a number five this year, and so far as I'm concerned, there will never be another number five in Green Bay."

Remmel then wrote:

"The 31-year old Golden Boy is the first player to be so honored in Lombardi's regime, now in its ninth season. The numbers of two other players, Don Hutson (14) and Tony Canadeo (13) (sic, actually 3), were retired by the late Curly Lambeau, founder and first coach of the Packers."

Both the Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Sentinel provided other quotes by Lombardi that maybe contributed to some confusion over his intent.

They quoted him as saying that he wouldn't reissue No. 5 "as long as I'm in Green Bay," and "as long as I'm in charge." But Chuck Johnson of the Journal covered the event - the Sentinel ran an Associated Press story - and wrote: "Paul Hornung's No. 5 will be retired."

In other words, the two reporters at the scene who had covered the Packers throughout Lombardi's tenure wrote that the act was official - no ifs, ands or buts.

So why doesn't No. 5 hang on the Lambeau Field facade along with Nos. 3 (Canadeo), 14 (Hutson), 15 (Bart Starr), 66 (Ray Nitschke) and 92 (Reggie White)?

There probably are several reasons.

One, Lombardi resigned as the Packers' coach less than seven months later, left as general manager early in 1969 to join the Washington Redskins and then died in September 1970.

If his announcement about Hornung left any room for doubt, he wasn't around long enough to explain.

Also, back then, nobody made a big fuss about such things: Not the fans, not the media and not even the teams. The Packers admit in their media guide that they're not even sure there was ever an official ceremony to retire Canadeo's number.

Hutson's number was retired in a simple gesture by former coach Gene Ronzani just before the start of the second half of a game against the New York Yanks on Dec. 2, 1951.

Ronzani handed Hutson his jersey at old City Stadium and if either one spoke to the crowd in the process, it wasn't reported in the next day's Press-Gazette.

Even though Canadeo's number was supposedly retired in 1952, Lombardi issued it to kicker Ben Agajanian, who played in three games plus the NFL Championship Game for the Packers in 1961.

Since Hornung retired, four Packers have worn No. 5: Quarterback Vince Ferragamo in 1986; quarterback Willie Gillus, a strike replacement player, in 1987; Don Majkowski, as a rookie quarterback, in 1987; and kicker Curtis Burrow for one game in 1988.

Hornung said recently that then-coach Forrest Gregg called and asked for his approval before giving Ferragamo the number. "Forrest didn't give a (expletive)," said Hornung. "If it didn't pertain to him, he didn't care."

Thankfully, general managers Ron Wolf and Ted Thompson have honored Lombardi's intentions and haven't given anyone else No. 5 in the 19 years they've run the football operation.

And, better late than never, especially while Hornung, 75, is still alive, the Packers should make it official with a proper ceremony and add No. 5 to the wall at Lambeau.

Hornung certainly deserves it.

Ask the survivors of the Lombardi era about different teammates and many will tell you that Hornung was the "heart and soul" of their team for the first three of Lombardi's championships.

The late Red Cochran, who spent 42 years with the Packers as a scout and coach, including eight years on Lombardi's staff, rated Hornung the best of the Packers during that time.

"We relied on him for so many things, it was unbelievable," Cochran said in the late 1990s. "On top of that, he was the team leader. The guys loved him."

And so did Lombardi, probably more so than any other player he coached, at least in Green Bay.