We sometimes get feedback from our readers, and also the occasional question or two. Today we received a note from “Jim,” who lived in Portland, Oregon in the late 1950’s-early 1960’s. He asked: “Do you know how to find out any history on the Packers when they would hold pre-season training camp at the University of Portland in Portland Oregon? It was sometime in 1958-1961 as I lived across the street from the field and would shag footballs for the kickers. I've lost my pictures and autographs and wondered if there was anything in the Packer history about those times.”Jim, from our knowledge and research, we are wondering if you are recalling the 1959 season — Vince Lombardi’s first at the helm of the team — when they played the Philadelphia Eagles in Portland for the third exhibition game that year. They have not held training camp itself outside of Wisconsin since 1953 (when it was last held in Grand Rapids, Minn.) It was a regular practice to play preseason games in non-N.F.L. cities in the 1950’s and 60’s, and the Packers played in locations such as Minneapolis, Minn., Alexandria, Va., Latrobe, Penn., Spokane, Wash., Hershey, Penn., Raleigh, N.C., Akron, Ohio, Charleston, W.V., Bangor, Maine, and also Portand, to name a few. They played up to six exhibition games in those days, so they used these visits to other cities to build the N.F.L. brand in other markets, and perhaps to feel out areas for expansion.
So, we think that your experience with the team in Portland was when the Packers were practicing for their matchup with the Eagles on August 29, 1959. On that Saturday, they defeated Philadelphia by a score of 45-28 in front of 25,456 Oregonians.
If any of our readers have questions or comments, they can be sent to our direct e-mail:
packerville@sbcglobal.net
... rather than going through Google’s system here on the blog (which doesn’t let us reply to the question back to the reader).
