Miscellaneous Wednesday

If you’re a long-time Packerville, U.S.A. reader (thank you, by the way), you know that from time to time we like to scope out some Packers memorabilia from auctions. That’s where some of today’s treasures were found, and none of them were current auctions. Above and below are a couple samples of the Mobil Oil NFL posters that were available in 1965-66(?).

These are Curly Lambeau’s football spkies. At least, that’s what we’re told.

Button from (Dave) “Hawg Hanner Day.” From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: “Hanner received an honor in 1962 reserved for only a few select players in franchise history. The popular defensive tackle was recognized during "Dave Hanner Day" before the Baltimore Colts game at City Stadium on Nov. 18, 1962. The team presented Hanner with several gifts, including a white station wagon, a tractor with a snow blower, and cash. Some of the 38,669 fans sported "Hawg Hanner" buttons and cheered wildly for their defensive hero in the Packers' 17-13 victory over the Colts.”

Dave “Hawg” Hanner — Green Bay defensive tackle from 1952-64.

Hanner (#79 at right) makes a tackle near the goal line on a 49ers ballcarrier in a December 10, 1962 game in San Francisco. Wrapping the runner up initially is CB Herb Adderley (#26), with LB Ray Nitschke (#66, at left) coming in for an assist. This is from a newspaper archive, and the circled area appears to perhaps reference a knee injury that may have occurred on the play.

A Dave Boss-stylized Green Bay Packers poster from the 1960s.

Above and below, some select old Packers trading cards from quite a long time ago. 

You often see these old Williams Advertising posters for sale or on display, but you don’t often see the envelopes that contained the sets. 

Here are a few examples of the posters you would have collected in those days. Above, we see Bill Curry.

        Bob Jeter 

        Dave Robinson 

        Lee Roy Caffey 

        Willie Wood

Summer inches closer in northern Wisconsin, and we look forward to Training Camp drawing near, as well as all the fun summer things to do in Green Bay. The CityDeck (seen above) along the Fox River is just one piece of the revitalization of Titletown’s downtown. As part-time residents of Green Bay now, we enjoy all the time we are able to spend there.

The 1964 Philadelphia Card Set

Today we have a card set produced by the Philadelphia card folks. This set is missing only the Bart Starr card, which we couldn’t round up to show you. Apparently, it is a rare card to find. This year, we see both Willie Davis and Herb Adderley showing up in the “card worthy” category.

Willie Davis, who played college ball at Grambling State University, suited up for the Packers from 1960-1969 and is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was drafted by Cleveland and obtained through a trade with the Browns after the 1959 season. Davis was an offensive lineman, but was switched to defensive lineman by Lombardi, who saw his true talent.

Herb Adderly, from Michigan State, played in the green and gold during almost the same years, 1961-1969. Adderley was drafted by the Packers in the first round in 1961 as the 12th draft pick, and was projected to be a halfback or flanker, but soon saw that his playing opportunities would be limited on offense behind veteran Packer stars Paul Hornung and Jim Taylor. He was first moved to cornerback to replace an injured teammate. In 1962 the move became permanent and Adderley went on to become an all-NFL selection five times. He won two Super Bowl rings with Green Bay, and one with Dallas in Super Bowl V.

Packers’ 1963 Topps Set

The posting for today features the Topps' set of cards for 1963, again featuring most of the same players, but with a few additions. Ron Kramer, Willie Wood, and Ray Nitschke show up in this season’s Topps’ edition as newcomers to the status of “card worthy” players.

Ron Kramer (no relation to guard Jerry Kramer), a tight end from Michigan, played for the Packers in 1957, and again from 1959-1964; Safety Willie Wood, a free agent who wrote a letter to Lombardi for a tryout, played for the team from 1960-1971 and is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame; and infamous linebacker Ray Nitschke, who played from 1958-1972, is also an NFL Hall of Famer.

These cards feature great photos of some of the greatest players to ever put on a green and gold uniform.

Your 1960 Packers

O.K., we’ll stay on the football card theme for a few days. Today, we have the 1960 Topps’ card set, featuring many of the same suspects that were on the 1959 set. Oddly enough, Topps apparently still couldn’t scare up a photo of Jim Taylor in a Packers’ uniform, as he’s still depicted in the LSU red jersey; the other thing to note would be that Forrest Gregg appears on his rookie card.

This is the team that would win the Western Division for Vince Lombardi and lose to the Philadelphia Eagles 17-14 at the end of the season — the only championship game that Green Bay would lose until Super Bowl XXXII in January 1998. But that’s another story.