The the origins of the Green Bay Packers are believed to date back to 1895 when the Green Bay Town team, an aggregation of local atheletes, played town teams from communities surrounding Green Bay, losing to all of them. During each game, the team manager passed the hat among the spectators, asking for donations for the players, and after the game, the two teams divied up the take. Thus, these teams were among the first "professional" football teams in the United States.
 
    While these origins of the Green Bay Packers are interesting, it's generally regarded that the great saga of this club began in August 1919, when the Indian Packing Company agreed to sponsor a local pro football team under the direction of Earl (Curly) Lambeau.

    As noted by Larry D Names "The truth of all this is the Green Bay Packers are legendary, and like all legends, their beginnings must be clouded in mystery and intrigue. If they weren't, the Packers would be the Tampa Bay Buccaneers." 

    The players held their first practice on Sept. 3, 1919 and played their first game on Sept. 14, against the Menominee North End A.C. Green Bay won that game, 53-0. Green Bay's one-sided victory over Menominee in its first game was the first of 10 consecutive triumphs in a season that saw Green Bay out score its opponents 565-6. Green Bay's only loss in that first season came in its last game, on Nov. 23, at the hands of a team that curiously called itself the Beloit "Fairies". The Green Bay Gazette reported the next day "Capt. Lambeau's team was robbed of victory by Referee Zabel of Beloit." Apparently, Lambeau scored three touchdowns that were called back on illegal motion penalties by Mr. Zabel. (It's the stuff of legends isn't it?)

    In 1921, the "Packers" as they had become known, were granted a membership in the newly formed National Football League. Today the Packers rank as the third oldest team in pro football.

    Until more recent years, the long and much celebrated history of the Green Bay team was one of struggle, for both financial survival off the field and playing stability on the field. As a consequence the Packers' record has been punctuated with periods of both the highest success (The "GLORY Years") and the deepest depths of defeat (The "GORY Years"). 

    While many great football players have taken the field for Green Bay over the years including 17 Hall of Famers - two coaches, Lambeau and Vince Lombardi, stand out in particular as the most dominant figures in Packers' history. 
 

    Between the two of them, Lambeau and Lombardi brought the Packers 11 NFL championships and two record strings of three straight titles, including the first in 1929, 1930 and 1931. Their combined record stands at an inspiring 310-136-25.

Bart Starr in action

Curly at Rockwood Lodge
     During the late 1930s and early 1940s, the Lambeau-led Packers were annual championship contenders. They won four divisional crowns and NFL titles in 1936, 1939 and 1944.

   With the departure of Lambeau the Packers struggled. From 1950-58 the Packers went 32-72-2 under three different coaches. The team had become pro football's provincial joke. 

   In 1958 in his only year coaching the Packers, "the nicest guy who ever coached", Raymond "Scooter" McLean had established a new standard of ineptitude, compiling the worst record in team history, 1-10-1, a mark that New York sportswriter Red Smith, who had grown up in Green Bay, later immortalized with the phrase: "The Packers underwhelmed ten opponents, overwhelmed one, and whelmed one." 

   By that time Commissioner Bert Bell was being pressured by big-city owners to fix the Packers or bounce them from the league. The long-running love affair between the people of Green Bay and its football team had also soured. The miracle that such a small town (population 62,888) could sustain a professional club was not enough; it had to win championships, as it had in the twenties, thirties and forties.

Vince Lombardi
     As fate would have it the answer presented itself in 1959 with the appointment of Lombardi.  The ensuing Packers' dynasty years of the 1960s under Lombardi's direction, began with Green Bay winning NFL championships in 1961 and 1962. It finally ended after their second string of three straight titles in 1965, 1966 and 1967. 
    After another bleak period in the 1970s & 80s the Pack commenced another resurgence in the 1990s this time under the direction of General Manager Ron Wolf and coach Mike Holmgren. With the key signing of Defensive End Reggie White and the blossoming of back up QB Brett Favre, the Packers became once again regular Play-off contenders and Divisional Champions. 

    In 1996, the Packers returned to the top of the pro football world when they won Super Bowl XXXI while in 1997 they were runners up in Super Bowl XXXII.

    The end of the 1998 season saw Mike Holmgren pack his bags and head to Seattle where he could finally take on a role as General Manager and Head Coach. Many other personal and position coaches followed Mike creating some big holes in the organisation.
  In response Ray Rhodes, offensive coach with the Philadelphia Eagles was appointed as the Packers 12th Head Coach. However after a somewhat disappointing 8-8 season when the Packers failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 1992 Ron Wolf acted quickly and sacked Rhodes. Go to story
Rhodes had joined "Scooter" Mclean with the distinction of only one coaching season with the Pack. 

    "I relieved Ray Rhodes as head football coach of the Green Bay Packers," announced Executive Vice President/General Manager Ron Wolf at a packed news conference at Packers headquarters on Monday morning, 3 Jan 2000. 

 "For whatever reason, our players did not respond to this program," said Wolf. "We will begin our search for a new coach at once." 
 
    Two weeks later Mike Sherman, offensive coach with Seattle Seahawks was introduced as Head Coach Number 13. Like Coach Rhodes, Sherman was also a former Packer's assistant coach (having left the Packers in 1998 with the Holmgren 'mass' exodus). This appointment also comes at a time when the Packers organisation is faced with the challenge of seeking public funding of a renovated and expanded stadium.  Go to story

Some Packers Facts, Firsts, Records & Odds and Ends

  • First Season:

    • 1921 (Franchise granted 27 August 1921)
  • Stadium / Home Town:

    • Lambeau Field, Green Bay Wisconsin (a city of less than 100,000). As the only remaining 'small city' in the 'big-city' world of major league professional sports franchises, Green Bay, is  viewed by many as sort of a sports "dinosaur".
  • Ownership:

    • The team is also special in another way as the team is the only community-owned non-profit organization in the NFL.
  • Super Bowl Championships:

    • I, II, XXXI
  • NFC Championships:

    • '96, '97
  • NFL Championships:

    • '29, '30, '31, '36, '39, '44, '61, '62, '65, '66, '67
  • NFL Western Conference Championships:

    • '36, '38, '39, '44, '60, '61, '62, '65, '66, '67
  • NFC Central Division Championship:

    • '72, '95, '96, '97
  • All-Time Record:

    • 581-463-36
  • Retired Uniform Numbers:

    •  
    #3 
    Tony Canadeo
    Half Back
    #14 
    Don
    Hutson
    End
    #15 
    Bart 
    Starr
    Quarterback
    #66 
    Ray Nitschke
    Middle Line Backer
    #92 
    Reggie White
    Defensive End

    Third player to rush for 1,000yds

    History's first great pass receiver

    Precision passer - great team leader

    The tough 'take-no-prisoners' Line Backer

    The Minister of Defense - all time sack leader
  • First Player Drafted:

    • Russ Letlow, G, San Francisco, 1936.
  • First NFL Regular-season game:

    • A 7-6 victory over the Minneapolis Marines, 10/23/21.
  • First NFL Regular-Season Touchdown:

    • A 10-yard run by Art Schmael vs. the Minneapolis Marines, 10/23/21.
  • First Winning Season:

    • 1921 (3-2-1).
  • First Championship Season:

    • 1929.
  • First Super Bowl Win:

    • A 35-10 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl I, 1/15/67.
  • First 1,000-Yard Rusher:

    • Tony Canadeo, 1,052 yards (1949).
  • Longest Run From Scrimmage:

    • 97 yards by Andy Uram vs. the Chicago Cardinals, 10/8/39.
  • First to Pass 400 Yards in a Game:

    • Don Horn, 410 yards vs. the St. Louis Cardinals, 12/21/69.
  • Longest Pass Completion:

    • 99 yards by Brett Favre to Robert Brooks vs. the Chicago Bears, 9/11/95.
  • Most Career Rushing Yards:

    • Jim Taylor, 8,207 yards (1958-66).
  • Most Career Passing Yards:

    • Brett Favre, 30,894 yards (1992-99).
  • Most Career Receptions:

    • Sterling Sharpe, 595 receptions (1988-94).
  • All-Time Leading Scorer:

    • Don Hutson, 823 points (1935-45).
  • Most Lopsided Win:

    • A 56-3 victory over the Atlanta Falcons, 10/23/66.
  • Head Coach records:

    •  
    Packers' All-Time Coaches
    Coach Years W L T
    Curly Lambeau  1921-'49  212  106  21
    Gene Ronzani  1950-'53  14  31  1
    Lisle Blackbourn  1954-'57  17  31  0
    Ray McLean  1958  1  10  1
    Vince Lombardi  1959-'67  98  30  4
    Phil Bengtson  1968-'70  20  21  1
    Dan Devine  1971-'74  25  28  4
    Bart Starr  1975-'83  53  77  3
    Forrest Gregg  1984-'87  25  37  1
    Lindy Infante  1988-'91  24  40  0
    Mike Holmgren  1992-'98  84  42  0
    Ray Rhodes  1999  8  8  0
    Mike Sherman 2000- 

     
  • Packers in the Pro Football Hall of Fame:

    • Apart from Lambeau and Lombardi there are also 17 former Packers' players that have been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

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