You have to admit that this just doesn’t
have the same ring as Go Pack Go! You
ask anyone in this state, who’s the best football team and the answer 99.9% of
the time will be the Green Bay Packers.
Just recently a poll was taken and the results showed that America is
coming around to our way of thinking. The
Packers captured 22% of the vote, making them America’s favorite team, while the
second best team was Dallas, 11%, followed by the Bears, Giants, and Steelers,
8%, Saints, 7%, Patriots, 6%, Redskins, 4%, and the Jets,2%.
The earliest mention of any type of
football played in Wisconsin was in La Crosse, back in 1860. The first game played in Green Bay was on
September 21, 1895, at Washington Park.
It resembled a barroom brawl more than the game we have come to know and
love. As the game was tweaked and became
more organized it grew in popularity.
1919 is recognized as the beginning of the Green Bay legend. Back then there were no game tickets, no
admission fees and no bleachers. The
games were played at Hagemeister Park.
The manager would walk among the crowd and collect donations, which
would pay for expenses and injuries. The
remainder went to the players and in that season each player received a
whopping $17.00. The fans were happy though. Some of those first games had scores of 87-0
and 76-6 with a season total of 565-24 for the home team. In their second season, some bleachers were
built and they sold tickets. 1,200
tickets were sold for the first game.
That season they won 9, lost 1, and tied 1. Once again they outscored their opponents
227-24.
Up to this point the team had been
sponsored by the Indian Packing Company.
After the second season, they were bought out by the Acme Packing
Company and the new owner was convinced to buy a franchise to the newly formed
American Professional Football Association for the total cost of $50.00. Try to do that today and it will cost you one
million dollars. Back then uniforms
didn’t have padding and helmets were made of leather and could easily be folded
up and put in your pocket. Some players
would roll up magazines and use them as shin guards. While Coach Lombardi won 5 championships and
he never had a losing season with the Pack, Curly Lambeau, who worked to put
this franchise together, went 29 years with just one losing
record and 6 world titles. Before They Were Packers is a great book describing this
golden era of football. Everyone has
heard about Lambeau Field, but I never knew much about the man for whom the
field is rightly named. Even though Curly Lambeau: Building the Green Bay
Packers is a
children’s book, it shows the vision of the man who was a player, coach, owner,
and founder of the Green Bay Packers.
For more Packer and football history, you might enjoy 75 Seasons, The Packers, and Packer Legends in Facts.
Just about everyone who loves the Packers
has heard about Vince Lombardi. Like
Lambeau, he was a special man for a special time. Had he followed his teenage passion, he would
have become a priest. It’s perhaps his
religious background and discipline that made him the man that he was. He had his admirers and his critics and he
stood by the things he believed in. The
following books help to tell his story: The Lombardi Legacy: Thirty People Who
Were Touched by Greatness, I Remember Vince Lombardi, Lombardi: An Illustrated Life, Lombardi and Landry, Giants: What I Learned About Life
From Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry, That First Season, When Pride Still Mattered, and Strive to Excel: The Will and Wisdom
of Vince Lombardi.
After many poorly played seasons, things
started to change as Bob Harlan, Ron Wolf, Brett Favre, and Reggie White
entered the picture. Love him or hate
him, Brett Favre helped to bring the team around. In both Favre and Brett Favre, you come to know the thoughts and
feelings of this quarterback with the gunslinging style. After watching Favre for 17 years, it was
hard for most fans to imagine what the team would be like when he would no
longer play. In Life After Favre, author Phil Hanrahan returns to
Wisconsin and follows the team under the direction of Aaron Rogers. He not only follows the team, but also the
fans both in Green Bay and throughout the nation. Life does go on after Favre.
A true Packer fan can never know enough
about their favorite team. The following
books should take care of that.
Everything you ever wanted to know should be in 100 Things Packer’s Fans Should Know
and Do Before They Die, Green Bay Packers: Titletown Trivia
Teasers, and Tales From the Green Bay Packers
Sideline. With all this knowledge, you should be ready
to cheer on the Green and Gold, loud and clear, GO PACK GO!
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