We close out the Lombardi era today by featuring the 1967 Green Bay Packers Yearbook. On the cover, as described on the contents page: “Quarterback Bart Starr slides back for a pass while Elijah Pitts moves out as a possible blocker or receiver, and the offensive line stiffens to protect Starr in the World Championship game against the Chiefs in Los Angeles, Jan. 15, 1967.” In more detail, from left to right on the Packers’ side of the ball, we have #81 TE Marv Fleming, #76 LT Bob Skoronski, #63 LG “Fuzzy” Thurston, #15 QB Bart Starr, #22 RB Elijah Pitts, #57 C Ken Bowman, #64 RG Jerry Kramer, and #75 RT Forrest Gregg. Wouldn’t you like to have that line today? Unfortunately, by today’s standards, they’d all be too undersized to make probably any NFL roster.
As mentioned, 1967 would be coach Vince Lombardi’s last on the sidelines for Green Bay. That year, an aging but experienced Packers team finished with a 9-4-1 record, good enough to win the newly-formed NFL Central Division. They then played the Los Angeles Rams for the Western Conference Championship on December 23rd in Milwaukee, winning 28-7. This earned them the right to face the Eastern Conference Champion Dallas Cowboys in the NFL title game to be played in Green Bay on New Year’s Eve. The game would be the immortal “Ice Bowl,” and our Packers came out on top, 21-17, to conclude their “three-in-a-row” championship string. Two weeks later, they also repeated as Super Bowl Champions by defeating the AFC’s Oakland Raiders 33-14 in Miami, Florida.
Some of the stories featured in this edition of the Yearbook were: ““The Greatest Challenge” (the quest for three straight titles)... “Meet the First Choices — Horn & Hyland”... “Championship Explosion from Coast to Coast” (their Western Conference, NFL, and World titles)... “Once Again — Green Bay turns back challenge of Baltimore” (1966 Division Championship)... “This Game Had Everything” (League Championship)... “The Historic Super Bowl”... “How’s That, Fellas?” (Max McGee’s Super Bowl performance)... “Farewell to Green Bay” (Paul Hornung)... “Two Different Horses” (Carroll Dale and Marv Fleming)... “The Year of the Super Starr”... “Doubting Dave (Robinson)”... “The Best Viewed Team” (Packers’ national television viewership)... “Your 1967 Packers”... “The 1966 Story in Statistics”... “Seven TD’s on Runbacks Set Record”... “Elijah Pitts — From No. 2 to No. 1”... “(Emlen) Tunnell in Hall (of Fame)”...
