Bye Week TV Games

If you still want to watch NFL football instead of raking the leaves this Sunday, here are the games that will be on in your area.

Courtesy: 506 Sports

The Packers Help the Saints

Sorry for the length of time between posts, but the real world of work can get in the way of things that we love. The Packers travel to New Orleans this weekend, and so we have a post about how Green Bay helped get the Saints started. Starting with FB Jim Taylor (above) who played out his contract option for the Packers and became a free agent and then bolted to New Orleans. He was unhappy with his compensation from GM Vince Lombardi, and the Saints were more than happy to have a former local All-American (with LSU) on the roster to sell tickets.  

Taylor (second from right) is seen here on the Saints' bench with his former Green Bay teammate Paul Hornung (see more below).

Taylor and Saints' teammate QB Gary Cuozzo are shown on the cover of Sports Illustrated that summer of 1967. 

In the 1967 NFL expansion draft, each team had to make three players eligible to be drafted by New Orleans. Lombardi put HB Paul Hornung on the list, but due to “the severing of the fifth, sixth, and seventh verterbrae, and damaged nerve roots in the spinal cord of Hornung, it was decided that he would retire and would never play a game for the Saints.” 

Second on the expansion list was C Bill Curry, who played in Green Bay for the 1965-66 seasons. Curry was soon traded from the expansion Saints to the Baltimore Colts, and played as a reserve there in 1967. He finished his career with the Houston Oilers and the Los Angeles Rams.

Third and last on the list was LB Phil Vandersea. Drafted by the Packers, he played in Green Bay for the 1966 season, stayed one year in New Orleans (1967), and then came back north for the 1968-69 seasons.

Source: Wikipedia

Focus on Face Masks

Today, for no special reason, we’re showing just some of the face mask designs seen through the recent decades — with many of them from the 1980’s. Some of these haven’t been used in quite a while.

Source: Mears Online Auctions

In Case Anyone is Interested...

1996 NFC Championship; Week 7 TV Maps

With the Carolina Panthers coming into town on Sunday, our thoughts go back to the 1996 NFC Championship Game, which the Packers won 30-13, sending them on to Super Bowl XXXI vs. the New England Patriots. Above is some video from the start of the telecast.

Also, the Week 7 NFL TV Maps are out, over at the 506sports website. Packer fans who live in the RED areas on the map above will see the Green Bay-Carolina game at Noon (CST) on FOX.

Week 6 TV Map

The Week 6 NFL TV Maps are out, over at the 506sports website. Packer fans who live in the RED areas on the map above will see the Green Bay-Miami game at Noon (CST) on FOX.

1963 Western Division Preview

From the vast Packerville, U.S.A. archives comes today’s feature of the 1963 NFL Western Division preview, as presented in Sports Illustrated’s September 9, 1963 issue. This is excerpted from the full NFL and AFL previews in this same issue. The Packers were coming off a second straight championship following the 1962 season, and hopes were high for another title run for the team.

The Chicago Bears would be the ones to walk off with the 1963 championship trophy, after beating the New York Giants. The Bears had bested Green Bay twice during the season, keeping the Packers out of the title playoff.

Wow... What An Auction!

Doing a little online searching today brought us to this great selection of auction items up for bid. Starting us off is this game program from 1931 and a game against the Chicago Cardinals.

The back cover is an ad for the Joannes grocery in Green Bay. Lee Joannes was a very successful retail grocer. He was also the Green Bay Packers’ first security and was elected president of the team in 1930, a position he held for 17 years, helping to guide the team through the Great Depression, near bankruptcy and a stock sale. Several places are named for the Joannes family in Green Bay.

Also from 1931 is this game program from when the New York Giants came to town. 

From 1932, we have the Green Bay Packers Bulletin, announcing the coming game against the Cardinals.

And here is an ad for the game. Remember, all seats are reserved! 

Your 1936 Champs! 

1939 Green Bay Packers Press Book. Oh yeah, they won the NFL championship that year as well. 

The biggest little city in professional football! 

1940 Green Bay Packers Press Book. 

Ad artwork from a very different time... 

1944 Green Bay Packers Press Book. Another championship year! 

The professional football capital of Wisconsin! 

1953 standard NFL player contract. 

Packers 1956 home game schedule. Order tickets early!

Various Green Bay Packers letterhead from the 1960s. 

1960s-era team pennants. 

Lee Joannes, mentioned earlier, was honored along with Chicago Bears’ head coach George Halas at the Green Bay Elks Club Awards dinner in the spring of 1964. Unfortunately, the Bears were just off a 1963 NFL championship season.

1965 Packers schedule card from Rahr’s Beer. 

1966 silver tea set commemorating the team’s NFL championship that year. 

Ticket stubs from the 1967 NFL championship game, better known as “The Ice Bowl.” We understand they are still cold to the touch.

Above and below, game tickets for the First AFL-NFL championship — or Super Bowl I. 

This is Packers’ RB Donny Anderson’s helmet that he wore in the 1968 Pro Bowl game. We’ve never seen one of these up close. What’s interesting is that they just painted over his Packers helmet with gold paint and slapped on an NFL logo sticker. The stripes were changed to tape as well.

A Super Bowl II commemorative charm. 

The final game score is stamped on the reverse side. 

Super Bowl II commemorative pendant. 

A game ball (three views) from Super Bowl II, signed by game MVP QB Bart Starr. 

Game programs from the 1962, 1966m 1961, and 1965 NFL championship games. 

Starr’s personal equipment locker from the early Sixties.

If you’d like to bid on any of these items, please go to Heritage Auctions.