Packerville on Hold

“Packerville” will return when we get over the NFC Championship game loss.

Packerville at the NFC Championship Game

We will be attending the NFC Championship game tomorrow at Lambeau Field, so we will take a couple day break before returning to our series on the 40th Anniversary of the “Ice Bowl” game in 1967.

And hopefully, after tomorrow, we will be watching the Packers again in a couple of weeks.

Frigid First Quarter Action

The First Quarter of the “Ice Bowl” continues with Packers’ coach Vince Lombardi and his assistants (above) on the west sideline of Lambeau Field watching the action.


Quarterback Bart Starr drops back to pass to Tight End Marv Fleming, and pass interference was called on the 19-yard play, giving the Packers an automatic first down.


Running back Donny Anderson is stopped after a three-yard gain. Referee Norm Schachter grabs the ball for the official placement.



Here we see more Packer fans who braved the 13 below temperatures that day.

Frigid First Quarter Action

The First Quarter of the “Ice Bowl” continues with Packers’ coach Vince Lombardi and his assistants (above) on the west sideline of Lambeau Field watching the action.


Quarterback Bart Starr drops back to pass to Tight End Marv Fleming, and pass interference was called on the 19-yard play, giving the Packers an automatic first down.


Running back Donny Anderson is stopped after a three-yard gain. Referee Norm Schachter grabs the ball for the official placement.



Here we see more Packer fans who braved the 13 below temperatures that day.

The Packers’ First Drive

We continue with our “Ice Bowl” coverage by first showing some of the hearty souls who braved the frigid cold that day, in less sophisticated clothing than most of us will wear for Sunday’s NFC Championship game.




Here we see a gentleman warming up with some coffee or hot chocolate as the game gets underway.


Packers’ quarterback Bart Starr is seen from the sideline, and we can see the decorative bunting hung in Lambeau Field for the NFL title game.

We now present the Dallas Cowboys’ starting defensive unit for the 1967 title game:

Early First Quarter at the Ice Bowl

Today we see Dallas Coach Tom Landry (above) on the sidelines without his trademark sport jacket and fedora. He is bundled up with a hooded sweatshirt under his coat in an attempt to stay warm. In his 1990 autobiography, Landry remembered that day: “The night before the game, the Cowboys stayed at a hotel (Holiday Inn) in nearby Appleton, Wisconsin. But I didn’t get much sleep. Rabid Green Bay fans kept phoning our rooms until the wee hours of the morning, despite our continued instructions to the motel switchboard not to put through any outside calls… (my wife) took the wake-up call from the operator the next morning. She was the one who first heard those chilling, cheerful words, “Good morning. It’s eight a.m. and the temperature is now sixteen degrees below zero.” We’ll hear more from Landry about the Ice Bowl a little later on in the series.


Here we see the Packers defense lined up against the Cowboys’ offensive unit, led by quarterback Don Meredith (#17).


After the Cowboys go “three and out,” the Packers’ Willie Wood (#24) fields the punt and is instantly smothered by the Dallas kick coverage unit.



Here we see the Green Bay starting offensive unit for the 1967 championship game.


That offensive group is shown here lined up against the Cowboys for their first series on that frozen field.

The Packers’ Ice Bowl Defense

Getting back to our series on the “Ice Bowl” 1967 NFL championship game, we first see a group of fans (above) bundled up against the same type of cold that those of us attending the game this Sunday can expect.

Next, we have the starting defensive unit for the 1967 Packers:

Packerville’s Short Break

“Packerville” will return shortly, once we get settled and back in the groove after attending the NFC Divisional Playoff game Saturday night at Lambeau Field. We will also be at the NFC Championship game this coming Sunday, so another break will probably happen then as well. But what great reasons for “Packerville” to be on break, huh? Stay tuned for more on the “Ice Bowl” 40th anniversary commemorative feature...

Ice Bowl Opening Kick-Off

Finally, we’re today at the opening kick-off of the 1967 NFL championship — the “Ice Bowl.” In the photo above, we see the kick-off team lined up as Don Chandler (#34) heads towards the ball on the frozen turf.


A close-up of from the camera view in the South end zone of Green Bay Packers’ kicker Don Chandler (#34) as he makes contact with the ball.


Receiver and return man Sims Stokes (#31) of the Dallas Cowboys brings the ball back from the five yard line into a crowd of Packer defenders.


Sims is tackled at the Dallas 33 yard line by the Packers’ back-up Center/Guard Bob Hyland (#50), with an assist by Safety Willie Wood (#24).

The Cowboys offensive unit comes onto the field, and here is their starting line-up:

Kick-Off Time at the Ice Bowl II

We really are seconds away from the kick-off at the legendary “Ice Bowl” game of December 31, 1967. Above we see a sideline “thermometer” set up for the network television broadcast, which shows the temperature at about -13 degrees at the 1:00 p.m. start time.


Bart Starr warms up prior to game time in this scene from the Packers’ bench along Lambeau Field’s western sideline. At left, we can see the hastily-rigged “dug out” shelter that was erected on each sideline to shield players from the wind while being heated by the portable gas heaters.


We find ourselves in the huddle of defensive players on the Packers’ sideline, behind Ray Nitschke (#66) and Ron Kostelnik (#77), as they get each other fired up prior to kick-off.


Dallas Cowboys quarterback Don Meredith (#17) receives last-minute instructions before taking the field. His team won the coin toss and elected to receive the frozen ball first.

Kick-Off Time at the Ice Bowl

Today we visit the Ice Bowl game again after a day off. It is now close to kick-off time, and we see long-time NFL Referee Norm Schachter (above) bundled up against the cold conditions at Lambeau Field. In his book “Close Calls,” Schachter relates the following stories about officiating the game that frigid New Year’s Eve 1967: “Sunday morning I received my wake-up call. I knew I had a problem. The phone (in the Northland Hotel) rang and (I heard) ‘Good morning… Time to get up. It’s clear and cold. Twelve below zero and temperature falling fast. Have a good game.’ At breakfast we discussed the cold weather. None of the officials had gloves or earmuffs. Three of (us) had thermal underwear. We needed more clothes. Fortunately, the owner of a sporting goods store opened his place for us. We bought earmuffs, thermal underwear and thermal socks.”

“Here’s how I walked out onto the field that afternoon to work the championship game in Green Bay. I had on my usual underwear, two pair of thermal socks besides the football stockings, thermal underwear — tops and bottoms — turtleneck nylon ski sweater, plastic baggies on my feet over my socks to try to keep my feet warm by keeping the heat in, a large plastic cover that the cleaners use to return your suits under my football striped shirt, earmuffs, gloves, and my white cap. I still got cold. The extremities — fingertips, toes, nose — just didn’t get warm. When the game ended, I got the hell out of there. My left heel became frostbitten and I had a lulu of a cold for eight days.”

“Would you believe that the championship game between Green Bay and Dallas, December 31, 1967, was played without a whistle being blown all afternoon? Believe it! It was 25 degrees below zero. I blew my whistle to start the game. It was the last whistle blown that day. Joe Connell, my umpire, tried to blow his whistle on the runback of the opening kickoff. All he got was a half soft ‘tweet.’ The wooden balls in our whistles had frozen. When Connell took the whistle out of his mouth, half of his lower lip came with it. He wasn’t using a (rubber) nipple on his whistle. All game long we yelled, ‘Stay away,’ ‘Keep off him,’ and ‘Watch it.’ No one knew the difference.”

The Ice Bowl — Near Game Time

Today we’re back with more of our “Ice Bowl” coverage, as the teams are taking the field for the NFL title game on December 31, 1967. First, though, we see a member of the Green Bay Packers Band (above) on the sidelines, getting his instrument ready. It was determined that after a band member’s lip froze to his mouthpiece that the band was done for the day, and the halftime entertainment was cancelled as well.


The Dallas Cowboys enter the playing field from the visitor’s locker room in the North end zone. They had to be thinking of how different the weather was from just a year ago when the two teams met in the Cotton Bowl for the NFL title game.


Vince Lombardi and his Green Bay Packers offensive and back-up players take the field, also from the North end zone. The Packers’ sideline was (and still is) always the west sideline which is below the press boxes.


The Packers’ defensive players take the field for player introductions. Then, also as now, the team flipped back and forth between the offense and defense for introductions prior to the game.


Dallas Cowboy players huddle inside one of the hastily constructed “dugouts” that were placed on each sideline. They were really nothing more than wood and canvas, so they didn’t do much to warm the players, but they did cut out the wind a bit.


Packers’ quarterback Bart Starr also huddles in the dugout before the kickoff, ready to face both the Cowboys and the harsh elements in the quest for a third straight NFL title.

Pre-Game Warm-ups at the Ice Bowl

Continuing our series on the 40th anniversary of the 1967 NFL championship game — the famed “Ice Bowl,” we have a few photos today of the players from each team on the field for pre-game warm-ups. Above, we see the visiting Dallas Cowboys coming out from the warmth of the locker room to practice a bit on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field.



Here are two more photos (above) of the Cowboys trying to accomplish something prior to kick-off. Other than commiserating about the extremely cold weather conditions, we guess not much else was done.



Vince Lombardi and his Green Bay Packers also took to the field to go through their paces. On this day, even living in the normally cold winter weather in Titletown couldn’t have provided much of an advantage for the Packers.