1965 Title Game Program — Part II

Before the kickoff of tonight’s NFC Divisional Playoff game between the Packers and Falcons, we’re here to post the rest of our presentation of the 1965 title game program. This page has Packer player portraits, plus an ad featuring Browns’ QB Frank Ryan. Although he led the Browns to their last National Football League title in 1964, Ryan is best remembered for being perhaps the only Ph.D. in mathematics to play in the league, completing a doctorate at Rice University (1965) with the dissertation A Characterization of the Set of Asymptotic Values of a Function Holomorphic in the Unit Disc. He played with Cleveland through the 1968 season.

Game action from the previous week’s Western Conference Playoff game. The Packers beat the Baltimore Colts on a overtime field goal by Don Chandler to come out on top, 13-10. Chandler’s field goal to tie the game is still disputed today, and resulted in the goal post uprights being extended vertically for the 1966 season.

Meet your Green Bay Packers Board of Directors, 1965 version.

The Cleveland Browns’ 1965 complete roster.

Starting lineups for both teams, from the game program’s center spread.

We liked this Coca-Cola ad with all of the team logos on the insides of the bottle caps. Bottle caps... remember them?

Some of the stars of the ’65 Cleveland Browns.

Your 1965 Green Bay Packers complete roster.

Your 1965 Green Bay Packers coaching assistants.

Your 1965 Green Bay Packers team photo.

More stars of the ’65 Cleveland Browns.

Along with more Packer portraits, we see an ad for the Hotel Northland. This building is still there, now used as lower income housing. About 150 seniors and disabled people live in the Port Plaza Towers (the Northland’s newer name), but not for much longer. City leaders plan to restore it to the historic hotel it once was. “Some people will say we have a lot of hotel rooms. Sure but do we have the right hotel rooms? There's a call from conventioneers, people and they're going to support this renovated first class hotel,” said Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt.

The Hotel Northland opened in 1924. For more than 50 years it hosted elegant parties, banquets and visiting N.F.L. teams. Schmitt believes it can once again be not only a place to stay, but a social center for the downtown. In the olden days, Green Bay fans would keep visiting teams up half the night by driving around the block and honking their horns. Anything to help the home team!

Packer portraits.

Packer portraits.

Packer portraits.

Some Packers administrative information.

Your Packers Executive Committee for 1965.

And we finish up this subject matter with some final portraits of your 1965 Packer stars. Good luck to our 2010 team as they take on the Atlanta Falcons in tonight’s playoff game!

Coach Phil

Today we present another shot of head coach Phil Bengston on the sidelines, making decisions with the information from up in the assistant coaches booth. Formerly the defensive coordinator, Bengston — you may recall — had the particular misfortune of taking over for Vince Lombardi in 1968. In the next three seasons, Bengston’s Packers underwhelmed the fans’ expectations and compiled a 20-21-1 record.

After a turbulent 1970 season filled with labor disputes, blowout losses, and the final merger of the AFL and NFL, the Packers had only their second losing season since 1959. Thoroughly frustrated, Phil Bengtson resigned two days after being shut out in the season finale against the Detroit Lions. It was obvious the organization and the community craved the high standards of winning established a decade earlier.

The 1970 season was also the final season of Forrest Gregg as a Packer, a year later he returned home to play for the Dallas Cowboys where he joined his own former Green Bay teammate Herb Adderley.

The Phil Bengston Show

Here is an advertisement from a 1968 game program for “The Phil Bengston Show.” All of the coaches from at least back to Vince Lombardi have had their own television shows. Usually produced by a local Green Bay station, the shows aired weekly to review the last game and provide a preview look at the upcoming contest.

Bengtson was a native of Roseau, Minnesota, and played tackle under Bernie Bierman at the University of Minnesota during the 1930s. In 1934, he earned All-America honors with the Golden Gophers, working in tandem with a player who would go on to coaching immortality: quarterback Bud Wilkinson.

Bengtson took his first assistant coaching job at the Missouri in 1935, but soon returned to his alma mater as line coach, staying through the 1939 season. Beginning in 1940, he moved to Stanford where he served as an assistant coach for 12 years. Bengtson moved to the professional level in 1952 with the nearby San Francisco 49ers.

In seven seasons with the Niners, Bengtson would serve under three head coaches (Buck Shaw, Red Strader, Frankie Albert) before being dismissed with Albert after the 1958 season. Soon after, he was one of the first four assistants hired in Lombardi's first week with the Packers in early February 1959.
Phil Bengtson would be the only assistant coach to stay during the entire nine-year tenure of Lombardi (1959-1967). His work as defensive coordinator of the Packers established his coaching ability and put him in line to succeed Lombardi. From 1961-67, the Packers captured five NFL titles, and the first two Super Bowls.

Bengtson did replace Lombardi following the 1967 season. His low-key approach was in sharp contrast to the often-volatile Lombardi. With the aging of key players, this translated into mediocrity for the franchise. Bengtson's Packers were 20-21-1 in his three seasons as head coach. After a 6-8 record in 1970, he was relieved of his duties, replaced by Missouri head coach Dan Devine for the 1971 season. Devine lasted four seasons with the Packers, moving back to the collegiate level at Notre Dame following the 1974 season. Lombardi's former quarterback, Bart Starr, became the head coach of the Packers in 1975.

Bengtson resurfaced with the San Diego Chargers and New England Patriots, becoming the interim head coach of the Patriots in late 1972. Later, he was named the team's Director of Pro Scouting, staying through the 1974 season.

Phil Bengtson died at age 81 after a long illness at his home in San Diego on December 18, 1994.