Samkon Gado was the short-term savior who seemingly came from nowhere. The Packers were spiraling at 1-7 and banged up, with no running game following injuries to Ahman Green, Najeh Davenport and Tony Fisher.
And Gado, an undrafted rookie who’d been waived by the Kansas City Chiefs after training camp, was out of work. Enter the Packers. And enter an unforgettable run – or several runs – that Packers fans won’t ever forget.
Born in Nigeria, Gado settled in the U.S. with his family when he was in elementary school. Gado would become a three-sport athlete in high school, earning all-state honors in football in South Carolina. It was enough to earn him a scholarship to Liberty University.
He became All-Big South his senior year thanks to injuries to running backs ahead of him on the depth chart. Even still, he started only two games in his college career. But injury cracking open the door foreshadowed his emergence in Green Bay.
He signed to the Packers’ practice squad in mid-October, 2005, and then was elevated to the active team a few weeks later to back up ReShard Lee in a game against the Steelers. After Lee coughed up the football early in the game, Gado became the primary running back, rushing 26 times in the game for 62 yards and a score in a 20-10 loss.
And then he became a Packers legend, however briefly.
His first start came the following weekend against the Atlanta Falcons and the mighty Michael Vick on Gado’s 23rd birthday. He memorably ground down the Falcons, scoring a pounding touchdown on the game’s first drive, ultimately taking the rock 25 times for 103 yards and three total touchdowns, including one on a shovel pass from Brett Favre.
"It was surreal," Gado told reporters following the 33-25 win. "I didn't even think it was a reality. But I'm here. I'm just enjoying it as much as possible."
It was surreal for Packers fans, too. It remains one of those games that Packers fans remember vividly, probably because it cast a positive light on what was essentially a lost season. It gave fans something, and someone, to cheer for.
A couple weeks later, Gado, who ESPN’s Chris Berman nicknamed “The New Nigerian Nightmare” in an homage to Chiefs running back Christian Okoye, popped off for 171 yards and a touchdown in a 16-13 overtime win against the Detroit Lions, and he finished with three 100-yard games despite missing the final two contests with a torn MCL.
He finished the 2005 season with 143 totes for 582 yards along with a handful of receptions to eclipse 650 total scrimmage yards with six total touchdowns, being named Offensive Rookie of the Month that November in setting a single game rushing yards for a Packers rookie in the Lions game.
The hope for Gado’s follow-up campaign was palpable – sadly, he sat out most of the preseason with injury, only to be traded to the Houston Texans for running back Vernand Morency by Ted Thompson and rookie head coach Mike McCarthy before the season started.
Gado would also have stints with the Miami Dolphins and St. Louis Rams. He was cut by the Tennessee Titans before the start of the 2010 campaign, and he hung up the cleats for good.
The Packers finished that 2005 season with a malodorous 4-12 record, but the memories of Gado, who had some pre-Eddie Lacy mojo with both strength and a nasty spin move, have stuck.
Of course, as Packers fans are well aware, Gado traded in his shoulder pads and helmet for scrubs. He graduated medical school at the University of South Carolina in 2015, ultimately becoming an ear, nose and throat specialist. Gado is now married with four children and has launched The Jonah Inheritance, a project to improve healthcare in Nigeria, with his sister.
Of course, practicing medicine was Gado’s plan all along – football was just a temporary placeholder (and a great way to pay off those tuition fees).
“Football was always just a dream,” Gado told USA Today Network-Wisconsin in 2021. “It was never anything I felt I could base my life on. It was something I felt like I could aspire to, but at the very best it was going to have to serve some adjunct function in my life -- that it couldn’t be the end all.”