Team History: Publicly owned Packers defy small-town roots to win 13 championships
Team History: Publicly owned Packers defy small-town roots to win 13 championships
The Green Bay Packers hold the distinction of being the longest publicly owned franchise in United States professional sports history, having started operations in August 1919.
The franchise was co-founded by Earl “Curly” Lambeau, a former Notre Dame player under Knute Rockne who worked as a shipping clerk at the Indian Packing Company. Joining Lambeau was George Whitney Calhoun, a telegraph editor, and sportswriter with the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Lambeau’s company, which specialized in canning meats, gave the team $500 for uniforms.
While Lambeau wanted to use the “Indian” part of the company name for the team nickname, “Packers” was used instead. The name stuck after the Indian Packing Company was absorbed into the Illinois-based Acme Packing Company under the ownership of the Clair brothers in 1921.
The Packers played against semi-pro teams in Wisconsin and Michigan for its first two years before joining the American Pro Football Association for its second season. The Packers were thrown out of the NFL when someone (which turned out to be Bears owner and coach George Halas) alerted the league to Green Bay’s use of college players in a game. Lambeau had to pay the league a $50 fee to be reinstated and the teams have been rivals ever since.
With the Packers in need of cash to continue operations, Lambeau formed the “Hungry Five,” which also included newspaper company owner Andrew Turnbull, attorney Gerald Francis Clifford (who later became Attorney General of Wisconsin), Dr. W. Webber Kelly (the team doctor from 1921-43), and Lee Joannes, a wholesale grocery store owner.
Lambeau was the team’s first coach at the professional level, a position he held for nearly 30 years. The club played its first two seasons at Hagemeister Park, which was simply a field roped off from the spectators during play. At halftime, the teams would talk strategy in the end zones while the fans encircled the players and joined in the discussion. The Packers played at Belleview Stadium in 1923-24 until new City Stadium was ready.
Green Bay’s newest field was behind the city’s East High School and did not include bathroom facilities, so teams had to prepare in the school’s locker room. The Packers’ play on the field improved throughout the 1920s, culminating in a 12-0-1 record and the team’s first championship in 1929. The star that season was Verne Lewellen, who totaled 12 touchdowns (six rushing, four passing, one receiving and one interception).
Lewellen added 12 more scores the following year, and Herdis McCrary had six as the Packers went 10-3-1 and edged out the 13-4 Giants for their second straight title. Green Bay had a 12-2 record and took home their third straight crown in 1931, beating out the NFL’s only other publicly owned franchise, the Portsmouth Spartans (which would soon move and become the Detroit Lions), by a game. “The Vagabond” Johnny Blood scored 14 touchdowns, including 11 receiving. The Packers went 10-3-1 in 1932, but were beaten out by the Bears (7-1-6) for a fourth championship in a row.
The NFL instituted a championship game for the 1933 season, but the Packers did not reach the contest until 1936. Led by league passing leader Arnie Herber and young star receiver Don Hutson, Green Bay went 10-1-1 and won a fourth title by a 21-6 score over the Boston Redskins in the last game before the team moved to Washington, D.C.
In 1938, the 8-3 Packers returned to the title game against the Giants. Herber threw a touchdown pass and Clarke Hinkle ran for a score, but Green Bay lost 23-17. The next year, the Packers returned the favor, defeating New York, 27-0, for their fifth title.
The Bears and Packers each finished with 10-1 records in the 1941 season, but Chicago won the Division game, 33-14. Three years later, Green Bay (8-2) faced off against the Giants, who now featured Herber at quarterback. Ted Fritsch had touchdowns rushing and receiving in a 14-7 Packers win for Lambeau’s sixth championship.
As the 1940s neared an end, so did the coach’s time with the franchise. Lambeau spent $40,000 buying and renovating the Rockwood Lodge to be used as the team’s training facility. The board of directors worried about the money and the distance from Green Bay (17 miles). The players also hated the lodge because its field was built over limestone, which punished their bodies during drills.
The financial strain from the purchase put the team on the brink of bankruptcy. Lambeau found investors who could save the franchise at the expense of the public ownership. The board of directors countered with a contract that wiped out most of Lambeau’s control other than coaching. Both offers were rejected, but the team was saved by the insurance money after the lodge burned down (a mystery that has never been solved).
Lambeau left to coach the Redskins, while the Packers stayed at the bottom of the league standings until Vince Lombardi took over as head coach and general manager in 1959. Lombardi had been the offensive coordinator in New York and helped lead the Giants to the NFL Championship in 1956.
Lombardi took over a team that went 1-10-1 in 1958 and turned them into a force. The Packers improved to 7-5 in his first season, then appeared in six championship games over the next eight years. Green Bay featured stars on offense including quarterback Bart Starr, running backs Paul Hornung and Jim Taylor and receivers Max McGee and Boyd Dowler. The Packers won the Western Division with an 8-4 record in 1960, but fell to the Eagles, 17-13, in the NFL Championship Game.
Hornung was named league Most Valuable Player the following year, and Taylor ran for 1,307 yards and 15 touchdowns as Green Bay went 11-3. The Packers defeated the Giants, 37-0, for their seventh title and first in 17 seasons.
Taylor was MVP in 1962, running for league-highs with 1,474 yards and 19 scores, as the Packers went 13-1 and defeated the Giants once again for the championship. Taylor ran for two scores and Jerry Kramer kicked three field goals in the 16-7 victory.
Green Bay went 11-2-1 the next season, but Chicago won the West at 11-1-2. After a “down” year of 8-5-1, the club jumped back into the title picture in 1965. The Packers and the Baltimore Colts each finished with 10-3-1 records, and the teams played a tight Division playoff game. Don Chandler kicked a late field goal to tie the score and a 25-yarder in overtime to give Green Bay a 13-10 win. Green Bay defeated the Cleveland Browns, 23-12, to win their ninth NFL title.
The AFL-NFL merger announcement in 1966 created more competition. Although the leagues wouldn’t officially combine until 1970, there would be a contest between the two champions called the AFL-NFL World Championship.
After going 12-2 and dispatching the Cowboys for the NFL title, the Packers faced off against the AFL Champion Kansas City Chiefs. Starr threw for 250 yards and two touchdown passes to McGee, and the Packers won the first installment of what would become the Super Bowl, 35-10. Starr was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.
Green Bay went 9-4-1 and won the NFL Central in 1967. The Packers defeated the Rams, 28-7, in the Division round, then faced the Cowboys again on the “frozen tundra” of Lambeau Field. The minus-13 temperature and minus-23 wind chill gave the game its “Ice Bowl” moniker. Starr threw two touchdowns to Boyd Dowler, but it was his sneak with 13 seconds left that gave the Packers a 21-17 victory.
In Super Bowl II, Starr threw for 202 yards and a score to win his second straight game MVP award, and the Packers defeated the Oakland Raiders, 33-14, for their 11th title. The team carried Lombardi off the field on their shoulders, but the coach stepped down several weeks later. He spent one more year as Green Bay’s general manager before leaving to become coach and GM of the Redskins.
After the Super Bowl II victory, the Packers had six winning records and made the playoffs just twice over the next 25 seasons. Starr tried his hand at coaching and the team reached the postseason once in nine years. Green Bay finally started to recover in the early 1990s under the guidance of former 49ers offensive coordinator Mike Holmgren.
The Packers went 9-7 in each of Holmgren’s first three seasons, missing the playoffs in 1992 and bowing out in the Division round in the next two years. In 1995, Green Bay jumped to 11-5 and won the Central before defeating Atlanta and San Francisco to reach its first NFC Championship Game since the AFL-NFL merger.
A familiar foe awaited the Packers in the Dallas Cowboys. The “Triplets” were the stars, with Troy Aikman throwing two touchdown passes to Michael Irvin, and Emmitt Smith ran for 150 yards and three scores in Dallas’ 38-27 victory.
Green Bay improved to 13-3 in 1996 then knocked off the 49ers in the Division round and the second-year Carolina Panthers in the NFC Championship Game to reach its first Super Bowl in 29 years.
Brett Favre threw for 246 yards and two touchdowns in the 35-21 win over Drew Bledsoe and the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI. The MVP was Desmond Howard, who totaled 90 punt return yards and 154 on kickoffs, including a 99-yarder that produced the game’s final points.
Green Bay’s record was the same the following year, and so was the run through the NFC playoffs. The Packers took down the Buccaneers and beat the 49ers on the road to reach their second straight Super Bowl.
Favre threw three touchdowns, but game MVP Terrell Davis ran for 157 yards and three scores, including the game-winner with 1:47 left. The Broncos won their first NFL Championship with a 31-24 victory. Despite taking the Packers to the playoffs for six straight years, Holmgren resigned after the team lost in the Wild Card game in 1998.
After one failed year under Ray Rhodes, Green Bay turned to Mike Sherman, a longtime position coach in college who spent the previous year as Seattle’s offensive coordinator. The team went to the playoffs in four of Sherman’s six years, but never made it past the Division round, and he was fired after a 4-12 season in 2005.
Replacing Sherman was former Saints and 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McCarthy, who took the club to the playoffs in nine of 12 full seasons, including eight straight from 2009-16. The Packers went 13-3 in 2007 and reached the NFC Championship Game. In similar conditions to the “Ice Bowl,” Lawrence Tynes kicked a 47-yard field goal to give the Giants a 23-20 overtime victory.
A 10-6 record in 2010 was only good enough for a Wild Card spot, but Green Bay won road playoff games over the Eagles, Falcons, and Bears. In Super Bowl XLV, game MVP Aaron Rodgers threw for 304 yards and three scores in a 31-25 win over the Steelers for the team’s 13th championship.
The following year, the Packers went a franchise-best 15-1, but lost, 37-20, to the Giants, who went on to win the Super Bowl. Green Bay reached the NFC Championship Game twice more, losing to the Seahawks in 2014 and the Falcons in 2016. McCarthy was fired during the 2018 season, and bringing the team back to prominence is now the job of Matt LaFleur, who spent the past two years as offensive coordinator of the Rams and Titans.
A (hopefully) healthy Rogers has some weapons in running back Aaron Jones, receiver Davante Adams and former All-Pro tight end Jimmy Graham. On defense, additions Preston and Za’Darius Smith join Blake Martinez and Kyler Fackrell to form a solid linebacking corps. Defensive end Rashan Gary, a first-round selection, will team with tackle Kenny Clark. Jaire Alexander and Tramon Williams are the starting cornerbacks.
-By: Kevin Rakas