Most Packer fans know the big names of Green Bay football administrative history — Curly Lambeau, Vince Lombardi, Ron Wolf, etc. — but few recognize the name of the man who was integral to building the championship teams of the 1960’s... Jack Vanisi. He is shown here in this image with coach Lombardi.
According to Packers’ Historian Lee Remmel: “Vanisi was a former Notre Dame lineman who came to Green Bay in 1950 with Gene Ronzani, then becoming the Packers vice president, head coach and general manager. (Ronzani, while playing halfback with the Bears, had become friendly with the teen-aged Vainisi because the latter's parents owned a grocery store near Chicago's Wrigley Field, and Jack used to hang around the team).”
“Employed in a variety of roles by the Packers as a scout and administrative aide, Vanisi was to become highly regarded as a talent scout, particularly after the 1958 NFL draft, which many consider the most productive in Packers’ history (it netted LB Dan Currrie, first round, fullback Jim Taylor, second round, linebacker Ray Nitschke, third round and guard Jerry Kramer, fourth round).”
“Unfortunately for both Jack and the Packers, his pro football career was to be brief. Having developed rheumatic fever while playing service football in Japan in the late 1940’s, Vanisi died suddenly of a heart attack at home in late November of 1960 at the age of 33.”
