Today’s photo is historically interesting for several reasons. It was taken at a Packers practice in what we believe may be 1961 or 1962, and coach Vince Lombardi is standing and addressing the players with the Packers founder, longtime coach, and eventual stadium namesake Curly Lambeau. Here are the two men who we think are the most important figures in Green Bay Packers history. One started the team early in the century and brought it to national attention, and the other returned it to glory when it was at its lowest point in the 1950’s. Some of those listening to the coach and his guest are (left to right) Jerry Kramer, Ray Nitschke, and behind Lambeau, Henry Jordan.Lombardi was known to not be particularly fond of Lambeau — some say because of the former coach’s flamboyant lifestyle, or because Lombardi did not like to share the spotlight with anyone. When the Packers yearbook publisher Art Daley put both of them on the cover of the 1965 book, Lombardi wouldn’t talk to Daley for months.
Two very interesting gentlemen... both indispensable parts of the Packers’ history.
