Hornung Options

As quarterback Bart Starr (#15) watches, halfback Paul Hornung (#5) throws the option pass to an unknown receiver, while Forrest Gregg is on the ground, having provided the necessary blocking to complete the play. This is on a play against the New York Giants in Green Bay’s City Stadium (later Lambeau Field). It’s not clear why the Giants’ player standing at left has no logo on the right side of his helmet.

Lombardi on Broadway

From the Packerville, U.S.A. new wires: “The first hints of what the Broadway play, “Lombardi,” will look like have been released by the producers. Seven images from the pre-Broadway production may be viewed at the Broadway World Web site. The play about legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi starts preview performances Sept. 23, with the premiere set for Oct. 21. These photos are from a one-week run in late July at Great Barrington, Mass. In New York, the play will be presented in a slightly different way, with the audience surrounding the stage on all sides.”

The Sun Rises on Old Lambeau

Today we bring you one old photo of the former appearance of Lambeau Field. This is before the ends were enclosed with private boxes during the Wolf-Holmgren era. As we’ve stated before, we loved the old Lambeau, but we also have no complaints about the renovated stadium. This is simply a glance at an earlier time, as we look forward to the 2010 with optimism.

Football Pros — 1964

In the summer of 1964, the Packers were gearing up to make a run at a championship after being thwarted by their conference rival Chicago Bears for the 1963 N.F.L. title. It would’ve been three-in-a-row for the second time in team history if they’d been able to pull it off. Here is a publication from before the ’64 season, and we’re featuring their predition for our Green Bay Packers in that season.

The Packers (8-5-1) finished four games behind the Western Conference champion Baltimore Colts (12-2), who would lose to the Eastern Conference champs Cleveland Browns by a score of 27-0 in the N.F.L. title game at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, Cleveland, Ohio, on December 27, 1964. Green Bay’s fortunes would fare much better in 1965.

Saturday in Green Bay

On Saturday, we headed North to Green Bay to attend the first preseason game of 2010. Above, driving through downtown Milwaukee, four lanes of traffic head to Titletown.

Can you think of a better place to spend a late summer evening with 69,000+ other football fans?

We didn’t bring our fancy camera and telephoto gear to this game, preferring to travel light and just relax while enjoying some football. But here’s a few photos to give the flavor of the evening. Above, the rest of the Packers take the field before the defense was introduced to the crowd.

Aaron Rodgers leads the starting offensive unit on a scoring drive that would end in a rushing touchdown. He threw for another touchdown earlier.

A view of the Lambeau Field crowd later in the evening.

Alas, the Packers fell to the Cleveland Browns on a last-second field goal.

The crowd heads for home after the final kick.

Heading to Lambeau

A hectic schedule has limited our blogging time, and we’re headed to Green Bay this morning to attend the Packers-Browns game this evening. Our post for today is an image of the last touchdown in Milwaukee County Stadium. We were there on December 18, 1994 when the Packers defeated the Atlanta Falcons 21-17 on this last-minute touchdown dive by quarterback Brett Favre. The next season, all the games were held in Lambeau Field for the first time. Us “Gold Package” (former Milwaukee) ticket holders were given one preseason game and two regular season games at Lambeau, which is why we’re going to tonight’s game.

At some point in the future, when a certain QB is finally done playing and the healing process begins between he and the franchise, we’ll share a lot more material from his playing days.

September 1972 Program III

Our last installment of the September 24, 1972 Packers-Raiders game program begins with a lengthy article on the zone defense, 1972-style.

Remember the Sunoco N.F.L. sticker book craze of that year?

More of your Green Bay stars.

John Madden is known by later generations as a television commentator during N.F.L. games, but in this era, he was the head coach of the Oakland Raiders. Also noteworthy is the Pizza Hut ad at the top of the page featuring former Packer receiver Bob Long (1964-67), who owned many franchises.

Even more Packers stars.

The Packers’ behind-the-scenes staff is given recognition here. “Dad” Braisher (lower right) is the one who designed the “G” on Green Bay’s helmets, later to become the franchise’s logo.

Here’s a couple of pages with photo highlights from the fifth (of six) exhibition games that year, against the St. Louis Cardinals in Green Bay.

Lastly, you could’ve made your plans to join Bart & Cherry Starr on a post-season cruise. The Packers lost the game on the day of this program, 20-14, which was the second game of the season.

September 1972 Program II

Continuing on with our visit back to 1972, we have another page featuring some photos of your favorite Packer stars.

These two pages will give you more information than you probably need about the Green Bay team of that year.

Here’s your Packers roster for ’72.

And here’s the roster of the Oakland Raiders, their opponent on that September 24th.

Your game highlights can be found on Green Bay’s Channel 11 on Sunday nights.

You can print out this page featuring Packers’ quarterback Scott Hunter to hang on your bedroom wall with all the other sports stars of the era.

Both of these books reside in the Packerville, U.S.A. archives.

Here’s a three-page photo essay of 1972 action.

While you’re watching some preseason (or exhibition) N.F.L. football this weekend, you can try keeping your own record of the action at home on this play chart, provided by the folks at Chevrolet.

Come back tomorrow for the conclusion of this 1972 game program.

September 1972 Program

We’re next going to present some pages of the game program for September 24, 1972. Besides the fact that this game was played on your Packerville, U.S.A. editor’s tenth birthday, it was also the year that the Packers won the Central Division title for the first time since 1967. The cover (above) is a classic art style for that era.

First up is a spread on Green Bay head coach Dan Devine.

Here is the Packers’ coaching staff for 1972, which included two former players of the Lombardi Era, Bart Starr and Dave Hanner.

Some of your 1972 Green Bay Packers.

Check out the attire that these N.F.L. “players” are sporting in the “locker room.”

“O.K., we’ll take four of the NFC mugs that have the Packer helmet, please.”

Electric football! Who can forget the hours of fun that provided?

Looking back on his playing days, former quarterback Bart Starr writes about the defensive opponents he faced in his career.

Lastly for this blog entry, the youth uniforms in those days look more realistic that the modern versions. Come back for more from 1972!