David Green - 101 Reasons to Love the Packers

As the third-oldest franchise in the NFL and the only team owned by its fans and run as a public nonprofit, the Green Bay Packers are the last of the small-town teams that were once common in the NFL. The Packers and their fans, the devoted Cheeseheads, have won thirteen league championships (more than any other team in the NFL), including nine NFL championships prior to the Super Bowl era and four Super Bowl victories. The names on their stellar rosterBart Starr, Ray Nitschke, Paul Hornung, Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, and legendary coach Vince Lombardiare all here, making history on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field.

101 Reasons to Love the Packers captures the historic moments, the unforgettable games, and the larger-than-life personalities who have helped define the sport of professional football. Accompanied by stunning vintage and contemporary photography, this book is a treasure for casual football fans and devoted Packers fans alike.

It was the character of the Packers, man. We played for sixty minutes. We let it all hang out. There was no tomorrow for us. We got the adrenaline flowing, and we just let it go, man.

Ray Nitschke

My earliest memories of the NFL hark back to the mid-1960s and the great teams of the Lombardi era. When I wasnt collecting baseball cards, I was using every scraped together penny, nickel, and dime to buy packs of football cards. Bart Starr, Elijah Pitts, and Boyd Dowler were among my most cherished.

Although I grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, a quiet southern town between the bustling NFL cities of Washington and Atlanta, the Green Bay Packers captured my interest. Why? Quite simply, they were the best.

Im sure I watched many games on television as a youngster, but the first game I remember clearly is Green Bays 3510 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl I, on January 15, 1967when I was seven years old. The following year, I got to see the Packers do it again, trouncing Oakland, 3314, in Super Bowl II. I was hooked. They made it seem so easy.

But then time played its cruel hand, and the Packers faded into mediocrity just as I was forging what would become a lifelong bond.

And while my devotion waned during the ensuing years, as it tends to do in adolescence when someone or something new comes along, I never lost my love for the Packers. I kept hoping for that long-awaited return to glory.

Lynn Dickey and Don Majkowski did their best to rekindle the magic, but they just didnt get enough help. Then some guy no one had heard of, with a misspelled and mispronounced name, came alongBrett Favre, a fearless gunslinger with a cowboy swagger that was irresistible to all but a few. Suddenly, the Packers were relevant again. More than relevantthey were champions. And under the leadership of Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers, that tradition continues.

For more than 90 years, this upstart team from the smallest market in professional sportsa team with the heart of a tenacious underdog and the pedigree of a true championhas earned the steadfast love and devotion of its growing army of fans.

If you know anything about the Packers, you know that there are countless reasons to love them. Here are 101 to get you started.

Jim Taylor (31) rumbles through the Kansas City defense during Super Bowl I.

Its the unofficial nickname of Green Bay, and rightly so. The Packers 13 NFL championships are the most by any franchise. Green Bay has claimed the title in 1929, 1930, 1931, 1936, 1939, 1944, 1961, 1962, and 1965; and won Super Bowls I, II, XXXI, and XLV, in the 1966, 1967, 1996, and 2010 seasons, respectively.

Bart Starr (15) throws a pass versus Los Angeles, 1962.

Green Bay boasts more Hall of Famers than any other franchise except the Chicago Bears. In order of induction, they are Curly Lambeau, Cal Hubbard, Don Hutson, Johnny Blood McNally (1963); Clarke Hinkle, Mike Michalske (1964); Arnie Herber (1966); Vince Lombardi (1971); Tony Canadeo (1974); Jim Taylor (1976); Forrest Gregg, Bart Starr (1977); Ray Nitschke (1978); Herb Adderley (1980); Willie Davis, Jim Ringo (1981); Paul Hornung (1986); Willie Wood (1989); Henry Jordan (1995); James Lofton (2003); and Reggie White (2006).

Tony Canadeo (3), Irv Comp (51), coach Curly Lambeau, and Don Hutson (14)

During the summer of 1919, Green Bay native and standout high school athlete Earl Curly Lambeau and Green Bay Press-Gazette sports editor George Calhoun discussed putting together a professional football team. Lambeau secured funding for uniforms from his employer, the Indian Packing Company, and Calhoun posted a notice in the Press-Gazette calling a meeting of all interested parties. A couple dozen players attended, electing Lambeau as captain.

It took a while to settle on a name. The Indians seemed like an obvious choice as a nod to the teams original sponsor. Calhoun often referred to them as the Big Bay Blue Boys in his articles. But Packers was the name that stuck, despite objections by both Lambeau and Calhoun. Well never know if the Packers would have enjoyed the same level of success if Big Bay Blue Boys had caught on. Thank goodness it didnt.

Green Bay was a powerhouse from the first time the team set foot on the field, in 1919, obliterating Menominee North End, 530. The Packers went on to win nine more times that first year by lopsided scores like 870 and 850. On the season, Green Bay outscored its opponents 56512 and finished 101. The Packers only loss came in the finale, when the Beloit Fairiesyes, the Fairiesedged them 60. Green Bay scored the tying touchdown on three consecutive plays at the end of the game, but the refereeperhaps affected by some magic Fairy dustcalled penalties on each of the plays, nullifying the scores.

A game in 1923

As a freshman at Notre Dame, Lambeau played fullback under rookie coach Knute Rockne. After contracting a severe case of tonsillitis, Lambeau returned home, and once he recovered, he went to work as a clerk at Indian Packing Company in Green Bay. When Lambeau and George Calhoun put together Green Bays first team, Lambeau not only played halfback, he also took on the role of head coachat the tender age of 21.