LeRoy Butler, the former Green Bay Packer credited with inventing the “Lambeau Leap” touchdown celebration, told a Madison audience Sunday there were many years as a child when he couldn’t walk, a situation that made him the target of bullying.
He was born so pigeon-toed he wore leg braces and spent much of his childhood in a wheelchair. His mother taught him to stay positive, and he remembers telling one of his tormenters not to count him out. “I’m going to play professional football,” he told the boy, “and you’re going to want my autograph.”
Butler, 44, delivered his anti-bullying talk to about 175 people Sunday afternoon at St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church.