The saying goes “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” Dick Enderle managed to do both.

Enderle’s seven-year NFL career was coming to an end by the time he landed in Green Bay. A 6-foot-2, 250-pound guard, he’d put in stints with the Atlanta Falcons, New York Giants, the Denver Broncos, and New Orleans Saints, though he’d never actually appear in a game for those last two teams. Then he latched on with the San Francisco 49ers, and was in the lineup for their season-opening game against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. Enderle and his 49ers would beat the Packers in that game, handing Green Bay a 26-14 home loss to start their year.

A week later, he’d play his last game in San Francisco. And by November, he was a member of the Green Bay Packers, signing up for what would be a three-game tour to end his professional career. There you have it: beating ‘em and joining ‘em.

Judging by local news coverage, the Packers were happy to have Enderle around. With long-time guard Gale Gillingham a bit banged up, Enderle looked like a quality depth signing, as evidenced by his journeyman pro career.

Enderle was clearly good enough to play in the NFL. A decorated college athlete, he was a part of the University of Minnesota’s last Big 10 championship in 1967 and was a three-time letterman for a squad that included 15 players who earned at least a tryout at the NFL level. Enderle was All-Big 10 as a senior in 1968, and also earned three letters as a wrestler.

And that wasn’t the end of his all-around athletic prowess. The Green Bay Press-Gazette noted, somewhat breathlessly, that Enderle was also a high-level rugby player, having represented the state of Minnesota at the Mid-American Rugby Tournament, which was held in Green Bay in 1974.

That’s not nothing. Enderle was an accomplished football player at the college level, and evidently had significant athletic ability. Even if sports weren’t quite as professionalized at the college level in the 1960s as now, lettering in two sports and earning an all-conference nod on a talent-rich, championship-caliber squad is an accomplishment. If it were easy, more players in the era would boast similar accomplishments, and we know that’s not the case.

But as so often happens, even very good athletes can run up against some difficulty when they encounter great athletes at the highest level. That seems to be what happened with Enderle’s career. He was good enough to get an invite, but never lasted more than four years with any given team, a victim of the ruthless roster churn at the NFL level.

That’s how things ended in Green Bay — and in the NFL — for Enderle. He was in the lineup for three games in Green Bay, but by the end injuries dogged him. He was listed as doubtful ahead of the Packers’ Week 12 matchup against the Bears, and although he would play, that would be the last he’d ever appear in an NFL game.

The Packers waived Enderle in the offseason, and he took up work as a carpenter rather than return to professional football.

But in a world where many players don’t make it out of their first training camp, Enderle scratched out a 96-game professional career. Sure, it took him to six different NFL cities, but one of them was Green Bay — and nobody ever forgets a Cheesehead, no matter how little time they spent in the green and gold.