Featured today here in Packerville is an original stock certificate from the 1923 stock sale — the first ever. The team has had three owners, all in its first four years, 1919-22. The first owner, Indian Packing Company, paid an unofficial purchase price of $500 to supply Curly Lambeau with uniforms and equipment. In turn, Lambeau and team manager George Calhoun called the club “Packers.”Shortly thereafter, Acme Packing Company bought Indian Packing Company and all its assets, including the fledgling team. In 1921, Lambeau convinced new owners John and Emmitt Clair to apply for membership in the new American Professional Football Association (the early N.F.L.).
With the team already headed for bankruptcy, the APFA revoked the franchise after Lambeau used illegal college players in a non-league game later that year. But before the 1922 season, Lambeau by himself reapplied and the league reinstated the Packers, with Lambeau as owner. When rain threatened to sink the team in 1922, A.B. Turnbull came to the rescue.
Turnbull, publisher of the Green Bay Press-Gazette, grocery man Lee Joannes, attorney Gerald Clifford, and Dr. W. Webber Kelly cancelled Lambeau's $2,500 debt, then rallied the community behind the team. In August 1923, with more than 400 in attendance at a local Elks Club, the club was transformed into a non-profit entity, the Green Bay Packers Corporation. The five men, including Lambeau, were nicknamed the “Hungry Five.”
The first stock sale, which took place at that 1923 meeting, saw local merchants raise $5,000 by selling 1,000 shares for $5 apiece, with a stipulation that the purchaser also had to buy at least six season tickets. We have seen 1923 stock certificates for auction online — if you’re willing to shell out $19,000+, as only three are known to exist today.
Source: Packers.com
