🎙 Episode 4 – Green Bay Packers | The Team That Belongs to Its People

In a league of billion-dollar franchises and global fan bases, the Green Bay Packers stand alone. They are the only publicly owned major sports team in America, built not by investors but by its people.

From a small packing company in 1919 to the Lombardi dynasty that defined excellence, this episode of Hall of Teams explores how Green Bay became more than a team — it became a way of life.

🏈 Hosted by Kirk Jensen – World Champion and Sports Historian

Discover how a community saved its club through public stock sales, how the iconic “G” logo was created, and how legends like Curly Lambeau and Vince Lombardi forged a legacy that still inspires generations.

🎧 Listen to previous episodes:

• Cincinnati Red Stockings | The Birth of Pro Baseball
• Sheffield FC | The World’s First Football Club
• New Zealand All Blacks | One Color. Always Black.
• 🏆 Vote for Team of the Year at HallofTeams.com

📍 Across All Sports Across Time. Across the World.

#GreenBayPackers #NFLHistory #SportsDocumentary #VinceLombardi #HallOfTeams #PackersHistory #Wisconsin

Welcome to the Hall of Teams, the podcast where sports legends live again,

where founding stories are dusted off like vintage jerseys, where crests,

nicknames and colors aren't just designs, but identities where the teams we love

are more than scores on a scoreboard.

They're time capsules of culture, community, and change.

I'm your host, Kirk Jensen, and today we turn to the smallest city

in the National Football League, with the biggest legacy in the game.

From a town on the edge of Lake Michigan to Lambeau Field, where legends are

carved in frozen tundra by iron cleats.

For years, I thought like so many, that Green Bay was a city of millions,

just like every other NFL team, but I was wrong by factor of more than ten.

The Packers play in a city with a population of just

over a hundred thousand.

To put that in perspective,

globally in England that's Birkenhead, in France - Caen, in Canada, thunder

Bay, and in Australia, Rockingham.

None of them are close to hosting a big league professional franchise.

Yet, Green Bay does.

A team born from a packing company forged through community,

sustained by its people.

That's why in Green Bay you don't have a fan base, you have neighbors.

To understand the legend, you must return to where it began.

In the early 1900s

Green Bay, Wisconsin was a paper mill town.

Its streets smelled of industry

sawdust from lumber yards,

the tang of the packing plants,

and the smoke from factory stacks

rising above modest neighborhoods.

It was a place defined by work, grit, and a simple rhythm of life.

Two men,

Earl Curly Lambeau and George Calhoun had an idea that seemed improbable.

Lambeau, a former high school star who had briefly attended

Notre Dame under Knute Rockney.

And Calhoun, a sports editor of the Green Bay Press Gazette.

Dreamed of starting a football team that could stand against

the giants from the big cities.

But they had no field, no uniforms, no salaries to offer.

But what they did have was ambition and connections.

Lambeau worked for the

Indian packing company, a local firm that canned meat for military rations.

He persuaded them to provide a $500 sponsorship for equipment

in exchange for naming rights.

And so, the Green Bay Packers were born.

the first uniform's rough, but practical, navy blue wool jerseys, canvas pants,

leather helmets, and striped socks.

The look wasn't born of design, but of necessity.

Bought with the team's, $500 sponsorship and whatever surplus gear was available.

It wasn't until the 1950s that the Packers adopted green and gold.

Colors chosen to stand apart from rivals like Chicago's navy, and

Notre Dame's blue, while tying symbolically to Wisconsin itself.

The forests, the fields, and the green in Green Bay.

The Packers began playing at Hagemeister Park, Fans paid coins into

a past hat to keep the team afloat.

Local kids climbed trees for a free view.

From the beginning the Packers were not just entertainment, they were family.

With the identity of the town itself, daring to dream bigger than it's borders.

And that dream, green, gold, and stitched with pride, would grow into a dynasty.

Trivia from the Hall, Stock in the Game.

Welcome to Trivia from the Hall where we spotlight the strange,

surprising, and significant stories that shaped the world of sports.

Walk into homes across Wisconsin, you'll often see it framed on the wall, a

Green Bay Packers stock certificate.

It doesn't pay dividends, it can't be resold on Wall Street, it carries no

real financial power, but for fans, it's a badge of belonging, a piece of paper

that declares, I am part of the team.

Since the first sale in 1923, stock offerings have saved

the Packers more than once.

Thousands of ordinary fans bought in not to profit, but

to keep the franchise alive.

The most recent sale in 2021 raised over $64 million and welcomed

more than 175,000 new owners, from all 50 states and even overseas.

Each stock certificate stands as a reminder that Green Bay isn't just

cheered by fans, it's owned by them.

The early 1920s were chaotic for professional football.

Teams came and went in the blink of an eye.

The Rock Island Independants, the Canton Bulldogs, the Hammond Pros.

Names that once meant something, but faded into history.

And Green Bay was an eyelash away from joining them.

In 1921, the Packers were admitted into the young NFL.

Then still formally called the American Professional Football

Association or the APFA.

But almost as quickly as they entered, disaster struck.

That fall in a non-league exhibition game in St. Louis, Green Bay used

ineligible players, and the league revoked their franchise on the spot.

For most small towns, that would've been the end, but Curly Lambeau would not let go.

He traveled, he argued, pleaded his case to league officials and with the

backing of local businessmen, the Packers were reinstated the very next year.

It was an early reminder that survival wasn't about talents alone, it was about

determination and the trust of the fans.

And you have to consider, Lambeau wasn't fighting because he knew

the team would be one day worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

He was fighting for the town.

He was fighting for their fans, and he was fighting to keep the team in Green Bay.

Because in Green Bay, football is more than a game.

Professional football itself was still finding its place.

College football ruled the headlines.

Big college stadiums were filled with tens of thousands of fans.

While the pros were dismissed as rowdy and disorganized.

But in Green Bay it was different.

Businesses closed early on game day so workers could make kickoff.

Sundays became sacred, not just for church, but for Packers football.

And rivalries began to spark and none greater than with George

Halas and his Chicago Bears.

The city slickers from Chicago against the mill workers from Wisconsin.

Every clash was more than a game.

It was pride against pride.

To this day, the Packers and Bears rivalry remains the

oldest, and fiercest in the NFL.

Trivia from the hall, the making of an icon.

The Packer's G. Few logos in sports are as instantly recognizable as a Green

Bay Packer's G. It was created in 1961 by John Gordon, an assistant equipment

manager who was also a young art student at nearby St. Norbert College.

Working at the request of Gerald Dad Brazier and under the guidance

of Vince Lombardi, Gordon was asked to design a simple mark, a

g inside the shape of a football.

What happened was I walked into work and there was no one there.

Dad came down from his meeting with Lombardi with a piece of paper in his

hand, and he said that Lombardi wants.

A logo.

I, I'm not sure what the words were, but he wants a logo and, and it's going

to be a a a g on a football shape.

Green Bay Packers own historian Cliff Crystl.

Says there are two or three versions of the story floating around about

who designed the original G. But after talking with different artists

about its symmetry and precision, crystal believes it had to have come

from an artist's hand, and Gordon's version remains the most plausible.

Gordon sketched well into the night and within 24 hours he

brought his design to dab Razer.

So this is the shape I brought in that morning to Dad Brashier, the equipment

manager who took it to Vince Lombardi, and it was immediately okayed Within

months, the new logo appeared on the Packer's helmets, and by season's end,

it was shining under championship lights.

Over time, fans have tried to attach extra meaning to it,

claiming the G stood for greatness.

But the reality is simpler.

It stands for Green Bay, a simple letter that defined a team, a town.

And a tradition

During the depression, Curly Lambeau's Packers were more than survivors.

They were innovators.

Building the first dynasty of the NFL.

The 1929 season changed everything.

Curley Lambeau's, Packers went undefeated 12 oh and one and

allowed just 22 points all season.

In those days, there were no playoffs.

The teams with the best record was the champion, and Green

Bay stood at that summit.

For a town of then 30,000, it was a civic earthquake.

Storefronts painted their windows green and gold.

The Green Bay Press Gazette ran a bold front page headline.

Kids Walked to school tossing scuff leather footballs, imagining themselves

as Johnny Blood the dazzling halfback whose off-field antics were as

legendary as his runs of brilliance.

He was a character in every sense of the word, once hitchhiking on the back

of a milk truck to make a road game.

Another time sneaking into Notre Dame's football locker room just to hear Knute

Rockney deliver his pregame speech.

And the titles didn't stop in 1929.

The Packers repeated in 1930 and 1931.

Becoming NFL's first three time consecutive champions.

it was a record so staggering that would only be matched by

Lombardi's Packers 30 years later.

When Vince Lombardi arrived in

1959, the Packers were adrift, a story name sinking into mediocrity.

His first words to the players set the tone,

"Gentlemen, we are going to relentlessly chase perfection, and we will catch

excellence along the way." From that day, Lombardi's, pursuit of

perfection, reshaped everything.

were mistakes were dissected.

Fundamentals repeated endlessly.

His practices were grueling, crucibles.

The Fame Packer Sweep was drilled until it became not just a play, but muscle memory.

Players spoke of practices that were harder than games

Starr, their star quarterback.

Later recalled, "He demanded so much in practice, that the games on Sunday

felt like a relief." The results came fast in 1961, the Packers were champions.

And again in 62, 65 and 66, and then in 67 came the NFL Championship

game against the Dallas Cowboys, famously called the Ice Bowl.

Minus 13 Fahrenheit or minus 25 Celsius with winds cutting the chill.

10 nearly minus 50 we're exposed.

Skin can freeze in just five minutes That's teeth clenching cold.

So cold that heaters froze.

Whistles cracked in referee's mouths, with 16 seconds left in the game,

the Packers trailed Dallas 1714.

On third down, Bart Starr kept the ball surging behind Jerry

Kramer's legendary block.

He dove into the end zone.

The crowd erupting in a roar that frozen air like smoke.

The Packers won and later on went on to defeat the AFL Champion

Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl two, five titles in seven years.

The first two Super Bowls, a dynasty of the Lombardi discipline.

Green Bay didn't just win games, they redefined excellence as a way of life.

Trivia from the Hall- From Champions Prize to Lombardi's Legacy.

The NFL's greatest prize, the Super Bowl trophy was renamed

the Lombardi Trophy in 1971, just months after Vince Lombardi's death.

after his passing at age 57, the league moved to honor the man

who made winning its highest art.

Today when players dream of lifting the Lombardi trophy, they're reaching

not just for silver, but for a standard preparation, unity and

relentless pursuit of greatness.

Few honors in sports carry such permanence.

A man's name forever welded to glory.

. When Vince Lombardi left in 1969, he left behind a dynasty, the 1970s and eighties

would become the Packers' wilderness.

Years coaches came and went.

Quarterbacks tried and failed.

To fill Bart Starr's shoes.

The NFL was exploding in size, television reach and money.

While Green Bay seemed stuck in yesterday's playbook, but

one thing never faltered.

The fans Lambeau still filled every Sunday.

No matter how grim the standings parents passed down season tickets to their

children, like family heirlooms, tailgates became as important as touchdowns.

Finding the community together, even when victories were scarce.

Then came 1992 and with it a spark.

General Manager, Ron Wolf, traded for a little to use

backup quarterback from Atlanta.

His name Brett Favre.

Farr played with the joy of a kid in a backyard and the

toughness of a steel worker.

His arm could launch a ball into the stratosphere.

when he came to Green Bay, his swagger electrified Lambeau.

Every Sunday became unpredictable, thrilling, and alive again.

Two years later, the most sought after free agent in football chose Green Bay.

Reggie White, the Minister of Defense, stunned the league

by signing with the Packers.

"God told me to come here." What explained and his arrival left no doubt.

Green Bay was a contender again, together with head coach Mike Holmgren, who

brought discipline and the precision of the West coast offense far and white.

Transform the packers into a juggernaut.

homegrown demanded sharp execution.

Telling his quarterback, "If you trust the system, the wins will come." Favre as

fire blended with Holmgren's structure, chaos and order working together as one.

In 1996, the bill was complete.

Green Bay stormed Super Bowl 31, and on that stage it wasn't

just the stars who made history.

Desmond Howard returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown earning the

honor of being the first special teams player ever to be named Super Bowl MVP.

In 2010 at Super Bowl 45 Green Bay delivered another championship,

restoring the Packers once more to the summit, Green Bay proved their

story was still being written.

and that greatness could thrive in any era of the NFL

Trivia from the Hall, the original cheese head in Wisconsin, the

term cheese head once stung.

Used by rival fans as an insult, a jab at the states' booming dairy culture.

But Wisconsin fans took that insult and turned it into pride.

In 1987, a Wisconsin man named Ralph Bruno grabbed a chunk of polyurethane

foam, some left over from his mom's couch and carved it into a wedge

that looked like yellow hued cheese.

The next day, he sported it at a Milwaukee Brewer's baseball game.

And what started out as playful, fun.

Soon became a symbol of Pride Packers fans adopted it in the cheese head.

Hat became a staple for game days, bright, quirky, and unmistakable.

In 2023, the Packers even acquired the company behind it formation,

making the cheese head an official piece of the team's identity From

insult to innovation, it had a foam that became a crown of fandom.

Opened in 1957 as City Stadium renamed in

1965 to honor Curly Lambeau.

The Packer's home field is unlike any other.

Lambeau field is not just a stadium.

It's shrine to football itself.

It is a place where steel bleachers froze to the skin.

Fans stamped their feet against the cold, wrapped in hunting gear and wool

blankets, temperatures plunged, yet not a single ticket ever went unused.

As one fan told the Milwaukee Journal, it's not weather, it's Packer's weather.

But Lambeau's uniqueness, is not just in its cold.

Unlike modern arenas pushed to the edges of cities, Lambeau rises from a

neighborhood just outside its gates you'll find porches draped in team banners.

Driveways turned into tailgates, grills loaded with bratwursts

and strangers becoming family over a shared plate of curds.

And then there's the famous Lambeau Leap.

In 1993, safety Leroy Butler scored sprinted to the stands

and launched himself into the waiting arms of Packer fans.

The crowd swallowed 'em whole, and since then, every touchdown in Green

Bay carries the same ritual players leaping into history embraced by

the very people who own the team.

Visiting players and coaches speak of Lambeau with reverence.

John Madden once said, "Lambeau Field is like the Vatican of football." Cowboys

quarterback, Tony Romo, a Wisconsin native admitted "Running out of that tunnel, it

feels like the game of football belongs to the world, but especially to Green Bay."

Through decades of change, Lambeau Field has been upgraded.

Yet never lost its soul.

Blanketing a century of football.

Memories from Lambeau's vision to Lombardi's dynasty.

The Packers remain proof Green Bay.

It's not just on the NFL map, it is its heartbeat.

Some teams are built on money, some on markets.

The Packers were built on people from Curly Lambeau's first stock sale

to the frozen chants at Lambeau Field.

Green Bay has never been just a team.

It's been a promise, a legacy built on loyalty, hard work, and community,

and a bond between players and fans, between the city and the team.

And now that bond is forever honored.

In the Hall of Teams;.

Thanks for joining us on this legendary journey.

From Green Bay's, frozen, Tundra and Howell Lambeau Field to Barcelona's, sun

soaked streets, and the monumental camp.

New next time we journey to Barcelona.

A club whose colors carried more than victories.

They carried the spirit of a people, a team that became a voice, a

movement, a symbol, more than a club.

Until then, remember, behind every logo is a legacy.

And behind every team, a tale worth telling.

I'm Kirk Jensen.

This is the Hall of Teams.