GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Even if Ron Wolf's career included only his 10-year run as general manager of the Green Bay Packers, his impact on the NFL would have been monumental.

What he did in Green Bay had a long-lasting impact. He saved a franchise that was going nowhere. In between the Packers' last Lombardi-era championship in 1967 and Wolf's first full season in 1992, they had only three winning seasons.

After Wolf hired Mike Holmgren as head coach and traded for quarterback Brett Favre in early 1992, the Packers didn't have another losing season until 2005 -- four years after Wolf had retired.

"I think it's one of the great resurrection jobs this league has ever seen," said Bob Harlan, the former Packers president who hired Wolf on Nov. 27, 1991. "We had 24 years of mediocre football, and we had a fan base that was very upset and a fan base that was thinking we were never going to succeed again."

Wolf's impact on the Packers was so great that in 2006 Harlan put his name up on the ring of honor in the newly renovated Lambeau Field, something that previously had been reserved only for those in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

"The fact that we were successful on the football field in the late 1990s was a big factor in us passing the stadium [renovation] referendum," Harlan said. "If we didn't have that stadium, I don't know where this franchise would be. It totally stabilized the financial future, and Ron and the success we had was a big part of that."

But there's more to Wolf than just his decade-long run with the Packers, which included two Super Bowl appearances (with one victory). He spent 23 years helping to build the Raiders' roster that won nine division titles and played in eight AFL/AFC Championship Games and three Super Bowls. At age 37, he was hired as GM of the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Wolf and Bill Polian are finalists in the contributor category.