Green Bay Packers
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Note: Basketball teams from Chicago and Anderson once used the name Packers as well.
Template:NFL team The Green Bay Packers are a National Football League team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
- Founded: 1919. Joined the NFL in 1921.
- Formerly known as: Acme Packers
- Home field: Lambeau Field
- Previous home fields:
- Hagemeister Park (1919-1922)
- Bellevue Park (1923-1924)
- City Stadium (1925-1956)
- Borchett Field (1933-1935)
- State Fair Park (1936-1937)
- Split games between Milwaukee and Green Bay (1933-1994)
- Marquette Stadium (1938-1952)
- Milwaukee County Stadium (1953-1994)
- Uniform colors: Green, gold and white
- Helmet design: Yellow background, with a white "G" in a green oval
- League championships won: Before playoff system (by league standing) 1929, 1930, 1931, since playoff system 1936, 1939, 1944, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1996
- Super Bowl Appearances: - I (won), II (won), XXXI (won), XXXII (lost)
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Franchise history
The Green Bay Packers were founded on August 11, 1919. Curly Lambeau, the team's founder, solicited funds for uniforms from his employer, the Indian Packing Company. Although the Indian Packing Company only supported the team through part of its first season, the Green Bay football club has always been known as the Packers. Lambeau, a Notre Dame alum, chose the teams' colors of blue and gold/yellow from his alma mater. The colors where later changed to the current green and gold/yellow. This color scheme leads to the common Packers nickname, "The Green and Gold".
The Packers became a professional franchise in 1921. Financial troubles plagued the team and the franchise was lost the same year. The Packers found new backers the next year and regained the franchise. The financial backers, known as the "Hungry Five," formed the Green Bay Football Corporation.
The Packers are now the only publicly owned company with shares to buy and sell and a board of directors in American professional sports. The typical scenario is a team owned by one person; thus, a "team owner." It has been speculated that this is one of the reasons the Green Bay Packers have never been moved from the city of Green Bay, a city of just over 100,000 people. By comparison, the typical NFL football city must be populated in the millions to support a team. However, the Packers have long had a large following throughout the state of Wisconsin; in fact, for decades, the Packers played several home games each year in Milwaukee. The Packers did not move their entire home schedule to Green Bay until 1995.
Based on the original 'Articles of Incorporation for the (then) Green Bay Football Corporation' put into place in 1923, if the Packers franchise was sold, after the payment of all expenses, any remaining monies would go to the Sullivan-Wallen Post of the American Legion in order to build "a proper soldier's memorial." This stipulation was enacted to ensure that the club remained in Green Bay and that there could never be any financial enhancement for the shareholder. The beneficiary was changed from the Sullivan-Wallen Post to the Green Bay Packers Foundation on the basis of a shareholder vote at the November 1997 meeting.
In 1950, the Packers held a stock sale to again raise money to support the team. In 1956, area voters approved the construction of a new stadium, which would later be called Lambeau Field.
Another stock sale occurred late in 1997 and early in 1998. It added 105,989 new shareholders and raised more than $24 million, monies which were utilized for the Lambeau Field redevelopment project. Priced at $200 per share, fans bought 120,010 shares during the 17-week sale, which ended March 16, 1998. Presently, 111,507 people (representing 4,748,910 shares) can lay claim to a franchise ownership interest. Shares of stock include voting rights, but the redemption price is minimal, no dividends are ever paid, the stock cannot appreciate in value, and there are no season ticket privileges associated with stock ownership. No shareholder is allowed to own more than 200,000 shares, a safeguard to ensure that no one individual is able to assume control of the club. As a means of running the corporation, a board of directors is elected by the stockholders. The board of directors in turn elect a seven-member Executive Committee (officers) of the corporation, consisting of a president, vice president, treasurer, secretary and three members-at-large. The president is the only officer who receives compensation. The balance of the committee is sitting gratis.
The Packers have won more league championships (twelve, including three Super Bowls) than any other professional football team. They are also the only professional football team to win three straight titles, which they did twice (1929, 1930, 1931, and 1965, 1966, 1967).
The Green Bay Packers of the 1960s were one of the most dominant NFL teams of all time. Coach Vince Lombardi took over a last-place team and built it into a juggernaut, winning five league championships over a seven-year span. Green Bay won the first two Super Bowls. The Super Bowl trophy was ultimately named the Vince Lombardi Trophy in recognition of his and his team's accomplishment.
In recent decades, the Packers have found themselves with an extremely dedicated fan base. No matter how good or poor the season, Lambeau Field has been a sellout every game for years; the Packers have one of the longest waiting lists for season tickets in professional sports. The current wait time for season tickets is approximately 35 years. That is, someone who entered their name on the waiting list for Packers season tickets in 1970 is just now coming to the top of the list in 2004. For this reason, it is not unusual for fans to designate a recipient of their season tickets in their wills.
The Packers also draw the largest national TV audiences for the NFL's Monday Night Football telecasts.
Packers fans are commonly known as "cheeseheads," presumably because Wisconsin is known for its cheese production. To poke fun at this nickname, they wear foam triangles made to look like cheese on their heads, which further re-enforces the "cheesehead" designation.
Coaches
| 1921-1949 | Earl (Curly) Lambeau | (212-106-21) |
| 1950-1953 | Gene Ronzani | (14-31-1) |
| 1953 | Hugh Devore and Ray (Scooter) McLean | (0-2-0) |
| 1954-1957 | Lisle Blackbourn | (17-31-0) |
| 1958 | Ray (Scooter) McLean | (1-10-1) |
| 1959-1967 | Vince Lombardi | (98-30-4) |
| 1968-1970 | Phil Bengtson | (20-21-1) |
| 1971-1974 | Dan Devine | (25-28-4) |
| 1975-1983 | Bart Starr | (53-77-3) |
| 1984-1987 | Forrest Gregg | (25-37-1) |
| 1988-1991 | Lindy Infante | (24-40-0) |
| 1992-1998 | Mike Holmgren | (73-36-0) |
| 1999 | Ray Rhodes | (8-8-0) |
| 2000- | Mike Sherman | (53-27-0) |
Players of note
Pro Football Hall of Famers
- Herb Adderly
- Tony Canadeo
- Willie Davis
- Len Ford
- Forrest Gregg
- Ted Hendricks
- Arnie Herber
- Clarke Hinkle
- Paul Hornung
- Cal Hubbard
- Don Hutson
- Henry Jordan
- Walt Kiesling
- Earl (Curly) Lambeau
- James Lofton
- Vince Lombardi
- John (Blood) McNally
- Mike Michalske
- Ray Nitschke
- Jim Ringo
- Bart Starr
- Jan Stenerud
- Jim Taylor
- Emlen Tunnell
- Willie Wood
Current players
- Brooks Barnard
- Nick Barnett
- kevin Barry
- Brad Bedell
- Bryce Benekos
- Craig Bragg
- Vince Butler
- Kurt Campbell
- Ahmad Carroll
- Antonio Chatman
- Chad Clifton
- Colin Cole
- Nick Collins
- Junius Coston
- Garrett Cross
- Brenan Curtan
- Najeh Davenport
- Rob Davis
- Patrick Dendy
- Na'il Diggs
- Donald Driver
- Brett Favre
- Robert Furguson
- Tony Fisher
- Mike Flanagan
- Bubba Franks
- Todd Franz
- Arturo Freeman
- Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila
- Ahman Green
- Al Harris
- Mike Hawkins
- William Henderson
- Atlas Herrion
- Jason Horton
- Cletidus Hunt
- Grady Jackson
- Cullen Jenkins
- Chris Johnson
- Aaron Kampman
- Adrian Klemm
- Vonta Leach
- James Lee
- Paris Lenon
- AJ Lindsay
- Earl Little
- Ryan Longwell
- Nick Luchey
- Roy Manning
- David Martin
- sean McHugh
- Michael Montgomery
- Terrence Murphey
- Craig Nall
- Hannibal Navies
- Matt O'Dwyer
- JT O'Sulivan
- Kenny Peterson
- Brady Poppinga
- Chris Robertson
- Aaron Rodgers
- Mark Roman
- Grey Ruegamer
- Chris Samp
- Ben Steele
- Mark Tauscher
- Joey Thomas
- Ray Thompson
- Andrae Thurman
- Leigh Torrence
- R-Kal Truluk
- Marviel Underwood
- Javon Walker
- Donnell Washington
- Scott Wells
- Chris White
- Will Witticker
- Chaz Williams
- Corey Williams
- Walt Williams
- Zac Woodfin
Retired numbers
- Tony Canadeo #3
- Don Hutson #14
- Bart Starr #15
- Ray Nitschke #66
- Reggie White #92 (While Reggie White's jersey has been retired since 1999, his number will be retired at halftime ceremonies during the September 18, 2005 game, commemorating his untimely death on December 26, 2004.) [1] (http://www.packers.com/news/releases/2005/05/31/1/)
First round draft picks
- 1936 Russ Letlow
- 1937 Ed Jankowski
- 1938 Cecil Isbell
- 1939 Larry Buhler
- 1940 Hal Van Every
- 1941 George Paskvan
- 1942 Urban Odson
- 1943 Dick Wildung
- 1944 Merv Pregulman
- 1945 Walt Schlinkman
- 1946 Johnny Strzyalski
- 1947 Ernie Case
- 1948 Earl "Jug" Girard
- 1949 Stan Heath
- 1950 Clayton Tonnemaker
- 1951 Bob Gain
- 1952 Babe Parilli
- 1953 Al Carmichael
- 1954 Art Hunter and Veryl Switzer
- 1955 Tom Bettis
- 1956 Jack Losch
- 1957 Paul Hornung and Ron Kramer
- 1958 Dan Currie
- 1959 Randy Duncan
- 1960 Tom Moore
- 1961 Herb Adderly
- 1962 Earl Gros
- 1963 Dave Robinson
- 1964 Lloyd Voss
- 1965 Donny Anderson and Larry Elkins
- 1966 Jim Grabowski and Gale Gillingham
- 1967 Bob Hyland and Don Horn
- 1968 Fred Carr and Bill Lueck
- 1969 Rich Moore
- 1970 Mike McCoy and Rich McGeorge
- 1971 John Brockington
- 1972 Willie Buchanon and Jerry Tagge
- 1973 Barry Smith
- 1974 Barty Smith
- 1975 Traded away
- 1976 Mark Koncar
- 1977 Mike Butler and Morris Brown
- 1978 James Lofton and John Anderson
- 1979 Eddie Lee Ivory
- 1980 Bruce Clark and George Cumby
- 1981 Rich Campbell
- 1982 Ron Hallstrom
- 1983 Tim Lewis
- 1984 Alphonso Carreker
- 1985 Ken Ruettgers
- 1986 Traded away
- 1987 Brent Fullwood
- 1988 Sterling Sharpe
- 1989 Tony Mandarich
- 1990 Tony Bennett and Darrell Thompson
- 1991 Vinnie Clark
- 1992 Terrell Buckley
- 1993 Wayne Simmons and George Teague
- 1994 Aaron Taylor
- 1995 Craig Newsome
- 1996 John Michels
- 1997 Ross Verba
- 1998 Vonnie Holliday
- 1999 Antuan Edwards
- 2000 Bubba Franks
- 2001 Jamal Reynolds
- 2002 Javon Walker
- 2003 Nick Barnett
- 2004 Ahmad Carroll
- 2005 Aaron Rodgers
Not to be forgotten
- Edgar Bennett
- Robert Brooks
- LeRoy Butler
- Chuck Cecil
- Mark Chmura
- Lynn Dickey
- Antonio Freeman
- Tim Harris
- Sean Jones
- Jerry Kramer (author of Instant Replay)
- Mark Lee
- Dorsey Levens
- Don Majkowski
- Steve McMichael
- Bryce Paup
- Eugene Robinson
- Sterling Sharpe
- John Brockington
- Chris Jacke
- Vince Workman
- Tony Bennett
External link
- Green Bay Packers official web site (http://www.packers.com/)