LOOKING BACK — TO 1967: Wisconsin Gov. Warren Knowles and Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi celebrate in the locker room after Green Bay's 35-14 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFL-NFL Championship Game (Super Bowl I) at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on January 15, 1967.
Knowles was born in River Falls, Wisconsin, graduated first from River Falls High School in 1926 and then Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. He was first elected to the Wisconsin State Senate in 1940, becoming Majority Leader after only two years in office in 1943, but during World War II he took a break to serve as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Nevada. Following his military service, Knowles resumed serving in the Wisconsin State Senate for five additional legislative terms until his election as Lieutenant Governor in 1954. Elected governor narrowly over the Democratic incumbent John W. Reynolds in 1964, he served three two-year terms from 1965 to 1971. During these years, he called out the National Guard periodically to maintain civil order during the University of Wisconsin's anti-war and civil rights demonstrations.
After leaving the governor's chair, Knowles became chairman of Heritage Wisconsin Corporation, a Milwaukee bank holding company. Knowles died on May 1, 1993, after suffering a heart attack while participating in the Governor's Fishing Opener, an event he helped organize 25 years earlier. Knowles had been fishing for several hours on Lake Arbutus with a friend and a guide, and collapsed after weighing in a fish about 2:30 p.m. His body was donated to the Medical College of Wisconsin. “His passion... was fishing. He certainly loved doing that,” Gov. Tommy Thompson said. “If you have to go, I don't think there's a better way that Warren would like to go than with a fishing pole in his hand, on a fishing trip.”
Sources: Associated Press, The New York Times, Wikipedia
