Jordy Nelson — No. 48 Ranked

Green Bay Packers WR Jordy Nelson comes in at #48 on the list of Top 100 Players of 2017 as voted on by his peers. See the video here.

Judge Robert Parins — 1918-2017

The Honorable Robert James Parins, 98, Green Bay, died Friday, May 26, 2017. He was born on August 23, 1918, in the former Town of Preble, now city of Green Bay, to Frank and Antoinette (Denissen) Parins. Robert's mother died at the age of 26, later Frank married Gertrude Denissen. Frank and Gertrude, along with Grandmother Mary (Emil) Parins, managed the family for the next many years. 

Robert attended Green Bay East High School and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He graduated from the University of Madison Law School in 1942. In 1941, Robert married his college sweetheart, Elizabeth Louise Carroll. On February 8, 2017, they celebrated their 76th wedding anniversary. 

After graduation, Robert accepted a job with Employer's Mutual of Wausau and on June 1, 1942, started work as an adjuster in Minneapolis, MN. In 1944, Robert and Elizabeth returned to Green Bay and Robert began to practice law with Meyer Cohen. He continued his successful practice of law with the firm until he was elected Circuit Court Judge for the 14th Judicial Circuit serving Brown, Door and Kewaunee counties in 1968. As a Circuit Judge, he served throughout the state and lectured at the Wisconsin Judicial College and the National College of the State Trial Judges in Reno, NV. He also lectured for trial judges in the states of Michigan and West Virginia. All throughout this time, he stayed active with community work. 

The Judge retired as Circuit Judge in 1982 to serve as the President of the Green Bay Packers. He served in this capacity until 1989 when he returned to the bench as a Reserve Judge. Robert was a member of the Packers Board of Directors for 28 years and was inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 1998. He became active in mediation and arbitration, handling over 1000 cases over the next nine years. He retired at the age of 88. 

Robert had a love of all sports. Besides his service to the Packers organization, he enjoyed bowling, baseball, golfing (25 cents a hole with Butch, Len and Larry), and fishing on the bay, the lake or in Canada with Hilly and the guys. Robert took extreme pleasure in his summer cottage and every single minute of the time spent with the horses out at the barn. He especially enjoyed riding the horses at the Red Hills Ranch. 

Robert is survived by his wife, Elizabeth; five children and their spouses, Claire (James) Braun, Andree (John) Chamberlin, Richard (Kristine) Parins, Teresa (Robert) Eckberg, LuAnn Parins (Mark Weinheimer); eleven grandchildren, Christine (Mike) Matysik, Vicky (Bruce) Brunner, Joe (Karen) Eckberg, Jason (Anne) Burroughs, Alison (Scott) Czarnecki, Toni (Sarmad) Ashfaq, Patricia (Leon) Lemke, Katy (Nate) Gray, Bob Parins, Justin (Kris Adams) Eckberg, Zac (Erin) Eckberg; 27 great-grandchildren ; four sisters, Annette (Shelby Guillette) Watkins, Cecily Blazer, Pauline McAbee, Mary (Joe) Brusky; many nieces and nephews. 

He was preceded in death by his parents, Frank and Antoinette (Denissen) Parins; his step-mother, Gertrude Parins; his siblings, Irvin Parins, Peter Parins, Lloyd (Audrey Salmon) Parins, Pearl (Harvey) VanDenLangenberg, Betty Jane (Marvin) Stone, Katherine Ashbaugh; brothers-in-law, Pat Blazer and Louis McAbee. He was also preceded in death by his great-granddaughter, Brianna Brunner. 

Friends may call at Blaney Funeral Home, 1521 Shawano Ave., from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday. A Parish Wake Service will be held at 7 p.m. Friends may also call at St. Mary of the Angels Catholic Church, 645 S. Irwin St., from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Thursday. The Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at the church with Rev. Anthony Cirignani, OFM officiating. Entombment will be in Allouez Chapel Mausoleum. To send online condolences, please go to www.BlaneyFuneralHome.com. 

A memorial fund has been established in Robert's name to benefit the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School. 

The Parins family extends their gratitude to the staffs of Home Instead Senior Care, Heartland Hospice and Emerald Bay Retirement Community.

Published in Green Bay Press-Gazette from May 28 to May 31, 2017

More on Robert Parins and the Packers here and here.

Lombardi’s First Game Program

We’ve posted before about Lombardi’s first game and his first victory over the Chicago Bears, but we have not shown the game program you would’ve purchased for a quarter upon entering the stadium that day. The Packers won the game by a score of 9-6, and the Lombardi Era was underway.

Also, we’d like to say thanks to all of our readers, who have pushed us over 1,000,000 blog page views sometime in the last few days. Keep stopping by as we get through this slow time of year and get closer to Training Camp.

Complete Ice Bowl Videotape May Exist

An article on Milwaukee radio station WTMJ’s website has postulated that a tape of the immortal “Ice Bowl” 1967 NFL Championship game may exist after all. It has been accepted as fact that the game was taped over long ago by the network, as was customary at the time. A few clips from the television broadcast were shown in this feature on CBS ’ Sunday Morning program back in 1986. Whether or not that means a copy of the full game does exist is the big question, as we approach the historic game’s 50th anniversary this New Year’s Eve.

On The Newsstands

The current issue of USA Today Sports NFL Forecast (shown above) was picked up this morning on the local gas station’s newspaper rack. We do not know if it is available with the Aaron Rodgers cover elsewhere in the U.S., but is most likely all over the upper midwest. The team’s first full-roster OTA begins today.

1946 Green Bay Brewing Corp. Calendar

Another find in an online auction recently is this 1946 Old Imperial calendar from the Green Bay Brewing Corporation, featuring an image of the 1945 Green Bay Packers. Very cool.

Former Packers DE Clarence Williams Dies

Clarence Williams, a starting defensive end for the Green Bay Packers for most of his eight seasons, died May 8.

Williams, 70, played for the Packers from 1970 to 1977. Funeral services were held Saturday, May 13, at Spring Grove Funeral Home in Cincinnati.

Nicknamed “Big Cat,” Williams was, at 6-foot-5 and 255 pounds, known for both his size and his quickness. He grew up in Texas, led his high school to a state championship and then went to Prairie View A&M and was an 11th-round draft pick of the Cowboys in 1969. In 1970 he was traded along with Malcolm Walker to the Packers in exchange for Hall of Fame cornerback Herb Adderley. Having lived his entire life in Texas, he didn’t know what to expect.

Williams started the last seven games at left defensive end in his first season with the Packers and held the job through 1976, playing in 107 consecutive games at one point. After filling in at both defensive end and tackle in 1977, Williams was released in training camp in 1978.

In 1972, when the Packers won the NFC Central Division, Williams led them in sacks with nine, although sacks weren’t yet an official statistic. Three of them came in the title-clinching game against Minnesota and future Pro Football Hall of Fame tackle Ron Yary on Dec. 10.

“I’ve been in Green Bay 10 years and I’ve never seen anybody tackle Fran Tarkenton three times in one game,” linebacker Dave Robinson said in the Packers’ locker room at old Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minn. “But the Big Cat (Williams’ nickname) did it today.”

In 1975, Williams had a career best 10½ sacks, but he always felt 1972 was his best season.

“I don’t think I had a great year after that year,” he said in a 2004 interview. “I had solid years.”

In all, he played in 111 games for the Packers.

“I just didn’t know much about Green Bay,” Williams recalled years later to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I was a small-town country boy from Texas. I watched Green Bay in the Super Bowls and the Packers-Cowboys games all the time on TV. Green Bay was just so far north, and I hadn’t gone anywhere north in my life. I had no sense of the climate or the town… I saw cornfields and woods on the plane and then went straight to St. Norbert’s [the college where the Packers had training camp]. I was young, 24 or 25, and was just in awe. The weather was so different and there weren’t any black people up there. I couldn’t get a haircut anywhere. All I knew about Green Bay was the football team.”

Williams was a player representative for the Packers during his career. He also made Green Bay home when he left football and served as a defensive coach for St. Norbert College for two years.

From 1988-91, he coached at Southeast Missouri State. He moved to Cincinnati in 1994.

Williams is survived by Icy, his wife of 48 years, and his children Clarence Jr., Cary Leon and Marla Rachelle.

Sources: Pro Football Talk; Green Bay Packers; Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

2017 Rookie Camp

It wasn’t publicized very much, but the Packers had their drafted players, undrafted free agents, and tryout players in Green Bay for workouts this Friday and Saturday. Above, courtesy of ESPN, is the list of players in town — 58 in all. The draft picks have a leg up on the others, but all of them have NFL dreams that will be furthered or quashed in the next few months.

Nominate Jerry Kramer for HOF

The question that keeps being asked over and over is “Why is Jerry Kramer NOT in the Pro Football Hall of Fame”? The answer is that there is both no answer and many answers. Opinions are plentiful, but most of them make no sense. The ballot above was on his daughter Alicia’s Twitter account (@JerryKramer4HOF), and we’re sharing it here so that our readers — who come here for Packers history content — can fill it out and mail it to the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Your cooperation is appreciated. Thank you.

Draft Picks Get Jersey Numbers

Following the yearly NFL Draft, we wait to see which numbers the draft picks will choose for their Green Bay Packers jerseys. This will become their immediate identity, and their lasting legacy. Above, you will see what the Class of 2017 will wear this season and as long as they are Packers.