TH
E G R E ATE ST PL AYE RS , COACH E S AN D TE AM S TO PL AY AT L AM B E AU FI E LD
W H E R E L E G E N D S R OA M
4 • LAMBEAU FIELD
Tony
Bob
Coach Vince Lombardi, center, gave his rookies the lowdown on what to expect in a Packers-Bears exhibition game on Aug. 24, 1963. The first-year men, kneeling
Gary
Dan
Doug
and
INTRODUCTION • 5 Table of Contents Before Lambeau Field 6 Building a New Stadium 32 Only at Lambeau 52 Noteworthy Games 62 Remarkable Players 108 Unforgettable Champions 144 The Stadium Scene 162 Game Day 170 The New Lambeau 184 Rededication in 2003 196 Latest Renovations (2011–2022) 200 Epilogue: A Bright Future 206
Standing, from left: Ed Holler, Chuck Morris, Dave Robinson, Lionel
and Terry
OPPOSITE: from Marv Fleming, Kroner Zang. Aldridge, Liscio, Grimm, Ames, Hart Jan
left:
Barrett.
L
Born out of necessity in a pasture on the edge of Green Bay, City Stadium, as it was called for eight years, stood first as a symbol of a community’s intense determination to cling to a proud piece of itsWhenpast. the Packers were founded in 1919, Green Bay joined other small cities where the game first took root in the
ambeau Field has journeyed through the decades not to reach a destina tion but to become one.
Before Lambeau Field
BEFORE LAMBEAU FIELD • 7
CHAPTER ONE
Lambeau Field is the physical embodiment of the enduring love affair between a community and its team. From its modest beginning in 1957 to its bold restoration at the dawn of the 21st century, Lambeau Field has evolved into a place that honors time and tradition even as it embraces the expectations of each new season.
years after World War I. But one by one, other franchises brushed off the dust of small-town America. Only the Packers, a franchise owned then and now by its fans, succeeded in resisting the temp tation to move to larger metropolitan venues.With the 1960s fast approaching, Green Bay, inhabited by 60,000 people, had little in common with the other, bigger host cities in the National Football League. Faced with the likelihood of losing their team because old City Stadium was woefully inadequate, Green Bay residents went to the polls on April 3, 1956, to vote on a $960,000 bond issue to build a 32,150-seat stadium. The measure passed by a 2-1 margin. Even on Sept. 29, 1957, when the stadium opened to much fanfare, it was one of the few venues in the league built solely and specifically for football. The focal point of every spot “inside the bowl,’’ as the expression goes today, was and still is the green expanse of turf that is just large enough for a football field
OPPOSITE: Flanked by cheerleaders, the Packers run onto the field before the season opener against the Detroit Lions on Sept. 20, 1970. Entering the field, from left, are guard Gale Gillingham (68), tackle Francis Peay (71), center Ken Bowman (57), running back Larry Krause (30) and tackle Bill Hayhoe (77). The Packers lost to Detroit 40-0 en route to a 6-8 season.
andOversidelines.theyears, the stadium and its immediate surroundings developed its own personality. Fans began cooking out in the parking lot before games, ushering in the tradition that came to be known as tailgating. Long a fixture of the local social scene, Packers games became even more popular as seating capacity increased.Ithelped, of course, that in 1959, two years after new City Stadium opened, Vince Lombardi came to pace the sidelines in Green Bay. The Packers, who had won just one game in 1958, claimed first place in the NFL’s Western Division in
It is a landmark with a legacy. Transcending the form and function of a football facility, the venue has acquired mythic stature as a national treasure of professional sports.
The1960.Lombardi-era teams’ hard-nosed, no-nonsense, gritty style of football meshed perfectly with the sensibilities of the Green Bay area. Most fans were industrious, working-class folks who related to Lombardi’s straightforward approach to football almost as a meta phor of life. When Lombardi’s second season as general manager and head
BELOW: Season tickets for the 1946 Packers, who finished 6-5. That $4.80 ticket for a single game would cost almost
24 • LAMBEAU FIELD
BELOW RIGHT: The Packers’ coaching staff shows a variety of reactions to a play during a 14 10 loss to the Chicago Cardinals at old City Stadium on Oct. 12, 1947. From left, assistant coach Don Hutson puts his hand to his mouth, coach Curly Lambeau shouts and waves his arm and assistant coach Bo Molenda points to the field. The Press-Gazette’s original caption read: “There were plenty of periods in Sunday’s game with the Cardinals when scenes such as this one were enacted on the south sideline.”
RIGHT: Packers coach Curly Lambeau stands outside the entrance to Rockwood Lodge, the team’s training facility near Green Bay in an undated photo from 1946.
FAR RIGHT: Packers end Clyde Goodnight, right, stretches for a throw from Jack Jacobs, with Bears rookie Bob Fenimore defending. The pass put the ball on the Bears’ 24-yard line and led to the Packers’ first field goal in a 29 20 victory over Chicago at old City Stadium on Sept. 28, 1947.
LEFT: When games ended at old City Stadium, fans simply walked across the field to the nearest exit, as they did after the Packers’ 14 10 loss to the Chicago Cardinals on Oct. 12, 1947.
ABOVE: “Utter despair is written on the face” of Packers coach Curly Lambeau, according to the Green Bay Press-Gazette, during a 45 -7 loss to the Chicago Bears at old City Stadium on Sept. 26, 1948. It was Lambeau’s worst loss in 30 years of coaching. Two months later, he lost to the New York Giants 49-3.
BEFORE LAMBEAU FIELD • 25
ABOVE LEFT: Jack Jacobs (27) falls into the end zone on a quarterback sneak to give the Packers a 20 7 lead over the Detroit Lions in the third quarter at old City Stadium on Oct. 3, 1948. The Packers won 33 -21. Umpire Harry Robb signals the TD.
DEC. 31, 1967
Packers 21, Cowboys 17
Starr follows the blocks of guard Jerry Kramer and center Ken Bowman, a play regarded as one of the most recognizable in the history of football.
I
RIGHT: With tackle Forrest Gregg (75) and guard Jerry Kramer (64) leading the way, Packers quarterback Bart Starr dives across the goal line for the game-winning touchdown in the NFL championship game — the Ice Bowl — at Lambeeau Field on Dec. 31, 1967. Kramer keeps Dallas defensive tackle Jethro Pugh (75) out of the play. The Packers defeated the Cowboys 21 17 on a 13-below day.
70 • LAMBEAU FIELD
The Ice Bowl
f any one game thrust Green Bay and its football stadium into the national consciousness, it is the Ice Bowl, perhaps the only NFL game to have its own enduring nickname.With16 seconds to play and without any timeouts, the Packers pass up a game-tying field goal and win the NFL title with a Bart Starr touchdown sneak. The temperature is 13 below, with a minus-46 wind chill. It’s the coldest professional football game ever played, as long as records have been kept, and will forever be known as the Ice Bowl.
The game, voted the greatest ever by many media outlets, gives the Packers an unprecedented third consecutive NFL championship.Thewinsends the Packers to their second Super Bowl and is the last game coached at Lambeau Field by the legendary Vince Lombardi.
LEFT: Coach Vince Lombardi watches from the sidelines in what would turn out to be his final game at Lambeau Field.
NOTEWORTHY GAMES • 71
ABOVE LEFT: Cornerback Herb Adderley (26) intercepts a Don Meredith pass in the second quarter. Linebacker Dave Robinson (89) is at left. In the brutal conditions, Meredith compiles only a 31.2 passer rating — 10 of 25 passing for 59 yards, no touchdowns and one interception. Bart Starr posts a 111.6 rating — 14 of 24 passing for 191 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
— BART STARR, PACKERS QUARTERBACK, 1956–71, HEAD COACH, 1975–83
“There have been and continue to be special moments in that stadium. In my own mind it comes down to the Ice Bowl. One, because of the significance of that game, the fact that we were going for our third consecutive championship. Two, combine that with the weather and you really had something special. I don’t know how our wives sat there, but they did.”
90 • LAMBEAU FIELD
Packers 30, Panthers 13
JAN. 12, 1997
T
he Packers earn their first trip to the Super Bowl in 29 seasons as Dorsey Levens accounts for a combined 205 yards in rushing and receiving in the NFC championship game. The game-time temperature is three, with a wind chill of minus-17. Despite the bitter weather, the crowd stays for a postgame ceremony at midfield and cheers the team for 30 minutes. Team president Bob Harlan proclaims the Packers as “America’s Team” during the presentation of the George Halas Trophy as NFC champions.
OPPOSITE: From left, guard Adam Timmerman (63), tight end Mark Chmura (89) and wide receivers Antonio Freeman (86) and Don Beebe (82) celebrate during the trophy presentation after the Packers’ victory over the Carolina Panthers.
ABOVE RIGHT: Packers quarterback Brett Favre lobs a shovel pass to running back Dorsey Levens during a 30 13 victory over Carolina in the NFC championship game at Lambeau Field on Jan. 12, 1997.
Back to the Super Bowl
RIGHT: Running back Dorsey Levens (25) takes off down the sidelines on a 66-yard screen pass to the Carolina 4-yard line late in the third quarter. The Packers scored on the next play to make it 27-13.
NFL 50th Anniversary Team
4x Pro Bowl (1939–42)
Earl Louis (Curly) Lambeau
NFL 75th Anniversary Two-way Team
NFL 75th Anniversary Team
NFL 100th Anniversary Team
BAYGREEN ARCHIVEPACKERS
Played halfback until 1929, pioneered the forward pass in pro football.
NFL 50th Anniversary Team
116 • LAMBEAU FIELD
4x NFL champion (1927, 1929–31)
CLASS OF 1963
2x NFL Most Valuable Player (1941–42)
CLASS OF 1963
Don Hutson
NFL 75th Anniversary Team
CLASS OF 1963
NFL 100th Anniversary Team
GreenFounder/halfback/coachBaycareer:1919–49
Massive for the times at 6-feet-2, 250 pounds. Devastating blocker on offense and relentless pursuer on 4xdefense.First-team All-Pro (1927, 1931–33)
Pro Football Hall of Fame
NFL 75th Anniversary Two-way Team
9x First-team All-Pro (1936, 1938–45)
3x NFL champion (1936, 1939, 1944)
GreenTackle Bay career: 1929–33, 1935
Pro Football Hall of Fame All-1920s Team
End/defensive back/kicker Green Bay career: 1935–45
Pro Football Hall of Fame All-1930s Team
Coaching record of 209-104-21 in NFL games with the Packers (1921-49). Overall record of 228-106-22 counting 1919 and 1920, when the Packers competed as an Proindependent.FootballHall of Fame All-1920s Team
6x NFL champion (1929–31, 1936, 1939, 1944)
NFL 100th Anniversary Team
Cal Hubbard
A Green Bay native who attended East High School.
Later became a major-league umpire and a supervisor of Onlyumpires.person elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Baseball Hall of Fame.
2x NFL champion (1936, 1939)
One of the game’s greatest guards in the two-way era and one of the first to develop blitzing and stunting tactics on Knowndefense.as
3x NFL champion (1929–31)
Iron Mike for his stamina and durability, but also possessed exceptional quickness.
Bruising runner who also excelled as a blocker, receiver, placekicker and punter and as a hard-hitting linebacker.
CLASS OF 1964
A gifted runner and receiver and one of the NFL’s first bigplay First-teamthreats.All-Pro (1931)
6x First-team All-Pro (1927–31, 1935)
Pro Football Hall of Fame All-1920s Team
Halfback/defensive back/punter
Clarke Hinkle
Pro Football Hall of Fame All-1930s Team
CLASS OF 1964
GreenGuard Bay career: 1929–35, 1937
Retired as NFL’s all-time leading rusher with 3,860 yards.
Pro Football Hall of Fame All-1930s Team
REMARKABLE PLAYERS • 117
Green Bay career: 1929–33, 1935–36
4x NFL champion (1929–31, 1936)
GreenFullback/linebacker/kicker/punterBaycareer:1932–41
Second-team All-Pro (1941)
3x Pro Bowl (1938–40)
NFL 75th Anniversary Two-way Team
CLASS OF 1963
Johnny (Blood) McNally
Mike Michalske
4x First-team All-Pro (1935–38)
The Packers, who never trail in the game, lead 14-0 after one quarter thanks in part to a 37-yard interception return for a touchdown by Nick Collins. With the Packers up 21-10 at the half, Woodson cries while attempting an impassioned speech fighting through the pain of a broken collarbone.
As the fourth quarter dawns, Green Bay clings to a 21-17 lead. The Steelers face second-and-two from the Packers’ 33 when defensive tackle Ryan Pickett delivers what he calls “the biggest play of my career.”
RIGHT: Packers free safety Nick Collins celebrates after a 37-yard interception return. It earns Collins a hug from linebacker Clay Matthews. EVAN SIEGLE / USA TODAY NETWORK-WISCONSIN
Packers 31, Steelers 25
The Packers lose starting cornerback Charles Woodson (collarbone) and wide receiver Donald Driver (ankle) to first-half injuries. Without Driver and Woodson, the Packers were down eight of their 22 preferred starters.
Tight end Jermichael Finley, tackle Mark Tauscher, running back Ryan Grant, inside linebacker Nick Barnett, outside linebacker Brad Jones and strong safety Morgan Burnett were among 15 players on injured reserve.
Rodgers is voted Super Bowl MVP after completing 24 of 39 passes for 304 yards and three touchdowns — two to Jennings and one to Jordy Nelson, who had a team-high nine catches for 140 yards.
I
Eight plays later, Aaron Rogers hits Greg Jennings for an eight-yard touchdown as the Packers go up 28-17.
Linebacker Clay Matthews makes a verbal call just before the snap, telling Pickett to slam inside right guard Ramon Foster. As he does so, Matthews flies off the edge. Then Pickett and Matthews collide with running back Rashard Mendenhall deep in the backfield, jarring the ball loose. Linebacker Desmond Bishop pounces on it for the last of the Packers’ three takeaways.
158 • LAMBEAU FIELD FEB. 6, 2011
Super Bowl XLV
n front of 103,219 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Green Bay overcomes a season — and a first half — full of endless injuries to win its 13th NFL championship and its fourth Super Bowl.
EVAN SIEGLE / USA TODAY NETWORK-WISCONSIN
LEFT: Packers wide receiver Jordy Nelson, one play after a terrible drop on second-and-10 early in the fourth quarter, scampers 38 yards to the Pittsburgh 2. Two plays later, the Packers score for a 28-17 lead. “It’s all about opportunities,” Nelson says. “That’s what we’ve been saying about our whole receiving corps. You never know who’s going to make a big play or have a big game.”
COREY WILSON / USA TODAY NETWORK-WISCONSIN
EVAN SIEGLE / USA TODAY NETWORK-WISCONSIN
UNFORGETTABLE CHAMPIONS • 159
ABOVE LEFT: Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk (50) barks out the plan in the defensive huddle during the second quarter of Super Bowl XLV at Cowboys Stadium on Feb. 6, 2011.
ABOVE: After his 21-yard touchdown catch for a 21-3 lead late in the first half, Packers receiver Greg Jennings (85) jumps for joy with center Scott Wells (obscured) and running back James Starks (44).
Packers opened $146 million south end zone, adding about 7,600 seats. With the debut of standing-room-only areas in 2014, capacity reached 81,041, third highest in the NFL behind MetLife Stadium (Giants, Jets) and FedEx Field (Redskins). (FedEx’s capacity later dropped below Lambeau’s.)
2015 Packers possiblerenovateprojecttwo-yearbegantosuites,whichincludedmakingittoopenwindowsduringgames.Thecostwas$55million.
Construction began on expansionparkingundergroundforplayersandcoachesandoftheCRIContheeastsideofthestadium.Projectswerescheduledforcompletioninfirsthalfof2023.
Latest Renovations (2011–2022)
LATEST RENOVATIONS (2011–2022) • 201
Packers’ Lambeau Field Atrium renovation project resulted in opening previousPackers21,500-square-footofProShop,abouttwiceasbigastheProShop.ProjectinvolvedredesigningnorthsideofAtriumandpartsofHarlanPlaza.
2013
Packers began long-term concession stands renovation project. Many stands were converted to grab-and-go stands in the hopes of getting people back in their seats quicker. The Packers intended to renovate a handful of stands each off-season over the course of several years.
2014
2022
2012
2019
OPPOSITE: In the ever-evolving effort to have the Packers never play again on the Frozen Tundra, crews work throughout the winter of 2007 to install the latest heating and drainage systems, plus a new playing surface. The next upgrade came in 2018 and featured 43 miles of radiant heating pipe, expected to provide a root-zone temperature of 55-plus degrees. Vince Lombardi ordered the first system in 1967, which failed for the Ice Bowl. MICHAEL SEARS / MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL
Packers Hall of Fame and 1919 Kitchen & Tap, both part of the Atrium renovation, opened. The pro shop, hall of fame and restaurant were larger and more accessible to fans than were their predecessors. All told, including the scoreboards, the south end zone the CRIC and the Atrium changes, the Packers spent $312 million, more than for the 2003 renovation of the stadium.
Packers opened new conditioning, rehab and instruction center, also known as the CRIC, on east side of the stadium. The CRIC, which was below ground, functioned as a “mini-Don Hutson Center,” with workout facilities, a small field for training and walk-throughs, and other player resources.
Packers opened Johnsonville Tailgate Village, a 13,242-squarefoot building that replaced the Tundra Tailgate Zone tent that occupied the same site for many years. It was a multi-event site that includes a full kitchen, bar, restrooms, large windows, garage-style doors that opened, heating and air conditioning.
2017
2013
2015
2017
Packers installed two videoDiamondMitsubishiVisionscoreboardsthatcostabout$13million.
Loading dock area redesigned and included new stateof-the-art security office. The loading dock provided access to the Packers’ media auditorium and a tunnel leading to the field, as well as being the delivery point for the Packers Pro Shop, food services, concerts and more.
CHAPTER ELEVEN