Mr. Tom Bettis

William Thomas "Tom" Bettis starred at Purdue and was selected by the Green Bay Packers in the first round of the 1955 NFL Draft. He played nine seasons for the Packers, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Chicago Bears. Bettis served as interim coach of the Kansas City Chiefs in 1977 after the firing of Paul Wiggin. In seven games as head coach, Bettis complied a 1-6 record, ending a 12 year stint as a coach with the Kansas City Chiefs. He returned in 1988 to be the defensive backs coach of the Chiefs.

Victory in Philly!

The Green Bay Packers have defeated the Philadelphia Eagles in a playoff game (FINALLY!). Click here to see all the game highlights. Who would’ve thought a team that has 15 players out for the season would advance to the NFC Divisional Playoffs? Packer fans, enjoy the ride. The journey is the reward.

Hot War in the West

On this day before the NFC Wild Card playoff in Philadelphia, we’re going to present here the October 31, 1966 Sports Illustrated issue featuring Bart Starr on the cover, and chronicling the ’66 season at that point. Many other teams were chasing the Packers, but it would be all for naught, as we know they took the title that year.

A great action shot of RB Donny Anderson.

They don’t make cars like this anymore!

A Game in Philly to Forget

No, we’re not referring to the “4th and 26” game of several years ago in today’s blog title. The 1960 N.F.L. championship game between Green Bay and Philadelphia was held on December 26, 1960. A capacity crowd of 67,325 Philadelphia fans gathered at Franklin Field, then (as now) the home field of the University of Pennsylvania football team, with 7,000 temporary seats having been added. The Eagles were major underdogs going into the Championship game.

Philadelphia won 17-13 despite being outgained 401-296, with only 13 first downs to the Packers' 22. Chuck Bednarik tackled Jim Taylor on the final play of the game at the Eagles' eight yard line (Bednarik was the last Eagle between Taylor and the end zone), and remained atop Taylor for several seconds as the final seconds ticked off the clock, ensuring the Packers could not run another play. It would prove to be Packers' coach Vince Lombardi's sole career playoff loss as a coach, and is the Eagles' most recent championship.

The ticket above is from that fateful Sunday.

More from Philly ’62

In anticipation of this Sunday’s playoff game, we’re here to present a few more photos of the Packers and Eagles in November 1962. Above, a shot of the Green Bay sideline, fairly early in the game, judging by the cleanliness of the uniforms. Some the visible players are: Forrest Gregg (#75), Bob Skoronski (#76), Lew Carpenter (#33), and Bart Starr (#15).

Starr (#15) again behind Jim Ringo at center, before the start of another play.

After the snap, Starr looks for his ball carrier to complete the hand-off.

We’re not sure here, but it looks like a fumble and Jim Taylor (#31) has his eyes on the situation.

Ron Kramer (#88) is off on the snap of the ball to make his way through the Philadelphia secondary.

Earlier Philly Action

With the NFC Wild Card Playoff game in Philadelphia this Sunday, we thought we’d post a few images from an earlier time out east. These images are from the November 11, 1962 game at Franklin Field, when the visiting Green Bay Packers beat the Eagles 49-0. Wouldn’t it be nice if the score on Sunday was similar? Above, QB Bart Starr (#15) barks off the signals under center Jim Ringo (#51).

Starr comes to the sideline to confer with Packers’ coach Vince Lombardi and others.

On defense, DE Willie Davis (#87) takes on his opposing lineman, while LB Ray Nitschke (#66) watches the play develop to determine his attack.

Nitschke on the Practice Field

We don’t need a good reason to post a classic photo of Hall of Famer Ray Nitschke, do we? We didn’t think so. This good-will ambassador for the Green Bay Packers left us much too soon.

Walking to the “Old Lambeau”

Here’s a walk your Packerville editor has done many times over the years... walking across the Lambeau Field parking lot on the way to a game. This photo brings back good memories of the Holmgren era — the days before the renovated stadium, and the anticipation that a certain QB wearing a number “4” jersey would do something you’d never seen before during the game. Now that his career might possibly be at the end, the healing can start between Favre and the Packers organization. We have a treasure trove of material from that era that we’ve just not been in the mood to share in the last three years, but some day soon we will start to work that time period into the rotation here at the blog.

Congratulations to our 2010 Packers for beating the Bears yesterday — and securing a spot in the playoffs, giving us all at least one more game of Green Bay football before the long, bleak winter settles in.

Back to 1954 — Part II

Finishing up the November 21, 1954 game program is on tap today, and we start off with some more player biographies from that team.

Here’s the complete Packers roster from 1954.

More of your Packer players.

A young Max McGee is spotlighted here.

A full-page portrait of popular Clayton Tonnemaker is ready for an autograph.

We wonder how long ago Baums Department Store went out of business.

In case you’re curious, here is the complete “revised” N.F.L. schedule for 1954.

We end up with a toast of Miller High Life for our Packers against the Chicago Bears today... the season is on the line. Good luck, boys!

Back to 1954 — Part I

Happy New Year to all, and welcome to another year — our fifth — on The Web. As you know, we focus a lot of our historical attention on the Lombardi Era Packers, but now and then we jump further back or further ahead to the present day. To start off 2011, we are going back to visit the 1954 team, by showcasing this game program from a November game at Old CIty Stadium. The Detroit Lions were in town, and the Packers lost to the then-N.F.L. powerhouse(!) Lions 21-17. Strangely enough, the two teams met in the Motor City four days later for their annual Thanksgiving matchup, which the Lions also won 28-24. Green Bay finished at 4-6 that season, while the Lions were defeated by the Browns, 56-10, in the N.F.L. title game in Cleveland.

Here were your sources in “Packerland” for all Packers news in those days… I assume it was the same if you lived in Packerville as well.

In the days before The Weather Channel, we find it interesting that the Prange’s weather beacon was how local residents got their “forecast” (see the bottom of the above ad). My, how technology has changed. Prange’s, for you non-Midwesterners, was a major department store chain with their headquarters in Green Bay, Wis.

Here are the folks who ran your Green Bay Packers in the 1950’s. The team’s record for the decade (before Lombardi was hired in 1959) was 32-72-2. Yikes.

Capital Airlines was the official Packers airline in the 1950’s, as indicated by this ad. Capital was an airline which merged with United Airlines in 1961. Its primary hubs were National Airport near Washington, DC, and Allegheny County Airport near Pittsburgh. At its peak, it was the fifth largest domestic carrier in the U.S.

Above and below are biographies of your coaching staff for 1954.

Be sure to wait outside the locker room after the game to see of you can get the autograph of our team’s star quarterback, Tobin Rote.

Another photograph of the Packer Lumberjack Band, which we’ve spotlighted now and then on the Packerville blog.

Some game action from the 1954 team is seen here at the top of the page.

The program had some information on each of the Packers’ top players, beginning here.

In this ad, we can see the Green Bay Packers radio network, which reached into three states beyond Wisconsin’s borders.

This ad provided a 1953 team photo.

More player biographies here…

… and here, as well. Manci’s Supper Club was to later become a favorite spot for the Lombardi’s after home games in the 1960’s.

There are a lot of historical tidbits to be learned here…

It was nice of the Prest-o-lite people to include some game action in their ad.

We’ll end up today’s entry here on the program’s center spread, with a look at each team’s roster for the day’s contest. Come back tomorrow for Part II of this game program.