OFFICIAL PACKERS LEGENDS THREAD

[HowardRoark]

Johnny “Blood” McNally:
http://www.hickoksports.com/images/mcnally_john.jpg http://www.profootballhof.com/assets/hof/McNally_John_Induction_180-220.jpg

He played on four Packer championship teams in seven seasons.

He took the name “Blood” from the movie marquee of a popular Rudolf Valentino picture of the era, “Blood and Sand.”

In 1929, “Blood” signed on with the Green Bay Packers. In addition to scoring 224 points as a Packer, he also became known for his antics:

• Jumped across a narrow ledge six stories from the ground to gain access to a Los Angeles hotel room.

• Fled a towel fight with Lavvie Dilweg by climbing on top of a fast-moving train and crawling across car tops until he reached the engine.

• Played almost an entire game with a collapsed kidney.

• Pushed rookie Don Hutson to the limit in a 100-yard dash at age 33.

• Was rescued by teammates while he was hanging on a ship’s stern flagpole on a Packer trip to Hawaii.

• Blew the top off a testing machine in a test for lung capacity.

• Danced, cart-wheeled and delighted a New York night club audience for over an hour.

• Once ran 50 yards for a touchdown on a lateral and when QB Red Dunn called the same play later in the game, “Blood” simply smiled and lateraled the ball back to Dunn.

[swede]

Nice.

I didn't know.

Is there a good book on the characters that made up the early teams?

[HowardRoark]

Clarke Hinkle:

http://www.freewebs.com/vintagefootballautographs/osmanskipic.jpg http://www.profootballhof.com/assets/Hinkle_Clark_Action_180-220.jpg http://www.profootballhof.com/assets/hof/Hinkle_Clarke_Induction_180-220.jpg

Everything I have read about this guy seems to indicate he was a badass; both on offense and defense.

Member to two NFL Championship teams (1936, '39), Clarke Hinkle was one of the most versatile players in league history.
After a college career at Bucknell University -- where he was known as the Bucknell Battering Ram -- Hinkle arrived in Green Bay in 1932.
As dominant a tackler as he was a ball carrier, Hinkle led the Packers in rushing seven times (tied with Bob Monnett in 1933) over his career. He was also a punter for three seasons and place-kicker throughout his tenure.
In 1938, Hinkle led the league in scoring with 58 points (7 TDs, 3 FGs, 7 PATs).
In 1940 and '41, Hinkle led the NFL in field goals made, hitting 9-of-14 and 6-of-14, respectively.
The NFL doesn't have defensive statistics for that period, but Hinkle was a fierce linebacker, gaining a reputation as one of the few players powerful enough to bring down Chicago Bears great Bronko Nagurski.
In fact, Hinkle so won his rival's respect that Nagurski delivered his induction speech at Canton in 1964.
A two-time consensus All-Pro, Hinkle was among the Packers' inaugural Pro Bowl class in 1938, before being named to the all-star game again in 1939 and 1940..
Hinkle was named to the NFL's All-Time Two-Way Team in 1994.

[HowardRoark]

Nice.

I didn't know.

Is there a good book on the characters that made up the early teams?

I pulled an old book off of my dad’s shelf last year that was written in either 61 or 62. It followed, game by game, that year as well as a fascinating history of the franchise from day one up until that season.

I will post it later when I get home.

There is a whole other world out there for Packer fans other than the Lomardi years until now.

[Fritz]

Clarke Hinkle:

http://www.freewebs.com/vintagefootballautographs/osmanskipic.jpg http://www.profootballhof.com/assets/Hinkle_Clark_Action_180-220.jpg http://www.profootballhof.com/assets/hof/Hinkle_Clarke_Induction_180-220.jpg

Everything I have read about this guy seems to indicate he was a badass; both on offense and defense.

Member to two NFL Championship teams (1936, '39), Clarke Hinkle was one of the most versatile players in league history.
After a college career at Bucknell University -- where he was known as the Bucknell Battering Ram -- Hinkle arrived in Green Bay in 1932.
As dominant a tackler as he was a ball carrier, Hinkle led the Packers in rushing seven times (tied with Bob Monnett in 1933) over his career. He was also a punter for three seasons and place-kicker throughout his tenure.
In 1938, Hinkle led the league in scoring with 58 points (7 TDs, 3 FGs, 7 PATs).
In 1940 and '41, Hinkle led the NFL in field goals made, hitting 9-of-14 and 6-of-14, respectively.
The NFL doesn't have defensive statistics for that period, but Hinkle was a fierce linebacker, gaining a reputation as one of the few players powerful enough to bring down Chicago Bears great Bronko Nagurski.
In fact, Hinkle so won his rival's respect that Nagurski delivered his induction speech at Canton in 1964.
A two-time consensus All-Pro, Hinkle was among the Packers' inaugural Pro Bowl class in 1938, before being named to the all-star game again in 1939 and 1940..
Hinkle was named to the NFL's All-Time Two-Way Team in 1994.

I had no idea the NFL was so supportive of bi-sexuality.

[Pugger]

Can you imagin what these guys would be like if they played today in their prime?

[Joemailman]

A Packer legend like no other: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2207197006

[vince]

There is a whole other world out there for Packer fans other than the Lomardi years until now.
Bravo! I find the formative years more interesting than the later years personally. I've saved a bunch of video, images and information on these teams and the players from the Lambeau era - and before. I'll share what I can to add to your posts. Keep 'em coming!

[mraynrand]

Can you imagin what these guys would be like if they played today in their prime?

Bone powder?

[vince]

Johnny “Blood” McNally:
http://www.hickoksports.com/images/mcnally_john.jpg http://www.profootballhof.com/assets/hof/McNally_John_Induction_180-220.jpg



Hello, Mr. Remmel. Your recollections and analysis are wonderful. There have been a lot of stories written about Johnny Blood McNally. I was wondering if you ever met him, what your impressions were, and how he ranked as a player. Thank you. - Dave (Des Moines, IA)

I did have the privilege, as a sportswriter/columnist for the Green Bay Press-Gazette (1944-74), of meeting and interviewing the fabled Johnny "Blood" McNally, who probably was the most daring and colorful player (on and off the field) in Packers history. For example, at one point during Johnny's playing career, Coach Curly Lambeau - concerned because McNally was inclined to break curfew and sneak out on the town, allegedly locked him in his hotel room the night before a game against the Bears in Chicago. Johnny, however, being a highly resourceful citizen, reportedly tied some bed sheets together, lowered himself out of his hotel window to the ground and proceeded to get out "among them."

Contrary to popular perception, I never saw him play. But, from all reports of his former teammates, such as fellow Hall of Famer Mike Michalske, he was a great athlete, a description which is supported by the fact that he was a charter selection to the Pro Football Hall of Fame when it opened in 1963. He reportedly was a gifted runner and receiver.

Johnny also, apparently, was highly intelligent. Some years after retiring from professional football, he became a member of the faculty at his alma mater, St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn., and also authored a book dealing with philosophy.

[vince]

Johnny “Blood” McNally:
http://www.hickoksports.com/images/mcnally_john.jpg http://www.profootballhof.com/assets/hof/McNally_John_Induction_180-220.jpg



ONE OF THE most colorful players in the history of the Packers was an Irishman named John McNally, better known as Johnny Blood.

He was born in New Richmond, Wisconsin, across the state line from Minneapolis and St. Paul. After high school, where he was athlete, poet and scholar, McNally matriculated to the University of Notre Dame. There he played freshman football and was considered one of the finest prospects of all time at the school.

His stay at Notre Dame, however, proved brief. Celebrating St. Patrick's day the next spring, he and a friend rode a motorcycle out of South Bend, Indiana, and never returned.

McNally then enrolled at St. John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota, and played football there on Saturdays. He also wanted to play football for the Minneapolis Liberties, a professional team, on Sandays and he needed an alias.

One Saturday night, early in the fall, McNally and a friend of his, who was also looking for a second name, were walking along Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. McNally glanced up as they approached a movie theater.

"Blood and Sand” the marquee read. "Starring Rudolph Valentino.”

“That’s it," McNally said, pounding his friend on the back. "We've got our names. I'll be ‘Blood’ and you be ‘Sand.’"

Sand sifted away into oblivion, but Johnny Blood became the Vagabond Halfback, one of the zaniest and also one of the best athletes of the National Football League.

Starting with the old Milwaukee Badgers in 1925, Blood played fifteen years in the league, second only to Sammy Baugh, who played sixteen. Blood played with the Duluth Eskimos in 1926 and 1927 and with Pottsville, Pennsylvania, in 1928. Curly Lambeau talked him out of Pottsville in 1929 and he stayed with the Packers through the 1936 season. He finished his league career with Pittsburgh, not only continuing to play from 1937 through !939 but coaching the team as well.

Johnny Blood had speed and elusiveness, spirit and courage. On offense he was runner, passer, catcher and kicker. On defense, he was a ball hawk.

He played best when the situation was most difficult. When the Packers led, he often coasted and clowned. He frequently dropped easy passes, then caught impossible ones.

He broke training rules and curfews; missed trains, buses and bed checks; eluded teammates assigned to watch or guard him. Despite his disdain for regular habits and hours, he played well

He signed his love letters in blood - his own. He ignored injuries that hospitalized lesser individuals. He lived up to the name "Johnny Blood" with dashing, daring, reckless abandon. With the Packers, he scored thirty-seven touchdowns and twice was named to the official all-league team.

[vince]

Cub Buck
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/cubbuck.jpg
A University of Wisconsin star in the teens, Cub Buck was an experienced pro by the time he became a Packer in 1921.

He played two seasons for the Canton Bulldogs where he blocked for the great Jim Thorpe.

At 6’3”, 250-pounds, Buck was one of the largest linemen of his day.

Buck’s field goal in the rain was the only score against the Columbus, Ohio, Panhandlers in a 1922 3-0 Packer win.

While playing for the Packers, Buck was an executive with the Boy Scouts, coached at Lawrence University and purchased an Appleton, Wis., auto dealership.

In 1926, Buck retired to become head coach of the University of Miami Hurricanes.

[hoosier]

Johnny “Blood” McNally:
http://www.hickoksports.com/images/mcnally_john.jpg http://www.profootballhof.com/assets/hof/McNally_John_Induction_180-220.jpg

He played on four Packer championship teams in seven seasons.

He took the name “Blood” from the movie marquee of a popular Rudolf Valentino picture of the era, “Blood and Sand.”

In 1929, “Blood” signed on with the Green Bay Packers. In addition to scoring 224 points as a Packer, he also became known for his antics:

• Jumped across a narrow ledge six stories from the ground to gain access to a Los Angeles hotel room.

• Fled a towel fight with Lavvie Dilweg by climbing on top of a fast-moving train and crawling across car tops until he reached the engine.

Any relation to Anthony Dilweg, the forgettable Packer QB from the 80s?


• Played almost an entire game with a collapsed kidney.

Yikes. I didn't know kidneys could do that!


• Pushed rookie Don Hutson to the limit in a 100-yard dash at age 33.

Was he penalized for illegal pushing?


• Was rescued by teammates while he was hanging on a ship’s stern flagpole on a Packer trip to Hawaii.

• Blew the top off a testing machine in a test for lung capacity.

Good thing it wasn't testing for kidney capacity!


• Danced, cart-wheeled and delighted a New York night club audience for over an hour.

And they assured him they were laughing with him, not at him, right? :wink:


• Once ran 50 yards for a touchdown on a lateral and when QB Red Dunn called the same play later in the game, “Blood” simply smiled and lateraled the ball back to Dunn.

The epitome of unselfishness in a bygone era. Today's player would have taken off running again without giving it another thought.

[HowardRoark]

Johnny “Blood” McNally:
http://www.hickoksports.com/images/mcnally_john.jpg http://www.profootballhof.com/assets/hof/McNally_John_Induction_180-220.jpg



ONE OF THE most colorful players in the history of the Packers was an Irishman named John McNally, better known as Johnny Blood.

He was born in New Richmond, Wisconsin, across the state line from Minneapolis and St. Paul. After high school, where he was athlete, poet and scholar, McNally matriculated to the University of Notre Dame. There he played freshman football and was considered one of the finest prospects of all time at the school.

His stay at Notre Dame, however, proved brief. Celebrating St. Patrick's day the next spring, he and a friend rode a motorcycle out of South Bend, Indiana, and never returned.

McNally then enrolled at St. John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota, and played football there on Saturdays. He also wanted to play football for the Minneapolis Liberties, a professional team, on Sandays and he needed an alias.

One Saturday night, early in the fall, McNally and a friend of his, who was also looking for a second name, were walking along Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. McNally glanced up as they approached a movie theater.

"Blood and Sand” the marquee read. "Starring Rudolph Valentino.”

“That’s it," McNally said, pounding his friend on the back. "We've got our names. I'll be ‘Blood’ and you be ‘Sand.’"

Sand sifted away into oblivion, but Johnny Blood became the Vagabond Halfback, one of the zaniest and also one of the best athletes of the National Football League.

Starting with the old Milwaukee Badgers in 1925, Blood played fifteen years in the league, second only to Sammy Baugh, who played sixteen. Blood played with the Duluth Eskimos in 1926 and 1927 and with Pottsville, Pennsylvania, in 1928. Curly Lambeau talked him out of Pottsville in 1929 and he stayed with the Packers through the 1936 season. He finished his league career with Pittsburgh, not only continuing to play from 1937 through !939 but coaching the team as well.

Johnny Blood had speed and elusiveness, spirit and courage. On offense he was runner, passer, catcher and kicker. On defense, he was a ball hawk.

He played best when the situation was most difficult. When the Packers led, he often coasted and clowned. He frequently dropped easy passes, then caught impossible ones.

He broke training rules and curfews; missed trains, buses and bed checks; eluded teammates assigned to watch or guard him. Despite his disdain for regular habits and hours, he played well

He signed his love letters in blood - his own. He ignored injuries that hospitalized lesser individuals. He lived up to the name "Johnny Blood" with dashing, daring, reckless abandon. With the Packers, he scored thirty-seven touchdowns and twice was named to the official all-league team.

That's the book. Great stories about the start of the team as well as that particualr season.

http://www.amazon.com/Green-Bay-Packers-footballs-pioneer/dp/B0007EMKOI

[vince]

That book is available online in pdf format for free. I'll find it and post a link.

EDIT: They took the pdf version offline and it's available in some non-printable format called Daisy.

http://www.archive.org/details/greenbaypackersp010233mbp

If anyone wants this book in pdf format, let me know and I can make it available to you.

[vince]

Mike Michalske
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/michalskefinal.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Michalske_Mike_Action_180-220.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Michalske_Mike_Induction_180-220.jpg

After playing fullback at Penn State, Michalske transitioned to guard upon entering the pro game (his first two years were spent with the New York Yankees football team).

Michalske used his quickness and athleticism to become, arguably, pro football’s first truly great guard.

He was known as, “The Guard of the Century.”

Led the Packers to their first 3 NFL championships (consecutive titles in ’29, ‘30, & ’31).

He was the first guard inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, in 1964.

Michalske, nicknamed “Iron Mike”, played 60 minutes of almost every game he was in as a Packer, playing on the defensive side, as well.

An All-Pro four times, Michalske was especially devastating on attack. No guard ever led the charge with swifter, surer savagery.

Coached in the college ranks for about a quarter century at Iowa State, Texas Aggies, and the University of Texas.

[Fritz]

Johnny Blood McNally: "he often coasted and clowned. He frequently dropped easy passes, then caught impossible ones.

He broke training rules and curfews; missed trains, buses and bed checks; eluded teammates assigned to watch or guard him. Despite his disdain for regular habits and hours, he played well."

He was Randy Moss before there was a Randy Moss!

[vince]

Any relation to Anthony Dilweg, the forgettable Packer QB from the 80s?
Yup. Lavvie was Anthony's Grandfather.

Lavvie Dilweg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Image6.jpg
Lavvie Dilweg, who was was the Packers' best receiver before Don Hutson arrived, is one of two members of the NFL's all-1920s team not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Dilweg was a football star at Marquette University in the 1920s and spent one season with the NFL's Milwaukee Badgers. After that team folded in 1926, he signed with the Packers and was an All-Pro player for all but one of his eight seasons with the Packers.

He was chosen as a member of the Packers' all-time teams in 1946, 1957 and 1969.

He went into the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in Milwaukee in 1967 and was one of the charter members of the Packers Hall of Fame in 1970.

Bob Dilweg, 74, lives in Bethesda, Md. If his dad's name doesn't ring a bell, maybe his son's name does. Anthony Dilweg played quarterback for the Packers in 1989 and 1990.

Back to Lavvie, though. The 6-foot-3, 200-pounder played end on offense and defense, and legendary NFL running back Red Grange called Dilweg "the greatest end who ever brought me down."

[vince]

Cal Hubbard
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/calhubbard.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Hubbard_Cal_Action_180-220.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Hubbard_Cal_Induction_180-220.jpg
An oversized yet very swift athlete, Cal Hubbard was a force to be reckoned with in the early days of the NFL.

In 1927, Hubbard was a key piece of a tough Giants defense that recorded 10 shutouts in 13 games and allowed just 20 points all season in route to the championship.

In 1929, Hubbard was traded to the Packers at his request (he preferred the small town atmosphere).

In Green Bay, Hubbard enjoyed the best years of his career and help to lead the Packers to three straight Championships from 1929-1931 under legendary coach Curly Lambeau.

Hubbard was named All-NFL six times (1928-1933) and was named the NFL’s all-time offensive tackle in 1969, well after his playing days.

A tackle in college at Centenary and Geneva, Hubbard moved to d-line while playing for the New York Giants. After being traded to Green Bay in 1929, Hubbard moved back to his natural position.

It was there that he shined. Hubbard helped turn the Packers’ running game into a force as they won world championships in each of his first three seasons.

He was an All-Pro every year from 1931-1933, a member of the NFL’s All-50 Year Team (1970) and a 1963 inductee of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

During the summers in Green Bay, Hubbard discovered a love for umpiring baseball games, a passion he would enjoy for the rest of his life.

He eventually became a major league umpire, and in 1958 became the umpire-in-chief for the American League.

His work in that role was so good that, in 1976, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

He is the only person ever to be enshrined in both the Football and Baseball Halls of Fame.

[red]

great stuff howard & vince, keep it up

its funny looking at how much bigger the guys are today compared to 80 years ago. cal hubbard looks more like a professional beer drinker

and what did michalske weigh? about a buck 60? and he was a guard? my god

and don't even get me started on that picture of cub buck lol

[Fritz]

Cub Buck
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/cubbuck.jpg
A University of Wisconsin star in the teens, Cub Buck was an experienced pro by the time he became a Packer in 1921.

He played two seasons for the Canton Bulldogs where he blocked for the great Jim Thorpe.

At 6’3”, 250-pounds, Buck was one of the largest linemen of his day.

Buck’s field goal in the rain was the only score against the Columbus, Ohio, Panhandlers in a 1922 3-0 Packer win.

While playing for the Packers, Buck was an executive with the Boy Scouts, coached at Lawrence University and purchased an Appleton, Wis., auto dealership.

In 1926, Buck retired to become head coach of the University of Miami Hurricanes.

Some serious man-boob action happening there!

[HowardRoark]

Arnie Herber:
http://www.ballen-photos.com/photos/images/herber-arnie-1-nfh.jpg http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kDQ_gSyMf7U/SyZeUyq1cRI/AAAAAAAACIo/KpWU9KT05mc/s400/Herber-Hutson.jpg http://www.profootballhof.com/assets/hof/Herber_Arnie_Induction_180-220.jpg

Joined the team in 1930; he was from Green Bay. Veterans nicknamed him “Dummy.” Lambeau ordered it stopped. One guy didn’t and was traded.

He could throw the ball over 80 yards. Was known for his arm…. and fearlessness.

On September 22, 1935, a legendary passing tandem was born. On the first play versus the Chicago Bears at City Stadium, Herber fired a pass to rookie end Don Hutson who ran untouched for an 83-yard touchdown as the Packers won 7-0. The Herber to Hutson combination changed the face of pro football. Herber’s ability to throw long passes stretched defenses.

[vince]

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/32.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/33.jpg

[vince]

Arnie Herber:
http://www.ballen-photos.com/photos/images/herber-arnie-1-nfh.jpg http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kDQ_gSyMf7U/SyZeUyq1cRI/AAAAAAAACIo/KpWU9KT05mc/s400/Herber-Hutson.jpg http://www.profootballhof.com/assets/hof/Herber_Arnie_Induction_180-220.jpg

Joined the team in 1930; he was from Green Bay. Veterans nicknamed him “Dummy.” Lambeau ordered it stopped. One guy didn’t and was traded.

He could throw the ball over 80 yards. Was known for his arm…. and fearlessness.

On September 22, 1935, a legendary passing tandem was born. On the first play versus the Chicago Bears at City Stadium, Herber fired a pass to rookie end Don Hutson who ran untouched for an 83-yard touchdown as the Packers won 7-0. The Herber to Hutson combination changed the face of pro football. Herber’s ability to throw long passes stretched defenses.
The Packers' Arnie Herber became the NFL's first long-bomb passer, and he did it with unusually small hands.

At Green Bay West High School, Herber learned he could improve his distance and accuracy by palming the ball, rather than using the laces.

He led the league in passing three times and finished his time in Green Bay with 6,749 yards passing and 66 touchdowns

Roughly 70 years after his time in Green Bay concluded, his touchdown pass total is still good enough for fifth on the team’s all-time list (although I have a feeling he’ll drop to sixth sometime this season).

[MichiganPackerFan]

Cub Buck
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/cubbuck.jpg
...
At 6’3”, 250-pounds, Buck was one of the largest linemen of his day.
...

I've always heard how much bigger players are now, but they're aren't just bigger, they're a LOT bigger!

[vince]

Fred Hulbert
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/1895FredHulbert.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/1894-FredHulbertatWayland.jpg
In 1895, Fred Hulbert introduced football and started the very first professional team in Green Bay.

The Packers came about as a direct result of the evolution of the professional town team that had come before them.

In 1895 football was limited to colleges and boys’ schools in Wisconsin.

The first inter-school football game was between Whitewater and Platteville in 1895. Platteville soundly defeated Whitewater 30-0.

When he moved to Green Bay following school [at Wayland Academy in Beaver Dam], he brought the first pigskin with him that the town had ever seen.

On Green Bay’s west side, Hulbert was surrounded by the homes of Irish railroad workers. There, raw-boned youths with more time than sense were itching for excitement.

These young men gathered at the West Side Athletic Association, where Hulbert was hired as trainer.

For some of Hulbert’s early recruits, football was an excuse for sanctioned brawling than it was an opportunity for sport.

The best part of the Packer mystique is that they are – in the truest sense of the term – the last remaining town team.

The fact that they survived at all is a miracle. Their brethren from this era, other early town teams and members of the fledgling American Professional Football Association – are nothing more than tombstones sitting quietly on Pleasant Hill.

The game that was played around the turn of the century was extremely violent. Players were often injured and some even died.

Football has been constant entertainment in Green Bay since the first formal game was played on September 21, 1895. That game was played at Washington Park, once located at the east end of Walnut Street.

The park included what are today East High School and its entire campus as well as Johannes Park and a residential neighborhood to the south. It had a racetrack that regularly featured the fastest horses in the area.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/52SiteofFirstGame1.jpg
The first professional football game in Green Bay, by a team led by Fred Hulbert, was played here on land that is now part of the East High School campus.

[swede]

The park included what are today East High School and its entire campus as well as Johannes Park and a residential neighborhood to the south. It had a racetrack that regularly featured the fastest horses in the area.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/52SiteofFirstGame1.jpg
The first professional football game in Green Bay, by a team led by Fred Hulbert, was played here on land that is now part of the East High School campus.[/quote]

One sight to see in Green Bay is the memorial on the north side of the Green Bay East H.S. field. It is a beautiful, classy, informative remembrance of the connections between that high school, the University of Notre Dame, and the Green Bay Packers.

[Fritz]

Great old newspaper article on Herber. Thanks for posting it.

My, how sports writing has changed!

[vince]

That book is available online in pdf format for free. I'll find it and post a link.

EDIT: They took the pdf version offline and it's available in some non-printable format called Daisy.

http://www.archive.org/details/greenbaypackersp010233mbp

If anyone wants this book in pdf format, let me know and I can make it available to you.
Here's the link to a PDF of this book.

https://www.transferbigfiles.com/a5a7031e-dd1a-49a1-bd5f-def907efeb79?rid=2Oo0LgiZ2lxh4l3dOlogTA%3d%3d

It will be up until Wed. 9/15.

[Freak Out]

http://www.the-kramerfamily.com/files/PACKERS/1982PACKERS-Card-Huckleby.JPG

[Tarlam!]

http://www.the-kramerfamily.com/files/PACKERS/1982PACKERS-Card-Huckleby.JPG


Can't be an accurate photo. He's not blue and where's his tail?

[vince]

Earl L. “Curly” Lambeau (The Football Player)
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/0Image5.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/0PackerLegendsTributeavi_000264100.jpg

The Early Years
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/1Curly5.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/1HighSchool.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/1Lambeau-EastHighSchool.jpg
Curly was an athletic phenom at East High School, strong and agile, a multi-sport athlete, captain of the football team as a senior, who was a cock-sure kid and very much a ladies’ man.

Lee Remmel has said that he believes it was Curly’s pompous air and panache that gave us the Green Bay Packers and why Green Bay still has the Packers. There were an awful lot of guys who played by the rules and didn’t break some of those social norms, and their teams of course no longer exist.

Not only was he fast and athletic, he was strong. As a high school senior in the local conference track meet, he won the shot put, discus, and hammer throw.

He was considered a triple threat on the gridiron, because he great runner, passer, and could drop-kick very well for field goals and extra points, which were a bigger part of the game in that day.

Lambeau actually coached the East football team his senior year under the supervision of a teacher who had been assigned to take charge of the team, but knew nothing about the game.

Notre Dame
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/31918NotreDameTeam.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/3CurlyLambeauNotreDame.jpg
Lambeau played for legendary coach Knute Rockne at Notre Dame in 1918, making the Irish's varsity squad and lettering as a freshman, but a severe case of tonsillitis forced him to return home before his sophomore year.

History Re-Written

Packer history tends to begin in 1919 when, as the story goes, Lambeau told George Calhoun, the sports editor of the Green Bay Press Gazette, that he wanted to start up a football team. Then, Calhoun placed an article in the paper to recruit some players and the Packers were born.

This is wrong, or at the very least, isn’t the whole truth.

Calhoun did put an article in the paper, but this had been done for years to round up the town team players and begin the season. The players had already been confirmed as a matter of course from last year’s squad.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Image118.jpg

His girlfriend at the time, who would become his first wife, Margerite (Van Kissel) Lambeau, provided another glimpse of the truth.

“Marcel (Lambeau's father) wanted Curly to return to Notre Dame that fall, but he didn't want to go. He hated school, and he had a good job with the Indian Packing Corporation. Even so, if he wanted to play football, he had to go back to Notre Dame. Or so he thought until Calhoun suggested that he could play for the town team. That sealed the deal. Lambeau stayed, and he was elected as the team captain, a title that meant he was in charge of the team on the field.”

In fact, Lambeau had illegally (according to high school rules) played for the town team prior to 1919 while he was still in high school, or after the high school season, in 1917.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/219172.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/21917GreenBayAll-StarTeamwCurlyLambeau.jpg
Lambeau is in the right half-back position (in the back left) of this 1917 Green Bay town team photo.

Most of the players that played in 1919 had also played for the town team (including Lambeau) in years past. The only difference in 1919 was that Lambeau, coming off the huge (and warranted) lift he had in his football status as starting back for Notre Dame, was elected captain, and this was the first year that the team was called the Packers, as Lambeau did in fact get $500 from his employer (the Indian Packing Company) for uniforms and equipment in exchange for the publicity that would come with the team being named after the company.

Otherwise, the Packers team in 1919 was a seamless continuation from previous years' teams.

On the Field

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/4Lambeau1924.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/4WisconsinstoriesorgWisconsinHometownStoriesGreenB ayflv_000113766.jpg

Lambeau played for the Packers until 1929, when he ended his playing career and only coached the team.

Although Lambeau played halfback, he was the player who took the snap from the center, as was common practice during that period.

From the beginning, Lambeau was one of the most important innovators in the history of the game of football.

He decided that running the ball on every play wasn’t good enough, that passing the ball with regularity would bring greater success.

But he also took passing to another level in terms of game-planning. He determined that passing routes could be more effective when planned out, so he decided to have the receivers run specific routes.

Opposing teams hated this, as the Packers became highly effective at it. They would say that passing was for sissies.

When the Packers played a passing game against a team of miners in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Lambeau "had to run for his life," according to Jim Doherty in Smithsonian. Lambeau later remarked, "Those miners were tough."

Not surprisingly, Lambeau threw the Packers' first official pass, first official touchdown pass, and kicked the Packers' first official field goal.

[Tarlam!]

played for legendary coach Knute Rockne at Notre Dame in 1918, making the Irish's varsity squad and lettering as a freshman, but a severe case of tonsillitis forced him to return home before his sophomore year.

Sorry for this, but, please Rats:Educamate me!

What is a VARSITY?
What does it mean to "Earn a LETTER?

Google give me no clues and I keep reading this stuff. I'd like to understand.
/Thread Jack.

This is a sensational thread. I'm learning so much!

[vince]

In high school predominantly today, but also in colleges, schools often have a "varsity" team as well as a "junior varsity" team. The best players play "varsity" while the younger players typically would play on the "junior varsity" team. It would have been uncommon for a first year college player in that day to be good enough (or mature enough) to play for the varsity team, which was comprised predominantly of the upper-classmen.

To earn a "letter" which would be placed on a jacket for display, players have to have played in games on the varsity team a certain amount, such as a starting player would earn.

Hope that helps Tar.

[vince]

Here's an example of a letterman's jacket Tar, that you don't see much anymore, but used to be very popular with high school and college athletes. Athletes would earn their "letters" and badges by virtue of their athletic performance and display them on their jackets.
http://www.freshnessmag.com/wp-gallery/nov_06/destroyers/varsity-1.jpg

[Tarlam!]

Thanks Vince. It helps a lot!

In Oz, we have a team for each age. No matter what grade we are in, we play all our sports at our own age group. No matter how talented.

We also two teams from Grade 3 to Grade 6. Junioers and Seniors. But in High School, from Grade 7 to grade 12, we have a team per Grade/Age.

We don't have the cool looking jackets, no symbols of "belonging".

The worst thing is, we don't have cheerleaders!! :shock:

Now, I'm talking about Sydney in the 70's. Quite possibly, things have changed. Also worth pointing out: I was the captain of my cricket team and rugby League team and it made zero impression on the ladies. :x

[pbmax]

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/21917GreenBayAll-StarTeamwCurlyLambeau.jpg
Lambeau is in the right half-back position (in the back left) of this 1917 Green Bay town team photo.
They aren't going anywhere with pad level like that. Get low boys! - Mike McCarthy

Thanks for all the information vince, et.al. This thread is a great read.

[vince]

In case anyone is questioning the football voracity and talents of Manboobs Buck, here's an article that shows he was indeed the man back in his day...

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/1922GreenBayWinsStateProGridTitle.jpg

[vince]

Tom Silverwood
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Silverstein.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/1897.jpg
On October 17, 1896, a former University of Wisconsin-Madison footballer named T.P. Silverwood was introduced.

Silverwood graduated with a law degree and came to Green Bay on a bicycle looking for a career as an attorney. He subsequently entered into the firm of Ellis and Merrill.

His law career would include a stint as Green Bay district attorney in 1904 and several high profile cases including a Neillsville, WI murder. However, football was not far from his mind and was likely the reason he traveled to Green Bay.

At the end of the 1896 season, the Green Bay Advocate interviewed Silverwood on “football benefits.” They identified him as a “ball enthusiast,” the interview focused on the brutality of the game and its effect on high school and college students.

Silverwood turned the interview toward the rewards of training and discipline required for football success. When asked, “Is it a brutal game?” Silverwood’s response was definite:

No! It is no more brutal to the player than the race to the trotting horse. To be sure, there are scratches and bumps and bruises, but these are nothing to one who’s been in the glorious hand-to-hand struggle of a football game, where all the physical strength, all the brains and all the science of one team are pitted against that of another team.

In the mass of bodies in the trenches Hulbert, and now Tom Silverwood, saw the kinetic pulse of strategy and finesse and a game elevated by their use.

In 1897, all the pieces seemed to be in place; superior talent, tremendous organization, great coaching, fan support, great press coverage and strong financial backing.

The Green Bay newspapers covered several team meetings in late August and early September, some coinciding with team practice.

The team met regularly at the headquarters of the West Side Athletic Association where Hulbert worked.

To accommodate the players with day jobs, arc lights were strung around the field at Ben Garlock’s lot on the corner of Dousman and Oakland for night practice.

By now the team had added a “second eleven” which would “meet every evening with the regular eleven for practice.” They had every reason to envision success. They were big, they were buff, and they were ready.

Hulbert’s presence was the key to the team in 1895, and the addition of Silverwood near the end of 1896 was also significant.

But the enlistment of Tom Skenandore, a bruising fullback from Oneida, who had acquired his football skills on teams at Carlisle Indian School in the early 1890’s was the key piece of the puzzle in 1897. His value was such that he became the first (and only in 1897) paid player on the team.

Silverwood assumed position as captain and coach of the team in 1897, and he immediately implemented some ideas about how to improve the team – both on and off the field. A board of directors was formed to ensure community support, and a second team was added to give the regulars real practice. In 1896, Hulbert, nicknamed, “Genial Fred” was willing to step back and let another hand lead the flock.

Tom Silverwood was a staunch believer in athletics, a gifted organizer, a colorful character with a handlebar mustache, a Republican activist and a lover of football.

Most of all, he had connections. Family documentation states that, “In 1897, Silverwood organized, coached and captained the Green Bay professional football team. The squad, predecessor to the present Green Bay Packers, played both professional and college teams and was undefeated for two years.”

With the presence of the first paid player in Green Bay history, Tom Skenadore, Silverwood’s squad did constitute the city’s first “professional” aggregation. The team passed a hat throughout the crowd of spectators for contributions, which were used for medical bills and to provide a stipend for some of the players depending on how much money they had at the end of the year. The amount was never enough to support a man and his family.

Out of five games in ’97, Silverwood’s squad went 4-0-1. The 1898 campaign was brief, but it was also without a loss.

It was Silverwood’s friendship with Kewaunee native Ikey Karel, who’d been tagged as “the Red Grange of the ‘90’s” that brought Karel to Green Bay as part-time coach and supporter of Green Bay football. It was Karel who, while watching the team practice on Garlock’s vacant lot, stated, “Some day Green Bay will be world champions.”

Under Hulbert and Silverwood, the team had advanced from a crew of undersized street brawlers to a crack unit with a statewide reputation.

The final game of the 1897 season, against Fond du Lac was played at Washington Park on Thanksgiving Day in a snow storm. An amazing 1,000 spectators looked on while the visiting team was dominated by a score of 62-0. “Fond du Lac wasn’t in the game one minute,” stated The Green Bay Review. “The visiting eleven was out-classed, out-played and outed generally.”

In 1919, Curly Lambeau’s pass-oriented juggernaut overwhelmed its opponents by a total combined score over 11 games of 565-12, for an average of 57-1 per game. But 23 years earlier, the Green Bay town team had accomplished a similarly remarkable feat. 1897 was part of an era when the emphasis was on defense and preventing the other team from scoring. Touchdowns were worth only four points. Yet, over five games, the Green Bay boys had bested their opponents 142-6 for an average of 28-1 per game.

This 1897 outfit was the very first championship football team in Green Bay history. It declared its status as such at the end of its amazing season, and no challengers issued a defi to say it otherwise.

Curly Lambeau’s team won its first National Football League crown in 1929, followed by championships in 1930 and 1931 – the first triple championship in NFL history. But the 1929 crown was not Green Bay’s first. Titletown saw championships in 1903, 1911, 1913, and 1915 as well.

The team photo taken at the end of 1897 is the first known picture of a Green Bay town team.

Going into 1898, thanks in large part to the efforts of Silverwood, the team had reputation, organization and financial success.

[HowardRoark]

Great work Vince. Did you raid Lee Remmel's basemnet?

Do you have a good picture of Buckets Goldenberg? There is a great picture of him in the book.

[HowardRoark]

Check out the picture of George Calhoun on the 5th page. Now that's a statue we need somewhere.

http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/wmh/pdf/autumn05_scotter.pdf

[vince]

Do you have a good picture of Buckets Goldenberg? There is a great picture of him in the book.
That's the only one I have ever seen. I just archive the shit I run across. Over time it's added up. Packer history is probably the most interesting thing I like to read about in my downtime.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Buckets.jpg

[Pugger]

If you look at the photo of Green Bay's river front from 1922 in HowardRoark's link you'll see a tall white building that is still standing! I think it is on the corner of Walnut & Washington Street (but it might be Adams).

10 years ago when I still lived in GB I sang with a group of women called the Angels. We performed in nursing homes in the afternoon once a week. I'll never forget one afternoon at a GB nursing home one of the nurses there pointed out a beautiful but elderly lady in a wheel chair watching our little production. This woman was in her upper 90's but her face was as smooth as a 30 year old. That woman was Marguerite Lambeau! She had Alzheimer's so you couldn't really talk to her. But it would have been cool to pick her brain if she hadn't had dementia like that!

[vince]

Thanks Vince. It helps a lot!

In Oz, we have a team for each age. No matter what grade we are in, we play all our sports at our own age group. No matter how talented.

We also two teams from Grade 3 to Grade 6. Junioers and Seniors. But in High School, from Grade 7 to grade 12, we have a team per Grade/Age.

We don't have the cool looking jackets, no symbols of "belonging".

The worst thing is, we don't have cheerleaders!! :shock:

Now, I'm talking about Sydney in the 70's. Quite possibly, things have changed. Also worth pointing out: I was the captain of my cricket team and rugby League team and it made zero impression on the ladies. :x
I've always wanted to play rugby. Too late for that now... I've also wanted to learn about cricket. That's for another forum I guess.

[falco]

http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/.e1d/img/4.0/global/football/nfl/players/6784.jpg

....

what, too soon?

[vince]

If you look at the photo of Green Bay's river front from 1922 in HowardRoark's link you'll see a tall white building that is still standing! I think it is on the corner of Walnut & Washington Street (but it might be Adams).

10 years ago when I still lived in GB I sang with a group of women called the Angels. We performed in nursing homes in the afternoon once a week. I'll never forget one afternoon at a GB nursing home one of the nurses there pointed out a beautiful but elderly lady in a wheel chair watching our little production. This woman was in her upper 90's but her face was as smooth as a 30 year old. That woman was Marguerite Lambeau! She had Alzheimer's so you couldn't really talk to her. But it would have been cool to pick her brain if she hadn't had dementia like that!
I've read a bit about her and she was a fascinating woman. Curly had numerous affairs which ultimately led to their divorce, but she came to peace with their relationship and carried no ill will in her later (sane) years. She spoke very glowingly about him and their relationship and spoke about how great of a man he was. I've got some love letters that Curly wrote to Marguerite that I'll post, and you'lll see that Curly was quite fond of her before they married.

[vince]

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Lambeau/CurlyLoveLetter3.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Lambeau/CurlyLoveLetter4.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Lambeau/CurlyLoveLetter5.jpg

Here's part of another letter. Can't tell who it's written to...
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Lambeau/CurlyLetter.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Lambeau/CurlyLetter2.jpg

[HowardRoark]

From when I was a kid:

http://www.the-kramerfamily.com/files/PACKERS/1974PACKERS-Card-Brockington.JPG http://www.the-kramerfamily.com/files/PACKERS/1974PACKERS-Card-Lane.JPG

[swede]

From when I was a kid:

http://www.the-kramerfamily.com/files/PACKERS/1974PACKERS-Card-Brockington.JPG http://www.the-kramerfamily.com/files/PACKERS/1974PACKERS-Card-Lane.JPG

I think that guy on the left was married to Jackie Brockington. She was a famous TV personality in Green Bay

[digitaldean]

Just heard this on the local newscasts, one of the Packers TEs from the early 60s, Ron Kramer passed away today at the age of 75.

[Pugger]

From when I was a kid:

http://www.the-kramerfamily.com/files/PACKERS/1974PACKERS-Card-Brockington.JPG http://www.the-kramerfamily.com/files/PACKERS/1974PACKERS-Card-Lane.JPG

I think that guy on the left was married to Jackie Brockington. She was a famous TV personality in Green Bay

These two made quite a tandem back in their heyday.

[Tarlam!]

I've always wanted to play rugby. Too late for that now... I've also wanted to learn about cricket. That's for another forum I guess.

KY and I are the only Rugby players on this forum. Friggin' tough game. A bit like football during the leatherheads period in terms of "does it really hurt?".

Cricket, on the other hand is a lot like chess. A real thinking man's game. One of the most wonderful games ever invented. I heard a legend that it was invented by women to keep their men home from going off to war. Great legend, but I don't know how true it is.

[vince]

Earl L. "Curly" Lambeau - The Coach
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Lambeau/CurlyLamGb.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Lambeau/Curly6.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Lambeau/LambeauStatuePose.jpg
As a coach, Curly Lambeau flew in the face of common practice. He was the first pass-minded coach in the NFL and his teams were like their leader, impatient and explosive.

Despite rules that made it difficult to use the forward pass, Lambeau's Packers were a team whose main offensive weapon was the pass; at any time, on any down, from anywhere on the field.

By 1927 Curly began devoting more time to coaching and managing the team and less time to playing halfback.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Lambeau/CoachCurly.jpg

He signed a number of players in 1927 who would contribute greatly in the championship years ahead. From the dissolved Milwaukee Badgers, he picked up end LaVern Dilweg and quarterback Red Dunn. All of these additions helped bring the Packers to a 7-2-1 record which allowed them to come in second to the New York Giants.

In 1929, after he retired as a player, the Packers remained a powerhouse under his watch for more than two decades.

Curly replaced himself with future Hall of Fame quarterback, Arnie Herber.who became the NFL's first great long-distance passer.

Curly Lambeau's gift for recognizing and obtaining talent reached new heights this season when he acquired three future Hall of Famers.

Over the summer, the New York Yankees had folded and Lambeau plucked guard Mike Michalske, from Penn State, from the remains. From the Giants, Lambeau signed disgruntled tackle Cal Hubbard, a giant of a man at 6-5 and 250 pounds.

His most colorful addition, however, was halfback John 'Blood' McNally who he lured away from the Pottsville Maroons.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Lambeau/Curly2.jpg

The Packers won the first of three consecutive championships that season. From 1929 through 1931, they won 34 games, lost only 5, and tied 2. During the 1931 season, the Packers played in front of 107,000 spectators on the road.

Under Lambeau's leadership the Green Bay Packers had become one of professional football's first great dynasties.

After signing future Hall of Fame receiver Don Hutson in 1935, they won three more titles in 1936, 1939, and 1944.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Lambeau/VideoCap_HerberHutson_curly.jpg

So advanced were Lambeau's coaching theories and Hutson's abilities that many of Hutson's records stood for four decades or more.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Lambeau/09000d5d80f84788_gallery_600.jpg

During the later half of the 1940s the Green Bay Packers held training camp at Rockwood Lodge, a piece of land that was purchased for use as a training facility by Curly Lambeau. It's understood to actually have been the first self-contained team training facility in pro football history.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Lambeau/Rockwood_Lodge.jpg

A sometimes-hot headed disciplinarian, Lambeau always got the most out of his players.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Lambeau/LambeauFull-timeCoach.jpg

Lambeau, the man responsible for laying the groundwork for everything that came after him in Green Bay.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Lambeau/Image116.jpg

Seven members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame played with and/or under Lambeau, including Tony Canadeo, Johnny “Blood” McNally, Clarke Hinkle, and Don Hutson – maybe the greatest receiver that ever lived.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Lambeau/Curly1.jpg

He wed the former Susan Johnson, a former "Miss California," the second time around and the former Grace Garland, the ex-wife of two Hollywood film directors, when he took unto himself a third wife.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Lambeau/WisconsinstoriesorgWisconsinHometownStoriesGreenBa yflv_000132466.jpg

As to Lambeau's relationship with Lombardi, Vince made it clear that he had little use for Curly or his lifestyle.

Curly won six NFL championships and 226 games in 33 seasons as a head coach.

He is the winngest coach in team history.

Only three coaches in pro football history have won more games (Don Shula, George Halas and Tom Landry).

And when the Pro Football Hall of Fame opened its doors in 1963, it selected 17 charter members.

Earl L. “Curly” Lambeau was one of them.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Lambeau/Lambeau_Curly_Induction_180-220.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Lambeau/Lambeaufieldlogo.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Lambeau/Curly.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Lambeau/image00112.jpg

[vince]

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Lambeau/1931LambeauUnseenGenius.gif

[vince]

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Lambeau/getimageCA0ZISLE.jpg

[vince]

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Lambeau/PPF-1962-08.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Lambeau/PPF-1962-09.jpg

[swede]

I never heard of Rockwood Lodge. The Packers must have had a pretty reliable income stream to afford those sweet digs.

Does anyone know if it is still around and where it might be?

EDIT: http://packerville.blogspot.com/2009/08/training-camp-at-rockwood-lodge.html


Rockwood Lodge was the training facility of the Packers from 1946 through 1949. It is believed to have been the first self-contained team training facility in pro football history. Located approximately 17 miles north of the city on a limestone bluff overlooking the eponymous Green Bay, the 53-acre complex included player housing and a natural outdoor “amphitheater” in which team meetings were held. The then-extravagant $32,000 purchase by team president and head coach Curly Lambeau was controversial among the team’s board of directors, and contributed to the deteriorating relationship that eventually led to Lambeau's departure.

On January 24, 1950, Rockwood Lodge burned down. One week later, Lambeau resigned his position with the Packers and moved south to coach the Chicago Cardinals. The team eventually received $75,000 from its insurance company.

After Rockwood Lodge, the Packers moved their training camp to Grand Rapids, Minnesota from 1950 through 1953 and then Stevens Point, Wisconsin from 1954-1957 before settling in at St. Norbert College in DePere, Wisconsin, where they house the players during camp to this day.

Rockwood Lodge is a park now.

[vince]

George W. Calhoun

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/CalhounManager.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/CalhounManager2.jpg

The cigar-chomping former Green Bay Press-Gazette sports and telegraph editor was a cantankerous man whose enjoyment of a cold beer was surpassed only by his love and dedication to the professional football team he covered, promoted and was the business manager for.

Calhoun was as instrumental behind the scenes as Lambeau in building the Packers into one of the National Football League's great franchises, winning six world championships from 1921-'44, including three consecutive titles from 1929-'31.

He gave the club the name "Packers," publicized the team and created interest in the community and later across the nation with his Packer Football News publication.

He passed a hat among spectators at games to help support the organization in tough financial times.

As a newspaper reporter and team secretary, "Cal" traveled with the team through 1944 and became a popular national sports figure.

Calhoun attended every home game for nearly 40 years, from the first contest against Menominee North End A.C. in 1919 to the finale in City Stadium against the San Francisco 49ers in 1956.

He had a great respect for statistics and amassed one of the most complete collections of NFL game results during his career.

When the Green Bay native who dedicated his life to the Packers franchise died in December 1963, his ashes were strewn over the City Stadium field adjacent to Green Bay East High School along the banks of the East River.

Calhoun was paralyzed for a time after being tackled and striking a goal post. Instead of playing sports, he helped cover them or organize them. After graduating from college, he began his newspaper career at the Buffalo Times before moving back to his hometown in 1915.

"Cal had been a football player in his youth and a good one, but the game had given him the injury that crippled him for life," Jack Rudolph wrote in a 1963 Press-Gazette article. "A sentimental softy beneath his irascible exterior, Cal still loved football, and the Packers gave him the chance to enjoy it secondhand.

When the present corporation was formed in 1921, Calhoun was designated the traveling secretary and publicity director.

Calhoun had a unique method of networking with his colleagues in other NFL cities.
Sportswriters were eager to meet with Calhoun when Green Bay would visit their city, as Calhoun would fill his hotel room bathtub with ice and beer. He'd then call the newspapers and let them know where he was staying. From Chicago to New York, the sportswriters flocked to his room to hear the Packer news and have a few.

After a tough loss to the Giants, Calhoun invited Lambeau up to his hotel room to drown his sorrows.

"Lambeau did so, and my recollection is that Curly and I each drank about two or three bottles of beer and went to the case for another when we found it empty," John Torinus said in his book, "Packer Legend."

"Cal had finished off about 18 of those 24 bottles all by himself."

As part of his role as the team's traveling secretary, Calhoun was guardian to the pass gate at stadiums home and away. He took great pride in his reputation as a vigilant watchdog that let no unauthorized personnel into a game free.

"To him, trying to see the Packers play for nothing always was the most heinous form of treason, and he could spot a freeloader as far as he could see one," Rudolph said.

He was inducted in the Packers Hall of Fame in 1978 and his plaque, designating him as the team's co-founder, is on display in the Hall's ultimate showplace, the Trophy Room.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/1919TeamPhoto.jpg
Calhoun, standing far right in this 1919 team photo, was one of the most colorful and influential characters in the history of the Green Bay Packers.

[Freak Out]

I never heard of Rockwood Lodge. The Packers must have had a pretty reliable income stream to afford those sweet digs.

Does anyone know if it is still around and where it might be?

EDIT: http://packerville.blogspot.com/2009/08/training-camp-at-rockwood-lodge.html


Rockwood Lodge was the training facility of the Packers from 1946 through 1949. It is believed to have been the first self-contained team training facility in pro football history. Located approximately 17 miles north of the city on a limestone bluff overlooking the eponymous Green Bay, the 53-acre complex included player housing and a natural outdoor “amphitheater” in which team meetings were held. The then-extravagant $32,000 purchase by team president and head coach Curly Lambeau was controversial among the team’s board of directors, and contributed to the deteriorating relationship that eventually led to Lambeau's departure.

On January 24, 1950, Rockwood Lodge burned down. One week later, Lambeau resigned his position with the Packers and moved south to coach the Chicago Cardinals. The team eventually received $75,000 from its insurance company.

After Rockwood Lodge, the Packers moved their training camp to Grand Rapids, Minnesota from 1950 through 1953 and then Stevens Point, Wisconsin from 1954-1957 before settling in at St. Norbert College in DePere, Wisconsin, where they house the players during camp to this day.

Rockwood Lodge is a park now.

I first learned of the fabled Rockwood Lodge through Packer Palace.

http://www.packerpalace.com/index2.html

[vince]

Andrew B. Turnbull
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Turnbull.jpg
Turnbull personally bailed Lambeau out on numerous occasions to keep the Packers from going under, initated the effort to make the Packers a publicly-owned team, and became the first president of the Green Bay Packers Football Corporation. He was never repaid or paid a penny for his service to the team.

A.B. Turnbull was the general manager of the Green Bay Press-Gazette in the early 1900’s.

Beginning in the 1920’s and spanning more than 25 years, Turnbull led his newspaper’s - as well as the city’s - support for the fledgling football team.

He insisted that the coverage in the Press Gazette be very supportive of the Packers at all times because it was important to the team’s survival. He believed the Packers’ survival was vital to the city’s business and social climate.

His instructions to the sports writers were that, “The Packers never lose a game. They may almost win sometimes, but never lose.”

1922 – The Year From Hell

A number of forces and events combined to make 1922 a year in which the Packers’ survival was almost miraculous. The team only survived because the undeniable will of Curly Lambeau – and the financial resources of Andy Turnbull.

The Packers’ second NFL season almost never happened in the first place, as the Acme Packing Company, who was experiencing business challenges itself, elected not to sponsor the team for another season.

Multiple Bailouts

Turnbull personally nurtured the Packers organization through the financial hard times in the 1920’s by giving money to Lambeau and Calhoun to keep the team afloat at the most dire moments in the team’s history.

Without his personal donations, the Packers would be long forgotten today.

Because the team had no sponsor and was on such shaky financial ground, the Packers had taken out a rain insurance policy which would enable them to pay the visiting team's guarantee in case it rained at least .10 of an inch.

On October 8, it rained long and hard before a game against the Racine Legion. The game was played before a crowd too small for the team to cover its visiting team guarantee. The insurance company denied their claim for reimbursement, maintaining that it had rained .09 of an inch, one-hundredth of an inch less than the policy stipulated.

Later in the year, at a home game against the Columbus Panhandlers, it once again rained long and hard. The Packers were $1,600 in debt with a $500 guarantee to meet and little likelihood of help from the gate because of the weather. And because the team had no money, they had let their rain insurance policy lapse.

Here’s the account of Chuck Johnson, author of “The Green Bay Packers – Pro Football’s Pioneer Team” regarding that day’s events.


Lambeau and Calhoun sat by the window of the dressing room before the game, silent and gloomy, watching the rain form puddles outside.

Finally, Lambeau broke the silence.

"Well, Cal, this is it," he said, "We might as well call off the game. Then we won't have to pay the whole guarantee. There's no use going into debt any farther. We can't even meet the obligations we've got now."

Calhoun nodded, knowing that to forfeit the game would probably mean that the Packers would also forfeit their National Football League franchise.

"Wait a minute, Curly," Calhoun said. "First let me call Mr. Turnbull.”

Calhoun, who was sports editor of the Green Bay Press-Gazette as well as publicity man of the Packers, telephoned A. B. (Andy) Turnbull, publisher of the newspaper. A few minutes later, Turnbull himself walked in.

"What's the matter, boys?" he asked.

Lambeau and Calhoun told him.

"Play the game," Tumbiill said, forcefully. "We’ll work things out later, somehow."
When the guarantee was paid, the Packers’ debt to Turnbull had risen to more than $2,000.

On another occasion, after traveling to Detroit for a game, there was no money to pay Green Bay's guarantee. The Packers had no way to get home. Calhoun called his boss and Turnbull spent $500 of his own money to pay for train fare for the team.

To help pay some of the bills, a Thanksgiving Day non-league exhibition was scheduled against the Duluth Kelleys. In fitting form of this nightmarish season, heavy rain caused Green Bay to consider canceling the game.

But Andrew B. Turnbull once again told the team to play the game and he would see to it that expenses were covered. Turnbull feared that if the game were not played, and the Duluth team was not paid, Green Bay would lose its professional football franchise forever.

What an ironic twist Turnbull’s fears and the story of the 1922 Packers would take from there. It turned out that BECAUSE they played that game that the Packers would have their NFL (called the American Professional Football Association at the time) franchise license revoked.

NFL Franchise License Revoked

If all the financial problems were not enough, the Packers had their NFL franchise license revoked for that Thanksgiving Day game in a controversial witch hunt.

The Packers were accused of using college players in the game.

The Packers did use college players, but so did every other team in the league at the time. One of the players used by Lambeau was Notre Dame's Heartley "Hunk" Anderson, a former teammate of Lambeau's and a native of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

It so happened that George Halas, owner and manager of the Chicago Bears, coveted Anderson's services, and with Lambeau’s small-town Green Bay team in the league, Anderson would more than likely sign with them.

Halas's college players just so happened to spot Lambeau's college players at the Milwaukee non-league game. They told Halas, and he devised a plan designed to get his man Anderson to the Bears.

Everyone knew at the time that sportswriters, particularly the Chicago writers, did not like the professional football league. They felt it undermined college football which had a far bigger following, particularly in the big cities and large school havens, than the professional league at the time. Halas told a Chicago sportswriter, who was not even at the game in Milwaukee about Green Bay’s use of college players.

The sportswriter was easily persuaded by Halas to blow the whistle on Green Bay by writing a scathing article against the league and publicly called for the league to revoke Green Bay’s license.

The league, in its second year of existence, was desperate to gain the favor of the public, was pressured to drop the Packers from the league, even though the league didn’t have jurisdiction over the non-NFL sanctioned exhibition game in the first place.

The Clairs (owners of Acme Packing Company and the Packers’ NFL license at the time) quickly complied with the league’s inquiry and agreed to drop its franchise license. They felt the prospects for the team surviving without additional capital infusion was dire anyway, and they had no interest in owning the team or giving it any more money.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/1922PackersDroppedfromProLeague.jpg

The illegal use of college players in a non-league game forced the team’s league license to be forfeited, but Lambeau refused to have his team denied of it’s place in the league. His determination would ultimately pay off.

He traveled to Canton, OH for a league meeting and pledged to get the team back in the league. The league agreed to allow him back in, with some big strings attached. He had to re-pay another franchise fee of $250, but also needed to secure $1,000 in reserves to ensure the team would remain solvent.

Lambeau once again turned to Turnbull for help. And in yet another ironic twist of fate, the witch hunt over college players, initiated by George Halas and spurred on by the Chicago sportswriter who disliked professional football, would end up turning the Green Bay Packers into the greatest success story in the history of sports.

The Hungry Five

To figure out how to meet the NFL’s demands, A. B. Turnbull had lunch at the Attic Room of the Beaumont Hotel with Lambeau and three his business colleagues. They included his attorney Jerry Clifford, grocer and the land owner who owned land adjacent to the team’s playing field at the time, Lee Joannes, and Dr. Webber Kelly, another well-to-do Green Bay business man.

These men would come be called the “Hungry Five” because they ultimately worked feverishly to gain community support and raise money to enable the football team to meet the NFL’s demands and establish a firm foundation for the team’s future.

Their idea was to come up with a corporation that would be owned by people willing to buy stock in the team. The result of their efforts was the formation of the Green Bay Football Corporation, a non-profit organization dedicated to operating professional football in Green Bay.

In the spring of 1923, the "Hungry Five" called a town meeting at the Elks club. A capacity crowd of 400 people attended. Pledges were taken for a share of stock at five dollars. Every purchaser of five shares was guaranteed a box at Green Bay home games that fall.

The first stock sale generated $5,000 by offering 1,000 shares for $5 apiece, including a stipulation that the purchaser buy at least six season tickets.

Further, fifty leading businessmen of the community were prevailed upon to put up one hundred dollars a piece in case the team lost money. Through al the lean years and crises which followed, the terms of this pledge were never exacted.

On August 14, 1923, new articles of incorporation were drawn up. A total of 1,000 shares of stock were issued. Established was a fifteen-man board of directors and an executive committee. Earnings, if any, were to go to the Sullivan post of the American Legion in Green Bay. The corporation was to be operated without cost to the stockholders. Further, officers and directors were to be paid no salary or recompense and each was to buy six season tickets to home games.

Andrew B. Turnbull was elected to be the first president of the Packers. He never paid or recompensated a penny for his service or donations to the team.

Through his contributions and efforts, Andy Turnbull laid the foundation for the teams modern corporate structure and nurtured it through the biggest set of challenges the team would ever have to face.

As a result the Packers came to be the only community-owned franchise in major professional sports and they remain so today as they are run by a seven-member executive committee.

Turnbull would remain on the Packers Board of Directors and help guide the team through more than twenty-five of their most tumultuous years.

Town Team to Football Power

Andrew B. Turnbull’s leadership helped the fledgling Packers grow from a town team to a pro football power.

One of the more remarkable business stories in American history, the team is kept viable by its shareholders — its unselfish fans.

Turnbull would be involved in two additional stock drives to help the team through some financial challenges. The fans have responded on every occasion.

Green Bay Packers, Inc., has been a publicly owned, non-profit corporation since Aug. 18, 1923, when original articles of incorporation were filed with Wisconsin’s secretary of state. The corporation remains governed by a board of directors and a seven-member executive committee.

A total of 4,750,937 shares are owned by 112,120 stockholders — none of whom receives any dividend on the initial investment and the stock cannot be sold.

[Iron Mike]

Mike Michalske

Michalske, nicknamed “Iron Mike”, played 60 minutes of almost every game he was in as a Packer, playing on the defensive side, as well.


Heeeeeeyyyyy.... :lol:

[Iron Mike]

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_VFYuAlZ9trY/Sxnvw_0O5VI/AAAAAAAAAss/YnxAh2seUaU/s320/1968+Elijah+Pitts.jpg

[HowardRoark]

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51YBB23E2JL._SL500_AA300_.jpg


Johnny wasn’t a very good card player, but I think he enjoyed BSing with the guys. He’d stop in the middle of the game and ask me a question like, ‘Hornung, what have you learned about life?’ He’d throw in philosophy on me all the time. We (the Lombardi-era Packers) all loved Johnny Blood — he was one of a kind.

- Paul Hornung,
former Green Bay Packer halfback


We were at an NFL alumni event, and Hornung, Max, and Fuzzy and I played poker with him all night long. We heard all the stories, breaking curfew, walking out on the ledge of the Northland Hotel. He was doing some Hornung-esque things 40 years before Hornung.

- Jerry Kramer,

"There was nothing boastful about Blood or synthetically erudite. He argued on things because he really knew them and because he happened to hold strong opinions. He traveled with bums on occasion because he wanted their company. He recited poetry - and he could do this by the hour - because he liked it."

- Oliver Kuechle, Milwaukee Journal

"Contrary to popular opinion, I never did see him play, but met and interviewed him in my days at the (Green Bay) Press-Gazette. He was probably the most colorful character to ever wear a Packer uniform and one of the most interesting and intelligent people I've ever met. I don't think there will ever be another one quite like him. I believe the best summation of Johnny Blood was authored by his wife (Marguerite) who said: 'Even when Johnny does the expected, he does it in an unexpected way.' "

Remmel laughed as he recalled some of McNally's stunts.

"Johnny gave Curly (Lambeau) fits over the years with his nocturnal escapades, of which there were many," he said. "On one occasion, Lambeau locked him in his hotel room the night before a game against the Bears in Chicago so he wouldn't break curfew and go out on the town.

"Being resourceful, Johnny had other ideas and reportedly tied bed sheets together and climbed down through the hotel window. Though I can't confirm it, another story told of Johnny missing the team train and then stopping it with his car.

"Before the 1929 season, Johnny Blood played for the Pottsville Maroons, and Curly offered him $100 per game to play in Green Bay via a letter, with a P.S. that if he stopped drinking by Wednesday night of each game week he'd pay him $110 per game. Johnny wrote back: 'I'll take the $100.' That was typical Johnny Blood."

Dan Rooney, Pittsburgh Steelers' Chairman of the Board, has fond memories of McNally.

"I remember going to training camp with my father (Art, team founder) and first going to games in 1937, so I did see Johnny Blood play when I was 4 or 5 years old," Rooney said.

"I remember him well. As a coach, he didn't experience much success with us. But I always thought of the guys from the past that could play in the NFL today, Johnny Blood was one of them. In my opinion, he'd have been a first-round draft choice. He was fast and versatile and an excellent receiver. And he was versatile off the field as well."

One exploit stands out in Rooney's mind.

"One thing I'll never forget about Johnny is that he became friends with the famous actor, John Barrymore," he said. "Barrymore would do a show at the theater in Pittsburgh and he'd call Johnny up out of the audience and they'd recite Shakespeare together. Not too many player/coaches in that day could recite Shakespeare."

Another favorite story of Rooney's involved the Pittsburgh players' friendly wagering on who could telephone a girlfriend from the farthest city.

"There'd be so much money on the table and guys would be calling girls from Chicago or California or New York," Rooney recalled with a laugh. "Johnny Blood picked up the phone and called a girl in South Africa."

From his humble childhood in New Richmond, Wis., McNally would literally travel around the country and world during and after his professional football career. He was married twice, had no children, and spent nearly a decade each in New Richmond and St. Paul before moving to Palm Springs in 1979 until his death in November 1985.

Long-time friend John Doar, a New Richmond native and former U.S. assistant attorney general and Watergate prosecutor now residing in New York, described McNally as "a free spirit who was a very kind person. As a 16-year-old kid, I asked him if I could be the water boy at training camp in Pittsburgh. He let me, but only after getting the approval of my parents. He would never intentionally hurt anyone, and had a grace and charm that quickly endeared himself to people.

"Johnny basically did it all, from professional football to visiting the White House to traveling the world."

Gerald Holland of "Sports Illustrated" wrote the following summary of McNally's resume:

"McNally had been around a bit. He had taught history and economics at his alma mater, St. John's University in Minnesota. He had entered the University of Minnesota to study for his Master's degree at the age of 50. He had started writing a book on economics, a work still in progress. He had read law as a clerk in his uncle's law firm. He had run (unsuccessfully) for sheriff of St. Croix County, Wis., on a platform promising honest wrestling.

"He had been an Air Force staff sergeant and cryptographer in India and China during World War II. He had done a few things calling for less intellectual challenge. He had tended bar in Shanty Malone's place in San Francisco. He had been a stickman, a croupier in a gambling house. He had been a seaman, a newspaper stereotyper, a miner, a farmhand, a feed salesman, a floor waxer, a sportswriter, a hotel desk clerk, a pick-and-shovel worker on a WPA project in Los Angeles during the Depression. He had spent a night in jail in Havana for fist-fighting over a matter of principle.

"In between all this, he played some football - a lot of extraordinary football."

After his playing and coaching career, McNally enjoyed returning to Green Bay for NFL alumni events.

"I met Johnny Blood a couple of times," former Packer guard Jerry Kramer recalled. "Johnny was quite a character. Very bright. Proud. Opinionated. A sharp storyteller. I thought he was something really special. I enjoyed being around him.

"At one point, Johnny was getting on me, saying, 'So you're a writer?' He asked me if I knew the Seven Pillars of Wisdom. I said, 'No, I don't.' He said I should look it up."

Another famous Packer running back noted for testing curfews, Paul Hornung, chuckled as he thought of a picture of him and McNally hanging in his Louisville, Ky., office.

"It's a picture of Johnny Blood and me that was taken up in Wisconsin," Hornung said, "And it's signed: 'Two of a Kind.' I think Johnny outdid me, but then I played under Vince Lombardi."

Dick Schaap, the late sportswriter and author, said: "Curly Lambeau, Cal Hubbard, Don Hutson, and Clark Hinkle were four of the first five Packers elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It's not hard to understand why they haven't named a boulevard after the fifth, Johnny Blood. There is, however, a local beer named after him. You can get a glass of Johnny Blood Red at Titletown Brewery."

The Packers honored McNally by naming a banquet room after him in 2003 within the Lambeau Field Atrium. Bart Starr, Paul Horning, and Willie Davis were also recognized in this fashion.

"It seemed very fitting," Packer president Bob Harlan said. "Unfortunately, I couldn't reach any of Johnny's relatives to get their blessing, but we wanted to honor Johnny Blood for his Hall of Fame career. He's a special part of our team's early history."

"I think football was an escape from another kind of life, and I enjoyed it so thoroughly I was always congratulating myself that I was able to find an escape so tolerable to me. To maximize my life. In Green Bay I was intoxicated with the freedom . . . I had no more thought of the future. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Let the morrow take care of itself."

- Johnny Blood, (as told to John Doar)

[woodbuck27]

Johnny Blood McNally: "he often coasted and clowned. He frequently dropped easy passes, then caught impossible ones.

He broke training rules and curfews; missed trains, buses and bed checks; eluded teammates assigned to watch or guard him. Despite his disdain for regular habits and hours, he played well."

He was Randy Moss before there was a Randy Moss!

Holy Crow ! Was he into ' the Jim Beam '?

and Fritz how old ... are you? You wrote that as if you were there. :lol:

[woodbuck27]

Johnny “Blood” McNally:
http://www.hickoksports.com/images/mcnally_john.jpg http://www.profootballhof.com/assets/hof/McNally_John_Induction_180-220.jpg

He played on four Packer championship teams in seven seasons.

He took the name “Blood” from the movie marquee of a popular Rudolf Valentino picture of the era, “Blood and Sand.”

In 1929, “Blood” signed on with the Green Bay Packers. In addition to scoring 224 points as a Packer, he also became known for his antics:

• Jumped across a narrow ledge six stories from the ground to gain access to a Los Angeles hotel room.

• Fled a towel fight with Lavvie Dilweg by climbing on top of a fast-moving train and crawling across car tops until he reached the engine.

• Played almost an entire game with a collapsed kidney.

• Pushed rookie Don Hutson to the limit in a 100-yard dash at age 33.

• Was rescued by teammates while he was hanging on a ship’s stern flagpole on a Packer trip to Hawaii.

• Blew the top off a testing machine in a test for lung capacity.

• Danced, cart-wheeled and delighted a New York night club audience for over an hour.

• Once ran 50 yards for a touchdown on a lateral and when QB Red Dunn called the same play later in the game, “Blood” simply smiled and lateraled the ball back to Dunn.

" Fled a towel fight with Lavvie Dilweg by climbing on top of a fast-moving train and crawling across car tops until he reached the engine. "

Uhhh!? What did they make their towels of back then? Towel fights were never that scary back in the 50's-60's. :lol:

[woodbuck27]

Can you imagin what these guys would be like if they played today in their prime?

Yea!

They'd sometimes get really pissed off and spit chewing tabacco into the face of the pisser; maybe do additional damage giving Indian Burns while popping bubble gum into their face.

These fellas were really tough. They could split 4 1/2 cords of hardwood from sunrise to sunset with only water breaks eating bread and molasses. :lol:

[Pugger]

I never heard of Rockwood Lodge. The Packers must have had a pretty reliable income stream to afford those sweet digs.

Does anyone know if it is still around and where it might be?

EDIT: http://packerville.blogspot.com/2009/08/training-camp-at-rockwood-lodge.html


Rockwood Lodge was the training facility of the Packers from 1946 through 1949. It is believed to have been the first self-contained team training facility in pro football history. Located approximately 17 miles north of the city on a limestone bluff overlooking the eponymous Green Bay, the 53-acre complex included player housing and a natural outdoor “amphitheater” in which team meetings were held. The then-extravagant $32,000 purchase by team president and head coach Curly Lambeau was controversial among the team’s board of directors, and contributed to the deteriorating relationship that eventually led to Lambeau's departure.

On January 24, 1950, Rockwood Lodge burned down. One week later, Lambeau resigned his position with the Packers and moved south to coach the Chicago Cardinals. The team eventually received $75,000 from its insurance company.

After Rockwood Lodge, the Packers moved their training camp to Grand Rapids, Minnesota from 1950 through 1953 and then Stevens Point, Wisconsin from 1954-1957 before settling in at St. Norbert College in DePere, Wisconsin, where they house the players during camp to this day.

Rockwood Lodge is a park now.

I saw a documentary about the Packers several years ago and it said Rockwood Lodge was a disaster. Evidently the EC wasn't pleased and the grounds around it were awful. Players were getting injured playing on that horrid rock riddled plot of land!

[Pugger]

George W. Calhoun

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/CalhounManager.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/CalhounManager2.jpg

The cigar-chomping former Green Bay Press-Gazette sports and telegraph editor was a cantankerous man whose enjoyment of a cold beer was surpassed only by his love and dedication to the professional football team he covered, promoted and was the business manager for.

Calhoun was as instrumental behind the scenes as Lambeau in building the Packers into one of the National Football League's great franchises, winning six world championships from 1921-'44, including three consecutive titles from 1929-'31.

He gave the club the name "Packers," publicized the team and created interest in the community and later across the nation with his Packer Football News publication.

He passed a hat among spectators at games to help support the organization in tough financial times.

As a newspaper reporter and team secretary, "Cal" traveled with the team through 1944 and became a popular national sports figure.

Calhoun attended every home game for nearly 40 years, from the first contest against Menominee North End A.C. in 1919 to the finale in City Stadium against the San Francisco 49ers in 1956.

He had a great respect for statistics and amassed one of the most complete collections of NFL game results during his career.

When the Green Bay native who dedicated his life to the Packers franchise died in December 1963, his ashes were strewn over the City Stadium field adjacent to Green Bay East High School along the banks of the East River.

Calhoun was paralyzed for a time after being tackled and striking a goal post. Instead of playing sports, he helped cover them or organize them. After graduating from college, he began his newspaper career at the Buffalo Times before moving back to his hometown in 1915.

"Cal had been a football player in his youth and a good one, but the game had given him the injury that crippled him for life," Jack Rudolph wrote in a 1963 Press-Gazette article. "A sentimental softy beneath his irascible exterior, Cal still loved football, and the Packers gave him the chance to enjoy it secondhand.

When the present corporation was formed in 1921, Calhoun was designated the traveling secretary and publicity director.

Calhoun had a unique method of networking with his colleagues in other NFL cities.
Sportswriters were eager to meet with Calhoun when Green Bay would visit their city, as Calhoun would fill his hotel room bathtub with ice and beer. He'd then call the newspapers and let them know where he was staying. From Chicago to New York, the sportswriters flocked to his room to hear the Packer news and have a few.

After a tough loss to the Giants, Calhoun invited Lambeau up to his hotel room to drown his sorrows.

"Lambeau did so, and my recollection is that Curly and I each drank about two or three bottles of beer and went to the case for another when we found it empty," John Torinus said in his book, "Packer Legend."

"Cal had finished off about 18 of those 24 bottles all by himself."

As part of his role as the team's traveling secretary, Calhoun was guardian to the pass gate at stadiums home and away. He took great pride in his reputation as a vigilant watchdog that let no unauthorized personnel into a game free.

"To him, trying to see the Packers play for nothing always was the most heinous form of treason, and he could spot a freeloader as far as he could see one," Rudolph said.

He was inducted in the Packers Hall of Fame in 1978 and his plaque, designating him as the team's co-founder, is on display in the Hall's ultimate showplace, the Trophy Room.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/1919TeamPhoto.jpg
Calhoun, standing far right in this 1919 team photo, was one of the most colorful and influential characters in the history of the Green Bay Packers.

Vince, can you ID the other folks in this photo of the 1919 team? I think that is Curly in the middle...? Thnx.

[Pugger]

Does any know what a share of Packer stock cost back in the 1950 sale? My Dad can't recall. I have the one share that my grandfather bought in 1950 so I'm just curious.

[vince]

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/1919TeamPhoto.jpg
Vince, can you ID the other folks in this photo of the 1919 team? I think that is Curly in the middle...? Thnx.

Left to Right
Back Row - N. Murphy...Herbert Nichols...Sam Powers...Jim Coffeen...Al Martin...Charlie Sauber...Herm Martell...Wes Leaper...Wally Ladrow...Jim DesJardien...Martin Zoll...Andy Muldoon...Gus Rosenow...Al Petcka...George Calhoun

Middle Row - Curly Lambeau

Front Row - Nate Abrams...Fritz Gavin...Ray McLean...Henry (Tubby) Bero

[Joemailman]

Speaking of legends, Sunday is Alumni Day at Lambeau. Biggest ovation usually goes to Bart Starr.

Jim Taylor will be signing copies of his new book on Saturday at The Packer Pro Shop.

[Joemailman]

And speaking of Bart Starr, the Starr's this week donated championship memorabilia to the Packer Hall Of Fame, including Bart's championship rings from 1961, 65 and 66. http://packersnews.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20100918/PKR04/100918014/Starr-donates-championship-memorabilia-to-Packers-Hall-of-Fame

[swede]

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/1919TeamPhoto.jpg

Do any of you Green Bay people know if that building is the same one still standing just a bit east and north of Green Bay East's football field?

[Pugger]

Ray McLean? Any relation to 'Scooter'?

I had my hubby look at the photo and he doesn't think that building the players are in front of is still there anymore. Hubby is an East High grad.

[vince]

Verne Lewellen

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Image5.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/lewellen.gif

Legendary punter and all-around halfback, was one of the first stars of the Green Bay Packers.

At the University of Nebraska, he captained the 1923 football team as an All-Conference halfback and was also an outstanding pitcher on the baseball team.

Lewellen played nine years and 102 games for the Packers 1924-to-32 and earned all-league first team honors from 1926-29.

The 6'1", 180-pound halfback was a leading member of the Green Bay squad that won three straight NFL championships in 1929-30-31.

In addition to his booming punts, slashing runs, and all-around offensive play, he was regarded as one of Green Bay's best defensive players.

Although official statistics were not kept during his career, reconstruction of all but two of his games from play-by- play accounts in newspapers show that he rushed 708 times for 2,410 yards and 37 touchdowns, modest figures by today's standards but outstanding for his time.

His 83 pass receptions for 12 more TDs are also excellent for the period. And, although he was never the Packers' main passer, he nonetheless gained 2,076 yards via the air.

His 307 points scored ranked him first among Packers for ten years after his retirement.

Old-timers credit Lewellen with numerous 60 and 70-yard punts.

George Calhoun, who covered the Packers for the Green Bay Press-Gazette during these years, described a 1929 kick at the Polo Grounds as the greatest he ever saw: with the line of scrimmage the Packers' 12-yard-line, Lewellen booted the ball out of bounds at the New York six.

While playing with the Packers, Lewellen passed the bar. In 1928, he ran successfully for Brown County district attorney against teammate Lavvie Dilweg.

Re-elected in 1930, he was swept out of office in the Democratic landslide of 1932. He continued his law practice after his retirement.

In 1950, he rejoined the Packers as a member of the executive committee. He was general manager from 1954-60 and business manager from 1961-67.

[Fritz]

This caught my eye about Calhoun: "As a newspaper reporter and team secretary..."

My, how times have changed. I know that was a kind of conflict of interest, but I used to enjoy the more descriptive, less antagonistic renderings of the game stories. You know, the old "Two storied teams took to the field Sunday against the autumn gold background of Lambeau Field" and all that.

[vince]

This caught my eye about Calhoun: "As a newspaper reporter and team secretary..."

My, how times have changed. I know that was a kind of conflict of interest, but I used to enjoy the more descriptive, less antagonistic renderings of the game stories. You know, the old "Two storied teams took to the field Sunday against the autumn gold background of Lambeau Field" and all that.
I couldn't agree more.

[MJZiggy]

This caught my eye about Calhoun: "As a newspaper reporter and team secretary..."

My, how times have changed. I know that was a kind of conflict of interest, but I used to enjoy the more descriptive, less antagonistic renderings of the game stories. You know, the old "Two storied teams took to the field Sunday against the autumn gold background of Lambeau Field" and all that.

"Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore they are known as Famine, Pestilence, Destruction and Death. These are only aliases. Their real names are Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden. They formed the crest of the South Bend cyclone before which another fighting Army football team was swept over the precipice at the Polo Grounds yesterday afternoon as 55,000 spectators peered down on the bewildering panorama spread on the green plain below.

A cyclone can’t be snared. It may be surrounded, but somewhere it breaks through to keep on going. When the cyclone starts from South Bend, where the candle lights still gleam through the Indiana sycamores, those in the way must take to storm cellars at top speed." -Grantland Rice

You mean like that?

[vince]

This caught my eye about Calhoun: "As a newspaper reporter and team secretary..."

My, how times have changed. I know that was a kind of conflict of interest, but I used to enjoy the more descriptive, less antagonistic renderings of the game stories. You know, the old "Two storied teams took to the field Sunday against the autumn gold background of Lambeau Field" and all that.

"Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore they are known as Famine, Pestilence, Destruction and Death. These are only aliases. Their real names are Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden. They formed the crest of the South Bend cyclone before which another fighting Army football team was swept over the precipice at the Polo Grounds yesterday afternoon as 55,000 spectators peered down on the bewildering panorama spread on the green plain below.

A cyclone can’t be snared. It may be surrounded, but somewhere it breaks through to keep on going. When the cyclone starts from South Bend, where the candle lights still gleam through the Indiana sycamores, those in the way must take to storm cellars at top speed." -Grantland Rice

You mean like that?And that brings up another Packer legend. Jim Crowley, the horseman on the left, Green Bay East Hish School graduate and Green Bay Packer in 1925.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/1-713238.jpg
He only played three professional football games before going into coaching at the college level.

[HowardRoark]

This caught my eye about Calhoun: "As a newspaper reporter and team secretary..."

My, how times have changed. I know that was a kind of conflict of interest, but I used to enjoy the more descriptive, less antagonistic renderings of the game stories. You know, the old "Two storied teams took to the field Sunday against the autumn gold background of Lambeau Field" and all that.

"Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore they are known as Famine, Pestilence, Destruction and Death. These are only aliases. Their real names are Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden. They formed the crest of the South Bend cyclone before which another fighting Army football team was swept over the precipice at the Polo Grounds yesterday afternoon as 55,000 spectators peered down on the bewildering panorama spread on the green plain below.

A cyclone can’t be snared. It may be surrounded, but somewhere it breaks through to keep on going. When the cyclone starts from South Bend, where the candle lights still gleam through the Indiana sycamores, those in the way must take to storm cellars at top speed." -Grantland Rice

You mean like that?And that brings up another Packer legend. Jim Crowley, the horseman on the left, Green Bay East Hish School graduate and Green Bay Packer in 1925.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/1-713238.jpg

He only played three professional football games before going into coaching at the college level.


Coincidently, Crowley played high school football in Green Bay and was coach by Curly. Crowley later went on to coach college football at Fordham and coached Vince Lombardi.

[HowardRoark]

Not a Packer....but a Green Bay legend, writer, Red Smith:

http://nssafame.com/General/18642/attachment/SMITH,%20RED-PHOTO.jpg


“After lunch the players lounged about the hotel patio watching the surf fling white plumes high against the darkening sky. Clouds were piling up in the west… Vince Lombardi frowned.”

[MJZiggy]

Not a Packer....but a Green Bay legend, writer, Red Smith:

http://nssafame.com/General/18642/attachment/SMITH,%20RED-PHOTO.jpg


“After lunch the players lounged about the hotel patio watching the surf fling white plumes high against the darkening sky. Clouds were piling up in the west… Vince Lombardi frowned.”

And now I'm sitting here listening to Gruden. Ugh.

[vince]

Jug Earp

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Earp.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/earpe.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/JuggerEarpe.jpg
Jug Earp was an anchor in the Packer offensive and defensive lines for 11 seasons.

The 6’1”, 235-pound Monmouth College standout was a center and tackle as a Packer from 1922-’32.

Along with Cal Hubbard, he is considered the best defensive tackle of the Lambeau era.

Earp played valiantly with such injuries as broken ribs and an arm wrenched so badly he couldn’t lift it up to his chest.

After his playing career, Earp served as the first president of the Packer Alumni Organization.

From 1950 through ‘54, he was Packer publicity director.

Earp’s nickname, “Jug,” is derived from his college nickname, “Juggernaut.”

[vince]

Don Hutson

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Don%20Hutson/hutson3.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Don%20Hutson/Image134.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Don%20Hutson/Hutson_Don_Action_180-220.jpg

Before there was Jerry Rice, before there was Steve Largent, before there were even pass patterns, there was Don Hutson.

He was a receiver ahead of his time by a half-century. That's how long it took for the National Football League to catch up with the "Alabama Antelope."

With his great speed, great moves, and great hands, Hutson was an exceptionally dangerous receiver.

Hutson didn't merely catch more passes and score more touchdowns than anybody imagined possible. He changed the way football was played.

Few teams threw the ball in 1935 unless they were desperate or wanted to surprise the opponent. Hutson was football's Copernicus, proving that the universe did not revolve around the run.

By the time he retired in 1945, passing was a significant part of the game. As for the receiving part, nobody played the game like Hutson.

The Definition of “Dominant"

There's hardly a word to describe his accomplishments. "Dominant" is diminished through overuse, but if it ever applied to a player it would be Hutson.

When he retired, his deeds occupied a full page in the N.F.L. record book. He owned every receiving mark that existed by a wide margin.

He led the NFL in touchdowns a-record-likely-never-to-be-broken eight times. More than 50 years later, no other player in history else has led the league more than three.

He also led the league in catches a record eight times, including 1942, when he had a then-astonishing 74 receptions. His nearest rival caught 27 passes that season.

In nine seasons he was the top touchdown receiver in the league (Rice is second all-time with six).

Amazingly, not only is Hutson listed first for most consecutive years (five) leading the NFL in touchdown catches, he also has the second most with four.

Hutson finished his career with 99 touchdown receptions, an astounding 62 TDs ahead of his closest competitor.

Steve Largent finally broke Hutson's record 44 years later. Largent, Rice and other modern-day receivers simply traced the footsteps that Hutson blazed.

Hutson caught 74 passes for 1,211 yards and 17 touchdowns while playing 11 games in 1942.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Don%20Hutson/IMG00152-20100602-1527.jpg

For his career, Hutson averaged .85 touchdowns per game. Rice averaged .65 touchdowns per game.

He finished with the most receiving yards seven times, including four in row. He led the league in touchdown receptions nine times, including five in a row. No player has matched those records.

Hutson retired with 488 receptions and 7,991 yards. The second-place receiver had 190 catches and 3,309 yards.

Hutson played in an era of 10- to 12-game seasons, so his records might have stood forever if he had the 16-game opportunities enjoyed today.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Don%20Hutson/Image143.jpg

Perhaps Hutson's greatest performance came on Oct. 7, 1945. He caught four touchdown passes and kicked five extra points -- in one quarter. The 29-point quarter is a record that may never be broken.

Twenty percent of all his receptions were touchdowns. He scored a total of 105 touchdowns in just 117 games.

The Packers won three NFL championships (1936, `39 and '44). He retired with 19 NFL records, was named to the all-pro team in 8 of his 11 seasons and was NFL MVP in 1941 and '42.

Hutson was such a dominant player that you can't just compare him to other players of his era—his stats compare favorably to those of entire teams.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Don%20Hutson/Item_12798_4.jpg

In 1942 (in which he earned his second consecutive MVP), Hutson made more receptions than three entire teams: the Detroit Lions, the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles.

In that same season, he scored 17 touchdowns, as many as the Pittsburgh Steelers and more than the Eagles, Brooklyn Dodgers, Chicago Cardinals and Detroit Lions. More, even, than the Cardinals and Lions combined.

The Man. The Legend of Legends.

Hutson was born on Jan. 31, 1913, in Pine Bluff, Ark. As a Boy Scout he played with snakes. He said that's where he got his quickness and agility.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Don%20Hutson/hutson_alabama_1-1.jpg

At the University of Alabama, Hutson was named to all-America teams in 1933 and 1934, his junior and senior seasons.

In 11 seasons (1935-45) with the Packers, he played end (as wide receivers were known then) on offense and safety on defense. He was also the kicker.

Three times -- in 1936, 1939 and 1944 -- his Packer teams won NFL championships.

In 9 of his 11 seasons, Hutson was voted to the National Football League's All-Pro team, and twice he was named the league's most valuable player.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Don%20Hutson/Hutson_Induction_180-220.jpg

Hutson was a charter member of both the College Football Hall of Fame (1951) and the Pro Football Hall of Fame (1963).

Opposing coach, Greasy Neale of the Philadelphia Eagles, said, ''Hutson is the only man I ever saw who could feint in three different directions at the same time.''

Another coach, Luke Johnsos of the Chicago Bears, said it was difficult to defend against Hutson because ''half the time, he didn't know himself where he was going.''

At 6 feet 1 inch and 185 pounds, Hutson was willowy, and he looked even more sleek because he wore tiny shoulder pads and no hip pads. He could run 100 yards in 9.7 seconds.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Don%20Hutson/hutson2.jpg

''For every pass I caught in a game,'' he once said, ''I caught a thousand passes in practice.''

Hutson played football only one year in high school and was better known then for his collection of pet rattlesnakes.

He got to Alabama only because Bob Seawall, a high school teammate, said he would go there only if Alabama would take Hutson, too.

Seawall dropped out of Alabama after two years. Hutson stayed and became more celebrated than the other starting end, Paul (Bear) Bryant, his partner in a campus dry-cleaning business, who went on to become one of college football's legendary coaches.

"Don had the most fluid motion you had ever seen when he was running," said the Bear. "It looked like he was going just as fast as possible when all of a sudden he would put on an extra burst of speed and be gone."

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Don%20Hutson/09000d5d80f854e5_gallery_600.jpg

''Hutson would glide downfield, leaning forward,'' Lambeau said, ''as if to steady himself close to the ground. Then, as suddenly as you gulp or blink an eye, he'd feint one way and go the other, reach up like a dancer, gracefully squeeze the ball and leave the scene of the accident, the accident being the defensive backs who tangled their feet up and fell trying to cover him.''

At a time when most N.F.L. starters were paid $100 a game, he signed with the Packers for $175 a game.

On the first play of his first pro game, the legend began. The Packers were playing the Chicago Bears in Green Bay. On the first play, instead of the expected run, the Packers called a pass. The Bears' defense concentrated on Johnny (Blood) McNally, the Packers' dangerous running back and receiver. On the other side of the field, Hutson loped lazily downfield, with only Beattie Feathers covering him.

Hutson stole a look at McNally. So did Feathers, a mistake because as soon as Feathers was distracted, Hutson took off. Arnie Herber's pass hit Hutson in stride, and he outran Feathers for an 83-yard touchdown.

''For the next 10 years,'' said George Halas, the Bears' coach, ''Hutson was doing that sort of thing to every club in the National Football League. I just concede him two touchdowns a game, and I hope we can score more.''

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Don%20Hutson/hutson1.jpg

Other coaches agreed.

''He was a cold, hard competitor,'' said Jimmy Conzelman, the former Chicago Cardinals coach. ''I doubt that he had a nerve in his body.''

When Hutson retired in 1945, he was earning $15,000 a year, a huge salary then. His skills were still there, but, he said, ''It was playing defense that wore me out.''

He spent two years as an assistant coach of the Packers. Then, living in Green Bay and active in civic affairs, he became wealthy as the owner of an auto dealership and bowling lanes in Racine, Wis.

''He most certainly was the greatest player in the history of this franchise,'' the Packers' general manager, Ron Wolf, said.

He also was a quiet, unflappable man.

''The day we were married,'' said his wife, Julia, ''he was so calm that you'd think he'd merely stepped into the church to get out of the rain.''

His mother added: ''He wouldn't say two words in an A-bomb attack. He doesn't talk unless he has something to say.''

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Don%20Hutson/hutson4.jpg

"Different era, different time, but the numbers he put up in a time when they didn't throw as many passes were unbelievable," said former Packer coach Mike Holmgren. "He was better than everybody he was playing against, clearly."

The only reason he was in Green Bay was because most of the other coaches in the league thought he was too fragile.

Defenses began double and triple-teaming him, concepts that were unheard of at the time.

"He had all the moves," said teammate Tony Canadeo. "He invented the moves. And he had great hands and speed, deceptive speed. He could go get the long ones; run the hitch, the down-and-out. He'd go over the middle, too, and he was great at getting off the line because he always had people popping him."

Following his retirement as a player, Hutson was an assistant coach for the Packers under Lambeau for three seasons (1946-48).

He served on the club's board of directors from1952-80, when he was elected a director emeritus.

When the Packers built their indoor practice facility in 1994, they needed a name. Despite the many great names that played for the storied franchise, there was never any doubt which athlete the place would honor. It was christened the Don Hutson Center.

"I don't know if there is such a thing as royalty in professional football," said Packers general manager Ron Wolf as he stood next to Hutson at the dedication ceremony, "but this is the closest I've ever come to it."

Although he had been an All-America at Alabama in 1934, there were plenty who doubted the skinny speedster could stand the pace of pro football. But it wasn't long before his mere presence on the field had changed the defensive concept of the game.

Like everyone in the days before free substitution, Hutson was a 60-minute player who spent most of his career as a very fine safety on defense.

In his final six seasons, he swiped 30 opposing quarterbacks’ passes. Often after scoring a touchdown, he would kick the extra point.

Curly Lambeau had the vision to bring the passing game into pro football, but it was Don Hutson who made it work.

There will never be another player to single-handedly redefine the game like Don Hutson.

[vince]

http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/Articles/11_402_You_take_Rice,_we'll_take_Hutson.html


You take Rice, we'll take Hutson
Cold, Hard Football Facts for September 6, 2005

(Ed. Note: This piece originally ran September 6, 2005. Naturally, it pissed off those modern fans who believe John Elway invented football at Stanford in 1982.)

By Cold, Hard Football Facts contributor Mike Carlson

In a rare moment of sobriety, we remember the walls of our cardboard chalet echoing as the lid was slammed shut on the proposition that Jerry Rice was the greatest football player of all time.

And when we use Jim Brown to slam shut a lid, that LID STAYS SLAMMED SHUT. Even if we would like to make a case for Bobby Bell as Brown's defensive equivalent, that case might well be as fizzy as a 12-pack of Old Milwaukee and more anecdotal than my grandfather after a 98 (that's seven 7&7s). And in a future column, we may revive the old Bill Russell vs Wilt Chamberlain debate by reminding readers of the legacy of another Cleveland Brown, Otto Graham, the greatest winning quarterback in NFL history.

But for now, there are a couple of points to make about Rice, who retired yesterday after a brilliant, record-shattering 20-year NFL career. When baseball guru Bill James produced all-time rankings of players, he made two separate lists, one for "peak value" and the other for "career value." Certainly Rice's career value is unparalleled. Like a gridiron equivalent of Hank Aaron or Eddie Collins, he turned in top-flight seasons in three different decades – including a mini-revival in Oakland – and his ability to deliver first downs and touchdowns remained impressive. He played 20 seasons, and really only two of them were duds (one of those due to injury). Longevity, in this instance, is a strong indicator of quality, in and of itself.

So surely, if Rice's career value is so high but he's not the greatest player of all time, he's got to be the greatest receiver of all time, right?

Wrong. Much as we'd like to agree, the Cold, Hard Football Facts suggest otherwise. There's a very good argument to be made for the guy who could be said to have invented the pass pattern: Don Hutson, who tore up defenses for Green Bay from 1935 to 1945. If greatness is reflected in dominance, no receiver was greater because no receiver ever dominated his game the way Hutson did.


Catches
Rice has more catches (1,549) than anyone in NFL history, obviously. But no one has ever led the league in receiving eight times – except Hutson. Eight times in 11 seasons. Runner-up Lionel Taylor of Denver led the AFL five times in the earliest days of the upstart league’s existence. Rice led the league in receptions twice (1990, 1996). Hutson led the NFL five years in a row (1941-45)! No one else, not even Rice, has come close. Among NFL receivers, just three (Tom Fears of the L.A. Rams, Pete Pihos of Philadelphia and Raymond Berry of Baltimore) boast three consecutive years leading the league in receptions. Taylor topped the AFL receiving list its first four years (1960-63), putting him alone at second on this elite list of reception leaders. Hutson retired with 488 receptions, more than doubling the previous record of 190 catches.

Receiving yards
What about yards, you say? Rice led the league in receiving yardage six times in his 20 seasons. Impressive, for sure. But Hutson led the league seven times, including a record four years in a row (1941-44). Hutson doesn't figure in the yardage-per-season figures, but he does have four games with over 200 yards, second in NFL history only to Lance Alworth's five. (Rice and Charley Hennigan, who played for Houston of the AFL, also have four 200-yard games on their resume). Hutson, in other words, was a big-play receiver. In the first play from scrimmage of his first NFL start (his second game) Hutson caught an 83-yard touchdown pass from Arnie Herber, which led the Packers to a 7-0 win over Chicago.

Touchdowns
Rice led the league in touchdown catches six times in 20 seasons, but Hutson led the league nine times in 11. He retired in 1945 with 99 touchdown catches, which was the record until Steve Largent passed it a full 44 seasons later. Sixty years after Hutson last played, back in the Stone Age of NFL offense, he remains fifth on the all-time touchdown reception list. He led the NFL in scores every year between 1935 and 1938, skipped 1939, and then every year from 1940 through 1944. His 17 TD receptions in the 11-game 1942 season has been eclipsed by guys playing longer seasons, including Rice's record 22 in the 16-game 1987 season, but remains the Packers team record.

Championships
Rice was a premier postseason performer, and he won three championships in his career with San Francisco before ending up on the losing end of Super Bowl XXXVII, when he wore an Oakland uniform. Hutson also went 3-1 in NFL title games, winning championships for TitleTown in 1936 (beating the Boston Redskins at the Polo Grounds in New York City), 1939 and 1944. The Packers lost to the Giants in the 1938 championship game.

Career performance
Hutson’s 1942 campaign was probably the greatest season by a receiver in NFL history. In 11 games, Hutson caught 74 passes for 1,211 yards (16.4 YPC) and 17 TDs – numbers that even by today’s pass-happy standards would have put Hutson in the Pro Bowl. Rice, the dominant receiver of our day, played his entire career with the benefit of a 16-game schedule. He surpassed 17 TDs just once and equaled it one other time. Projected over a 16-game schedule, Hutson would have caught 108 passes for 1,761 yards and 25 TDs in 1942.

The year 1942 was for receiving what Babe Ruth’s 1920 season was for home runs. Ruth hit 54 dingers that year, one season after hitting 29. Before Ruth came along, the home run record stood at 16.

Pros and cons
Hutson did it all in an era where the forward pass was still considered risky. Of course, the era argument works both for and against Hutson. You might argue that because the passing game wasn't featured, it was easier for Hutson to lead the league so often. The obvious rejoinder is that Green Bay passed so much because, in Hutson, they had a unique receiving threat.

In the two-way era, he also played defensive back for the Packers. He had 30 interceptions in the seven seasons those stats were kept. He was also a place kicker, though not an exceptional one by the standards of the day. But remember, he was kicking, and Hebner was throwing, a ball which was as close to a rugby ball as it is to today's aerodynamic spiraller. Just ask Bennie Friedman.


We don't doubt that Jerry Rice would have grabbed some picks if the NFL still played both ways. And you can argue that the NFL between 1942-44 wasn't as strong as it would have been had not coaches Eisenhower and MacArthur drafted players away for the big games against the Berlin '39ers and Tokyo Rising Suns. But from 1935-41, that argument doesn't apply.


Comparing eras
A great comparison can be made across the eras as well. In the same sense that Hutson was lucky to have joined the Packers when they were coached by Curly Lambeau – who wasn't philosophically opposed to the forward pass, like most contemporary coaches – he also had capable quarterbacks. He was thrown to by Herber and then by Cecil Isbell, both fine passers for the time, but he also had good results catching balls from Irv Comp. Rice, of course, was a perfect fit for Bill Walsh's offense, and blessed with Joe Montana and Steve Young tossing him the ball. But the 49er West Coast offense flourished without Rice. Green Bay's passing floundered in the years after Hutson.

In 1945, the Packers went 6-4 with Hutson catching 47 passes for 834 yards (17.9 per catch) and 9 TDs (the equivalent of 75 for 1,326 and 15 TDs in a 16-game season). The Packers offense was second in the NFL, scoring 25.8 points per game. The next season, without Hutson, the Pack managed to finish 6-5, but their offensive production was cut virtually in half, falling to just 13.4 PPG.

In Rice's last season in San Francisco, he caught 75 passes for 805 yards (10.5 per catch) and 7 TDs. The 49ers went 6-10. The next year, without Rice, and with no one stepping up as second receiver, they improved to 12-4 as Terrell Owens (93 for 1,412 and 16 TDs) filled both the No. 1 and No. 2 receiving slots.

We don't doubt that Hutson could have competed well into the succeeding decades, even at his 1930s-40s stature: 6-foot-1-inch, 183 pounds. In that sense the receiver he most resembles is a Raymond Berry, but who was also an exceptional deep threat. As much as anything, Hutson was an athlete; he went to Alabama on a baseball scholarship, and was a football walk-on.

The "Alabama Antelope" never made All-America for the Tide. It wasn't until he got into an aerial context that his real skills showed. He was the pioneer: the first guy with the curved stick, the first one shooting the jump shot. No one else in his 11 years was even close to him as a receiver. Jerry Rice was very good for longer than anyone in football history. He was great for a similar time as Hutson, perhaps longer (of course, Hutson had to make a living after football, which was a great career-shortener). But Rice was less dominant at his peak and wasn't the trailblazer the Hutson was. All of which suggests that Rice may rank No. 2 on the all-time list.

[vince]

Video: Don Hutson - All-Time Team (http://vimeo.com/15188480)

[HowardRoark]

Nice.

Not sure how old you are Vince, but was there pressure for a guy like Hutson to go fight in WW II? Didn’t most of the able bodied men go fight during those years?

[Joemailman]

Not sure if this has already been mentioned, but Hutson almost did not become a Packer:

Had it not been for a unique decision by NFL President Joe Carr, Hutson might never have become a landmark pass-catcher. After college, Don signed contracts with both the pass-minded Packers and the NFL’s Brooklyn Dodgers, a team that rarely passed. Carr ruled the contract with the earliest postmark would be honored. The Packers' contract was postmarked 8:30 a.m., 17 minutes earlier than the Dodgers' pact. Thus Hutson became a Packer.

[vince]

Good question Howard. I know a lot of players took years off to fight, Canadeo being the most notable Packer. I think it was voluntary. Different times.

[vince]

Here's an account of one of those old sportswriters, a little light on the romanticism but a good read, about the "great one" - Don Hutson.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Don%20Hutson/1945DonHutsonStory.gif

[vince]

Video: Don Hutson's Incredible 1942 Season (http://vimeo.com/15207571)

[vince]

Cecil Isbell

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Isbell.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/IsbellCecil1_display_image.jpg

Isbell only played five years in the NFL (38-42), but he was voted to the All-Pro team in each of those five years.

Isbell was a very accurate passer and a good runner and he led the Packers in rushing and passing in his rookie year.

It wasn't until Isbell became the team's passer in 1938 that the Packers really began to use timing patterns.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/1940_Hutson_Isbell_wirephoto_front.jpg

Hutson and Isbell worked in the same paper mill for a couple of years during the off-season, and they often spent their lunch hours practicing timing passes in the company parking lot.

The timing pass made him even more dangerous. But other NFL teams didn't adopt the idea, probably because teams simply didn't put in enough practice time in those days to develop timing passes effectively.

He led the NFL in touchdown passes in both ’41 and ’42, his last two seasons.

Isbell, then at the top of his game, retired following the 1942 season returned to West Lafayette, Ind., to become head coach of his alma mater, the Purdue Boilermakers.

Isbell made it clear he wanted to quit while he was still on top of his game and not be pushed out after getting old and slow, as he had seen happen to other players.

Had he continued to play, he would have probably been considered one of the top passers of his day, right alongside Sammy Baugh and Sid Luckman, and a sure-fire hall-of-famer.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/1940s-wrigley-field-01.jpg

[vince]

Buford "Baby" Ray
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/BufordBabyRay.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/ray.jpg

The co-captain of the Vanderbilt University Commodores in 1937, the 6’6” Ray was a giant of a lineman in his time.

Baby Ray was a dominating blocker and defensive tackle for more than a decade as a Packer.

He blocked a punt for a safety against Detroit in 1939 in a game the Packers won 12-7.

He weighed more than 280 pounds in college but dropped 30 pounds in his first season in Green Bay.

Ray played 11 seasons, from 1938-’48.

He was a member of two Packer championship teams.

Ray became a long-time Packer scout after his retirement.

[Freak Out]

Unbelievable stuff Vince.....great thread.

[vince]

Charley Brock

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Brock.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Brock2.jpg

Center and linebacker Charley Brock was a tough two-way performer for the Packer champions of 1939 and 1944.

The Packer’s number two choice in 1939, the 6’1”, 210-pound Brock was an outstanding pass defender as a linebacker.

He intercepted 20 passes as a Packer including two in the 1939 championship victory over the New York Giants.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/BrockonDefense.jpg

In an era of tough competition at center, the former University of Nebraska Cornhusker was named All Pro center in 1945 over future Pro Football Hall of Famers Mel Hein of the New York Giants (who was recently honored as a Top 100 all-time player) and Bulldog Turner of the Bears.

Brock was voted to the all-time Packer team at Center in 1949.

Brock became an assistant coach at St. Norbert College, De Pere, Wis., and Omaha University before becoming a Packer assistant coach in 1949.

[vince]

Ted Fritsch

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Fritch.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/FritchGB.jpg

Ted Fritsch came to the Packers in 1942 recommended by his Stevens Point State College coach, former Packer Ed Kotal.

The 5’10”, 205-pound Fritsch was a bruising fullback who ran over defenders rather than eluding them.

The athletic Fritsch also played with the Oshkosh All Stars of the National Basketball League and with the Triple A Toledo Mud Hens baseball team.

Fritsch scored both Packer touchdowns in the 14-7 1944 NFL championship victory over New York, one rushing and one receiving.

Video: Ted Fritsch scores both Packer TD’s in 1944 Championship over the Giants
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEj6NdplLK8

Fritsch led the NFL in scoring with 100 points in 1946.

Fritsch scored 380 points and rushed for 2,200 yards during his Packer career, from 1942-’50.

Fritsch was also a great tackler and a able defender on defense.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/FritschDefender.jpg

Fritsch was voted to the 1st team All-NFL in 1945 and 1946.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/FritschInterception.jpg

After retiring, Fritsch was a teacher, coach and athletic director at Premontre High School in Green Bay.[/u]

[mraynrand]

Howie Ferguson
Fullback— Green Bay Packers 1953-58, Los Angeles Chargers 1960 [All-Pro (NEA) 1955]

He only played a couple of years, but I'll bet you every guy who ever tried to bring him down remembers each and every tackle.
Art Donovan

http://morevintagefootballautographs.webs.com/fergusonhowiephoto.jpg

Howie Ferguson earned his pro football career the hard way – first in the Los Angeles Rams’ training camp, then in 1953 with the Packers.

Ferguson, who never played college football, was a hard-nosed runner who signed with the Packers as a free agent in 1953. The 6’2”, 210-pound Ferguson gained 2,120 yards rushing and 1,079 yards receiving as a Packer between 1953 and ‘58.

Ferguson was named to the 1956 Pro Bowl. Multiple injuries forced him to retire during the 1959 training camp.

http://morevintagefootballautographs.webs.com/fergusonp.jpg

[vince]

Thanks for that Ayn. The 50's are a relative black hole as far as Packer legends (and Packer wins) go. A bunch of 60's legends started then, but they didn't do much until Lombardi came along and whipped 'em into shape.

[vince]

Tony Canadeo

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/canadeo.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/CanadeoGB.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Canadeo_Tony_Action_180-220.jpg

Tony Canadeo from little-known Gonzaga University was an unsung ninth-round choice of the Green Bay Packers in 1941 but it wasn't long before he earned the reputation of being a budding superstar who could – and would – do anything on a football field.

Because he was prematurely gray, he was popularly known as "The Gray Ghost of Gonzaga."

He played offense and defense, ran with the ball, threw passes, caught passes, returned punts and kickoffs, punted and intercepted passes.

In 11 years, he rushed for 4,197 yards, passed for 1,642 yards, recorded 69 receptions for 579 yards, gained 513 yards on punt returns, 1,736 on kickoff returns, and scored 186 points.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Canadeo_F.jpg

Canadeo was a tough, hard-nosed runner, with his career year occurring in 1949 as he ran for 1,052 yards and four touchdowns.

His 1,000 yard season was the first by a Packer (and only the third ever in the history of the league at that point).

He is one of only five players to have had his number retired by the team and he is a 1974 inductee of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

He led the Packers in rushing in 1943, ‘46 and ‘49.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/tonycanadeo1.jpg

Canadeo had a split career in Green Bay, which was separated by his service in the Army during World War II in 1945.

A former teammate once summed up Canadeo’s career this way: “He wasn’t fast. He wasn’t big. He wasn’t elusive like a lot of runners. He wasn’t really powerful. But when Tony put that ball under his arm, he was a wild man.”

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/CanadeoStraightArm.jpg

Altogether the versatile Canadeo gained 8,667 multi-purpose yards.

He also intercepted 9 passes and punted 45 times during his remarkable career.

Green Bay from 1941 through 1944 was one of the NFL's premier teams. During that period, Tony was a complementary player in the backfield, playing second fiddle to players such as Don Hutson, Ted Fritsch and Cecil Isbell.

While Hutson was charismatic and graceful, Canadeo was tough and gritty on the football field. Hutson had all the natural talent, while Canadeo had tons of heart.

He initially served as an understudy to veteran quarterback Cecil lsbell.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/tonycanadeo.jpg

Then in 1943, he became the Packers' No. 1 passer. That year he was also named to the official All-NFL team.

When he returned from the Army in 1946, the Packers no longer were contenders and Canadeo’s role was significantly different.

For his final seven seasons in the league, Tony became a heavy-duty running back and, predictably, came through with flying colors.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/CanadeoGB.jpg

Tony employed the attributes of most great athletes – determination, courage and tenacity – to attain Hall of Fame stature.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/tonycanadeo2.jpg

He was probably one of the best all-around players in Packer history," longtime Packers spokesman Lee Remmel said. "He could do just about anything. He was a good runner, a good blocker, a good returner and a good receiver. He was one of the toughest players the Packers have ever had, an extremely hard-nosed player."

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/CanadeoSweep.jpg

"I would say he would be classified as an icon among all those who were part of the Packers," said Robert Parins, the team's president from 1982 to 1989. "I think his contribution to the Packers really was with people away from Green Bay. He had great name recognition wherever he went."

"He was one of the greatest we had," said Tom Miller, a teammate of Canadeo's in 1946 and one of his best friends. Everyone in the league knows him and how good he was. He could not only carry the ball and field punts, but he could catch passes. He was a good receiver and a good guy. He was liked by everybody. He didn't have an enemy in the world. He was one of the best-liked guys in Green Bay and a hell of a football player."

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/canadeo1.jpg

After his retirement, Canadeo worked as a broadcaster with Ray Scott, doing color commentary on Packers games.

On March 7, 1955, he became a member of the team's board of directors.

On April 28, 1958, he was elected to the executive committee.

On May 3, 1982, he was named a vice president.

It was shortly after he became a member of the executive committee that he was involved in the hiring of Lombardi, a little-known assistant coach from the New York Giants.

After Lombardi joined the team in 1959, Canadeo struck up a friendship with the dictatorial head coach. The two shared Italian heritage and Catholic religion in a town very different from where both grew up. "They were very, very close friends," Parins said. "Even after Vince left, their families remained close. Tony spent a lot of time with him after games."

Canadeo remained behind the scenes during his years on the executive committee, but often he was front and center during league meetings. He was so well-known around the NFL that he helped give the Packers an identity when he and Parins traveled to NFL functions.

Though not a native of Green Bay, Canadeo embraced it like his hometown and the Packers like his family. He attended games until his health began to fail and remained a director emeritus with the Packers until his death.

"He was quite close to the organization all of the time," Parins said. "He loved the organization. He loved the Packers. He died when they lost and rejoiced when they won."

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Canadeo_Tony_Induction_180-220.jpg

[vince]

This one's for Howard.

Charles "Buckets" Goldenberg

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/goldenberg.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/CharlesGoldenberg.jpg

Milwaukee’s Charles Goldenberg inherited his nickname “Buckets” from his brother Dave, a high school lineman with an unusual stance.

Goldenberg was born in Odessa, Ukraine.

A star Wisconsin Badger fullback, the 5’10”, 225-pound Goldenberg signed with the Packers over the Cardinals and Giants in 1933.

A fullback his first two years as a Packer, Goldenberg was converted to guard on the recommendation of Mike Michalske.

He played in the ‘36, ‘38, ‘39 and ‘44 NFL championship games. The Packers won all of those except the ’38 title game.

Goldenberg was voted to the All-time Packer team as a Guard in 1949.

One of the greatest linemen of his era, Goldenberg was a member of the Green Bay Packers for 13 seasons.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/BucketsPulling.jpg

A three-time All-Pro at guard, he was selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame's All-1930s Team.

Buckets, who also played linebacker, is apparently responsible for one of football's most effective offensive plays -- the draw play.

"I could always tell when (Bears quarterback Sid) Luckman was going to pass as he would drop his left foot back,” said Goldenberg. “When I saw this, I would yell to the other guard to cover my hole and I would take off after Sid and usually nail him. Eventually Bulldog (Turner, Bears running back) realized what I was doing and suggested Sid hand off to (fullback Bill) Osmansky rather than pass. Sure enough, he did and Bill goes roaring through the hole I left for a big gain. Thus the draw play was born."

In 1936, the Packers (10-1-1) returned to glory, winning the NFL Championship, and Buckets shifted to guard.

He said: "The reason I played guard starting in '36 was the team was short on guards...I have always said a guard is just a fullback getting his brains knocked out."

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Buckets.jpg

Buckets retired following the 1945 season, having played 120 career NFL games; his thirteen seasons was second most in league history at the time of his retirement.

Goldenberg is a member of the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame and the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

After his career ended, Buckets was elected to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame (1973), and was named to the Hall of Fame's All-1930s Team.

After playing, he owned a successful Milwaukee restaurant and served for many years on the Packer Board of Directors.

[vince]

Bob Forte

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/forte.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/forte1.jpg


Like many players in his day, Forte was a multi-purpose threat for the Pack.

At various times, he played quarterback, running back and wide receiver on offense.

Defense was where he really excelled as a cornerback.

Blessed with excellent size for his era (6-feet, 199 pounds), Forte totaled 22 interceptions in his time with the team.

Forte led the Packers with eight interceptions in 1947.

Forte was a Packer from 1946-’50 and from ‘52-’53.

His career was interrupted by Korean War service in 1951.

Forte was elected to the Green Bay Packer Hall of Fame in 1973.

[TennesseePackerBacker]

I haven't read through the thread yet, but wanted to post this anyway.

Thank god this is not another Brent Favre thread. I was weary about the thread title.

[gbgary]

very cool! thanks vince.

[HowardRoark]

Chuck Cecil (get out your checkbook)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuxiDf50Q54&feature=player_embedded

http://assets.espn.go.com/photo/2009/0507/nfl_g_cecil2_576.jpg

[vince]

Lee Remmel

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/remmel.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/TitletownsTeam9-LeeRemmelwmv_000105175.jpg

Lee Remmel worked 62 years with the Green Bay Packers as a sportswriter and later a team employee, and is recognized as the foremost authority on not only Packer history, but the history of the entire NFL.

On October 7, 1945, Remmel started covering the Green Bay Packers as a sportswriter for the Green Bay Press Gazette.

He was the only sportswriter who had covered all of the Packers coaches from the team's first coach Curly Lambeau to Mike McCarthy.

Former Packers quarterback Brett Favre described Remmel, "He’s a Packers icon. There will never be another like him. His knowledge of the team and its history has always been impressive. He is sharp as a tack when it came to those things – truly impressive."

Remmel was named Wisconsin's Sports Writer of the year in 1967.

Remmel was inducted in the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame on March 30, 1996.

To honor his induction into the Packers Hall of Fame, the team built a new press box in August 2003, and they named it "The Lee Remmel Press Box".

Each April, the "Lee Remmel Sports Awards Banquet" honors high school to professional athletes. The banquet has raised over $150,000 for Green Bay area colleges and high schools.

Remmel joined the Packers front office in 1974 as director of public relations.

He continued to head the Packers PR department until Bob Harlan named him team historian in 2004.

Remmel possesses what the New York Times has described as probably the longest living memory of the N.F.L.

“I’d have to think for a heck of a long time to find someone like Lee who was a part of the old N.F.L. guard who is still around today,” said Gil Brandt, the former Cowboys personnel chief, who now analyzes the league for NFL.com. “In fact, it’s almost impossible to find someone who goes back to the early days as long a ways as Lee goes.”

"Lee has been a great ambassador for the Green Bay Packers for many years," Packers Chairman Bob Harlan said. "He is a class individual who has served this organization with the utmost professionalism and respect. Many people involved in this game and around the NFL have such great respect for him. His relationships with people are what have served him so well -- with the media, with the fans, everyone. He is the consummate professional."

"He must have told me a story about Art Rooney and the Steelers about 20 times just in the first year I was here," Packer Head Coach Mike McCarthy said. "People like Lee are so special because they have lived through so many decades and generations of this sport, especially with the history of the Green Bay Packers. He is someone special to this organization."

[HowardRoark]

I was going to put up a post on him a couple weeks ago, but couldn't (ironically) find many pictures of him.

RIP Vern

http://packerrats.com/ratchat/viewtopic.php?t=21417

[woodbuck27]

" Packer Legends in Facts "

Your Most Accurate Source of Stats, Rosters, Team History and All
Team Photos of the Green Bay Packers 1919-1994 : 1995-75th

This is the number #1 Sports edition in Wisconsin over the past 4 years.

To accumulate all the team pictures(1919-1994) and action photos starting with the 1935 season was an ambition project.

It is an impressive volume of history with 416 pages and over 280 photos which includes all team photos & over 200 action photos.

OTHERS:

" Mudbaths and Bloodbaths "

The Inside Story of the Great Packers-Bears Rivalry

ONE OF THE BEST FOOTBALL STORY BOOKS EVER !

GREAT STORIES, YOU CAN START READING THIS BOOK AT THE BEGINING, MIDDLE, OR END IT MAKES YOU FEEL PART OF FOOTBALL HISTORY OF ONE OF THE GREATEST RIVALS IN ALL OF SPORTS.

http://www.pacfan.com/book11.gif

" THE ICE BOWL "

In 1966, the Green Bay Packers beat the Dallas Cowboys for the NFL championship. The teams' intense rivalry in the following 1967 season would culminate in one of the most classic football games of all time--the Ice Bowl. Now one of the most irreverent sportswriter in the business brings the final game of the '67 season to life, vividly profiling the players' distinctive personalities on and off the field.

http://www.pacfan.com/book0.gif

"WHEN PRIDE STILL MATTERED"

Is an in-depth biography of Vince Lombardi.

In the biography, Maraniss traces Lombardi's rise, examines the myths and legends surrounding his life, and separates the human being from the symbolic character created by his success. Based on hundreds of interviews,

supplemented by personal letters, documents, and other archival material, WHEN PRIDE STILL MATTERED covers:

* The fallacy of the "innocent past" that surfaced throughout Lombardi's football career. * Lombardi's obsession with winning and how it affected his wife and family. * The powerful trinity of religion, military, and sport that shaped Lombardi's life. * Lombardi's connection to the mythmakers of American sports, from Grantland Rice to Howard Cosell, and the evolution of the Lombardi mythology. *Lombardi's unlikely triumph in Green Bay and his emergence as a national icon. * Lombardi's search for a deeper meaning in football and how he transformed his sport into a metaphor for the American experience.

http://www.pacfan.com/pvr.jpg

"Cold Wars"

40 Years of Packer-Viking Rivalry

1. Midwest Book Review: "Cold Wars: 40 Years of Packer-Viking Rivalry

by football enthusiast Todd Mishler...

Is an informative review of every game that these cherished Green Bay Packer and Minnesota Viking football teams have played since 1960. Filled cover to cover with anecdotes, insights and cheers from players, coaches, sports writers and fans, Cold Wars is enthusiastically recommended as an engaging history perfect for Wisconsin and Minnesota football buffs and could well serve as a template for writing books about other historic football rivalries!"

2. Tom Oates, sports columnist, Wisconsin State Journal: "Author Todd Mishler somehow manages to present both sides of a rivalry that in the 1990s turned into one of the NFL's best.

It may be hard for Packer fans to hate the Vikings as much as they hate the Bears, but that shouldn't stop them from loving this book."

3. Bob Lurtsema, 12-year NFL veteran and publisher of Vikings Update magazine:

"Reading Cold Wars was the greatest walk down memory lane I have ever encountered. ... I still hate the Cheeseheads, but they know I love them."

This rivalry will never die.

http://www.pacfan.com/book9.gif

" LOMBARDI "

A commemorative edition of the biography of the man whose legacy inspired the 1997 Super Bowl champions, Lombardi profiles the complex and unique individual who is thought by many to be the greatest football coach of all time. 135 photos

GO PACKERS!

[vince]

Indian Jack Jacobs

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/275px-Jack_jacobs.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Jacobs.jpg

Fred “Indian Jack” Jacobs was one of the most gifted athletes in Packers history.

He was born in Oklahoma in 1919, appropriately the year the Packers were founded.

It is unlikely that he will ever be enshrined in the Packers Hall of Fame, in part because he spent only three seasons in Green and Gold (1947-49) with the last two presiding over a 3-9-0 record in '48 and an even more disastrous 2-10-0 reading in '49, which might best be forgotten.

Indian Jack came upon the Green Bay scene in 1947, at a historic time in Packers annals - when Curly Lambeau was reluctantly abandoning his treasured "Notre Dame Box" attack for the "modern" T-formation, which put the quarterback directly under the center to take the snap.

Lambeau, accustomed to seeing his troops find the end zone with frequency over his long coaching career, was in search of more offensive punch after seeing the Packers score just 148 points in 11 games in 1946 - a paltry average of 13.4 points per game. He accordingly acquired Jacobs from the Washington Redskins in exchange for halfback Bob Nussbaumer.

Consequently, the signing of Jacobs as the quarterback of the new offense was heralded throughout Packerland and anticipation was high, particularly because the defending world champion Chicago Bears would be rolling into Green Bay for the season opener (Sept. 28, 1947) to present the Packers with an early and major challenge.

But Jacobs alone was more than equal to the task. He proceeded to forge what became a highly impressive - if essentially one-game - legacy with a virtuosic performance that has to rank among the most versatile in the history of the game.

In fact, it is hard to imagine that Indian Jack could have done any more while wheeling about old City Stadium that long distant afternoon, escorting the Packers to a 29-20 upset of the favored Bears.

In his first game as a Packer against the vaunted Bears Jacobs:
* Threw for two touchdowns.

* Scored on a 1-yard run, following a 17-yard rush that positioned the Packers for the score.

* Made two interceptions. (He actually picked off three Sid Luckman passes but the first one nullified by an interference penalty.)

* Punted four times, with a long of 59 yards. (He went on to finish the season as the NFL's best punter in '47.)

* He played the full 60 minutes - every play on both offense and defense.

After leaving the Packers and the NFL, Jack played with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Footballl League, leading them to Grey Cup berths in 1950 and 1953.

He also was named the CFL's Most Valuable Player in '53.

The old stadium the Bombers currently play in was named "The House that Jack built" after the Jacobs.

He later served as an assistant coach at London, Ontario, and as an assistant at Montreal, Hamilton and Edmonton.

[HowardRoark]

Good question Howard. I know a lot of players took years off to fight, Canadeo being the most notable Packer. I think it was voluntary. Different times.


http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/top10_packers/paul_hornung.jpg

Paul Hornung was one of the Green Bay Packers' all-time greats, a player who started out as a quarterback but was versatile enough to play lead blocker, receiver and kicker. He was so vital to the Pack that the team needed a little help from President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to allow him to play in the NFL championship game. Hornung had been called up to the Army that year. But before the game, coach Vince Lombardi rang JFK to see if he could be granted leave for the title game against the New York Giants. "Paul Hornung isn't going to win the war on Sunday," President Kennedy said at the time, "but the football fans of this country deserve the two best teams on the field that day." It paid off — the Pack won 37-0, and Hornung scored 19 points, an NFL title game record.

[KYPack]

There's a sidebar to the Paul Hornung needing leave to play in the '61 championship game. A captain the the base in Ft Riley KS decided to screw Horn over and not allow him the leave to get off for the big game. Paul called Vince with the bad news. Lombardi told him to hold his horses and called JFK. Imagine the look on the face of that captain when he figured out Hornung had juice with the President of the United States.

Lombardi had JFK's personal number in his address book and just made the call. That's influence, now.

[gbgary]

sticky this thread!

[Upnorth]

Now that is some good reading! Well done to all contributors and nice bump mr roak

[HowardRoark]

Harlan made me learn something new tonight.

Tobin Rote....I had never even heard those two words put together ever before.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cc/Tobin_Rote_-_1952_Bowman_Large.jpg/220px-Tobin_Rote_-_1952_Bowman_Large.jpg

Career in Green Bay

The Green Bay Packers selected Rote in the second round (17th overall) of the 1950 NFL Draft. He would spend a total of seven seasons in Wisconsin, leading the hapless Packers' offense while the defense annually ranked among the league's worst. Besides his passing duties, Rote led the Packers in rushing yards three times and rushing touchdowns five times. During the span of his Green Bay career, Rote ranked 3rd in the NFL in passing touchdowns, trailing only Bobby Layne and Norm Van Brocklin. He also ranked 1st in the league in rushing yards by a quarterback and 2nd in touchdowns.

1956 Season

Rote's 1956 season ranks among the greatest in NFL history. On a 4–8 team, he led the league in passing yards (by 294), passing touchdowns (his 18 being six more than Ted Marchibroda's 12). In addition, his 11 rushing touchdowns were second in the league behind only those of Chicago's Rick Casares. His 29 total touchdowns were the highest single-season total in NFL history to date and the highest total in the era of the twelve-game schedule. The entire Packers' offense outside of Rote accounted for just 5 touchdowns.
Among quarterbacks, he led the league in pass completions, pass attempts, passing yards, passing touchdowns, rushing attempts, rushing yards, and rushing touchdowns.

[Fritz]

I believe he ended up with the Lions in the 60's. Might've been their fourth best QB ever.

[pbmax]

Good timing on all-time QBs discussion. Rodgers, Favre, Isabell and Curly Lambeau all make appearances in this article trying to determine greatest QB in his era. Just ignore the bit about Stafford, dig in for four Packer references.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/skeptical-football-matthew-stafford-is-gunning-for-peyton-mannings-throne/

[Pugger]

Ted Fritsch

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/Fritch.jpghttp://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/FritchGB.jpg

Ted Fritsch came to the Packers in 1942 recommended by his Stevens Point State College coach, former Packer Ed Kotal.

The 5’10”, 205-pound Fritsch was a bruising fullback who ran over defenders rather than eluding them.

The athletic Fritsch also played with the Oshkosh All Stars of the National Basketball League and with the Triple A Toledo Mud Hens baseball team.

Fritsch scored both Packer touchdowns in the 14-7 1944 NFL championship victory over New York, one rushing and one receiving.

Video: Ted Fritsch scores both Packer TD’s in 1944 Championship over the Giants
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEj6NdplLK8

Fritsch led the NFL in scoring with 100 points in 1946.

Fritsch scored 380 points and rushed for 2,200 yards during his Packer career, from 1942-’50.

Fritsch was also a great tackler and a able defender on defense.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/FritschDefender.jpg

Fritsch was voted to the 1st team All-NFL in 1945 and 1946.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/twernke/Packers/FritschInterception.jpg

After retiring, Fritsch was a teacher, coach and athletic director at Premontre High School in Green Bay.[/u]

The football field at Premontre - now Notre Dame Academy - is now called Ted Fritsch Field.

[Harlan Huckleby]

Besides his passing duties, Rote led the Packers in rushing yards three times and rushing touchdowns five times. During the span of his Green Bay career, Rote ranked 3rd in the NFL in passing touchdowns, trailing only Bobby Layne and Norm Van Brocklin. He also ranked 1st in the league in rushing yards by a quarterback and 2nd in touchdowns.

1956 Season .... His 29 total touchdowns were the highest single-season total in NFL history to date and the highest total in the era of the twelve-game schedule. The entire Packers' offense outside of Rote accounted for just 5 touchdowns.
Among quarterbacks, he led the league in pass completions, pass attempts, passing yards, passing touchdowns, rushing attempts, rushing yards, and rushing touchdowns.


Tobin Rote and Don Majkowski were similar types. They were good runners, good passers and gave hope to the Packer faithful in lean times.

It sounds like Maxie's comment here is right. But Tobin Rote is much more accomplished than Majkowski. Majkowski was Charlie Whitehurst with a mullet. That's too harsh, Majkowski was pretty good, but just pretty good. Rookie season Russell Wilson? Too generous.

[KYPack]

I believe he ended up with the Lions in the 60's. Might've been their fourth best QB ever.

Tobin Rote is the unknown superstar.

Lead the Lions to the '57 blowout of the Browns to win the championship.

After the Lions wouldn't pay him, he went to the CFL.

He set records with Toronto that still stand.

Sid Gillman snapped him up in '63 to QB the SD Chargers. He won the AFL championship to SD in '63. That was a legendary team, one that is still talked about.

Only QB to win an NFL championship and the AFL crown.

Rote could play in today's NFL, a great runner with a live throwing arm.

He probably should go in the HOF, but he'll never make it.

[Maxie the Taxi]

It sounds like Maxie's comment here is right. But Tobin Rote is much more accomplished than Majkowski. Majkowski was Charlie Whitehurst with a mullet. That's too harsh, Majkowski was pretty good, but just pretty good. Rookie season Russell Wilson? Too generous.

I remember watching Majkowski, but when I went back and checked the facts this is what impressed me:

Nicknamed The Majik Man, Majkowski broke out during the 1989 Green Bay Packers season (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Green_Bay_Packers_season). He was given the starting job and Randy Wright was released. Majkowski had one of the finest seasons in Packers history. He completed 353 passes in 599 attempts. His 4,318 passing yards led the NFL. He also threw for 27 touchdowns. Notably, the Packers won their first game against the hated rival Chicago Bears (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Bears) since 1984. The key was a touchdown play, first nullified by an illegal forward pass by Majkowski, then upheld by instant replay (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_replay) as a legal pass. The season ended with 10 wins and 6 losses; Majkowski capped the season with his being selected to the Pro Bowl (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro_Bowl).

Not to shabby. Tobin Rote had more longevity, but Magic Man had the tools...Too bad the injury bug bit him.

[Harlan Huckleby]

I heard interview with Majik a few years ago. Guy has terrible health,chronic pain with back and legs. I remember he said he is not able to play golf.

I do remember he had that great season that sent Scott Tolzien, I mean Randy Wright, to the broadcast booth. But what a flash in the pan.

[HowardRoark]

Very, very good article about Bart and his current situation.

Sorry if it’s already been mentioned in other threads, but I noticed Bart never got much attention in here (that he should have). I had no idea his condition was this tough…….similar to my own dad who is about the same age (and was also at the Ice Bowl).

The Favre Retirement game will be very emotional with him there.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/13498818/green-bay-packers-bart-starr-honor-brett-favre-one-last-great-drive-lambeau


https://www.morrisonhotelgallery.com/images/medium/ArtShay-MHG-LombardiStarr.jpg


http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/6ff44be9ee6b159ba9089933279677cef4e3a2c4/c=122-0-1600-1110&r=x513&c=680x510/local/-/media/WIGroup/PackersNews/2014/09/05/1409946246047-19690900-.jpg


http://sports.mearsonlineauctions.com/ItemImages/000018/a9e07279-78c8-426d-a170-6da95f5536de_lg.jpeg

[pbmax]

It got some run and comments earlier this summer Howard.

http://packerrats.com/showthread.php?28047-Bart-Starr-Article&p=843105&viewfull=1#post843105