Big 50: Green Bay Packers: The Men and Moments that Made the Green Bay Packers
336
Big 50: Green Bay Packers: The Men and Moments that Made the Green Bay Packers
336Paperback
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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781629375243 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Triumph Books |
| Publication date: | 09/03/2019 |
| Series: | The Big 50 |
| Pages: | 336 |
| Sales rank: | 1,018,510 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d) |
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CHAPTER 1
Super Bowl XLV
The dye is officially No. 5535 on the Pantone Matching System color chart. It's what gives the heavyweight polyester mesh its dark green hue. But as he stood near his locker for quite possibly the final time, Brandon Jackson knew that far more had seeped into that jersey, that it had absorbed four of the best years of his life Sunday by Sunday, culminating in the Super Bowl XLV championship 48 hours earlier.
It was a remarkable scene at Lambeau Field that afternoon with more than 50,000 devoted people braving subzero wind chills to listen to their heroes thank them for their support, promise a repeat in 2011, and share the love that came with the Packers' fourth Super Bowl title and 13th overall championship. But to truly understand what this team accomplished with its 31 — 25 victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Cowboys Stadium on February 6, 2011, you needed to come in from the cold. Super Bowl MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers' speech was great, the players' victory lap around the stadium while holding out the Vince Lombardi Trophy for front-rowers to touch was wonderful, and general manager Ted Thompson nervously calling it the Lambeau Trophy was charmingly comical. But it was in watching 50 or so grown men jockey for position at the equipment room window — where Tom "T-Bone" Bakken, Gordon "Red" Batty, Tim Odea, and the rest of the equipment staff were handing out their game-worn green jerseys — that the accomplishment became real.
It was in watching Jackson tugging at the edges of the fabric, tracing the outline of the No. 32 twill, and Jarrett Bush's eyes moistening as he talked about the interception he'd snared while wearing his No. 24. It was in those moments when the reality of what they'd accomplished truly sunk in. "That's four hard years of dedication, blood, sweat, tears, adversity that goes into that 32," said Jackson, the undersized running back who toiled as the team's third-down back without a single complaint even after Ryan Grant's season-ending ankle injury didn't lead to the full-time starting gig he'd expected. "The history of the organization goes into that 32. My family, the love, the support goes into that 32. My faith in Christ goes into that 32. There's a lot of history, there's a lot of accolades, there's a lot of things that go into that 32 that's on that jersey. That jersey will not be washed. It will be hung up, framed with the rest of my jerseys that I have from college, high school. That 32 is very special to me ... It's emotional when I talk about it because I've been through a lot here. The road is tough. And to bring home the Lombardi Trophy, to have that patch on the side of my shoulder, it's amazing."
Moments earlier, in another part of the expansive locker room, Bush was staring at the captains' patch embroidered on one side of the collar and the Super Bowl XLV logo heat-transferred on the other. The special teams ace had been through his share of ups and downs during his five years in Green Bay, enduring more than his share of criticism along the way. But as he looked at the No. 24 on his jersey, he rattled off the stains: "Gatorade, dirt, some chicken broth."
He came to another mark and knew immediately what it was from: the ball from his second-quarter interception. "My heart melted," he said, bowing his head, tears welling. "Just all the doubters, all the believers who believed. It's gratifying. Gratifying. To get an opportunity at that time, at that moment in time throughout the whole season, to have it happen at that time, it was special. It meant a lot to me. After the game I broke down. That's how much I put into this. It's not just here. I go home, I think about it. I think about the stuff I try to work on. I work on that year-round. I go back home; it doesn't end here. It's a job, but you definitely take it home because you take so much pride in it."
The post-Super Bowl jersey giveaway wasn't the first time Packers players were allowed to keep their jerseys, but according to "T-Bone," who has been with the team for more than two decades now, it is a rarity. Each jersey is specifically tailored to each player — "You don't just throw a jersey at them," Bakken said — for the perfect fit, so they are normally re-used for multiple years.
But after their Super Bowl triumph, each jersey was given to its owner, and each told a story. "I took mine from the game. I didn't want them to wash it. I wanted to keep it stinky with the holes and the tears and the scuff marks on it," fullback John Kuhn said. "Just great memories, man. There was a lot of hard work that went into that victory we had on Sunday. We've all had our ups and downs this year as an individual and as a team."
While there were no tears from Rodgers that afternoon, there was an incredible sense of accomplishment, a feeling that came after he'd spent so much of his football life ... waiting. Waiting for Division I college recruiters who never called. Waiting in the green room of the Jacob Javits Center in New York City during the 2005 NFL Draft, when he fell from possibly being the No. 1 overall pick to No. 24. Waiting three years behind a waffling legend whose attempt to reclaim his job in the summer of 2008 divided Packer Nation.
As it turned out, it was all worth the wait — for Rodgers and for the Packers. So when Rodgers took to the postgame victory dais after the game alongside coach Mike McCarthy, Thompson, and team president/CEO Mark Murphy to accept the Lombardi Trophy from FOX Sports' Terry Bradshaw, Rodgers waited patiently off to the side. Then he told those three men what he'd been waiting years to tell them: thank you. "That's what I did on the podium. I thanked Ted and Mark and Mike really for believing in me and giving me an opportunity," Rodgers said. "I told Ted back in 2005 [that] he wouldn't be sorry with this pick. I told him in '08 that I was going to repay their trust and get us this opportunity."
And while Rodgers was rewarding Thompson, McCarthy, Murphy, and the team's passionate fanbase with the franchise's fourth Super Bowl championship, he didn't go home empty-handed after completing 24-of39 passes (numbers skewed by several drops by receivers) for 304 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions for a passer rating of 111.5.
For his patience Rodgers was rewarded with an uplifting celebratory ride on the shoulders of his teammates, a championship belt from Clay Matthews to commemorate his signature belt celebration, the Super Bowl MVP award, and a place in the hallowed lore of the NFL's most historic franchise. "I'm very proud of Aaron. He's a good player, a good teammate," Thompson said in the locker room later. "I think people are going to write stories about him 10 years from now. He's pretty special. Even though he's done so much, he's still just kind of getting started." Rodgers got started fast against the Steelers, but he saved his biggest throws for the fourth quarter. The first came with 13 minutes and 16 seconds left in the game and the Packers clinging to a 21–17 lead. Facing third and 10 from the Steelers' 40-yard line after Jordy Nelson dropped what would have been a first down and more, Rodgers lined up in the shotgun with Jackson in the backfield and his four remaining wide receivers (with Donald Driver out with a high ankle sprain) spreading the field. He went right back to Nelson, who beat safety Ryan Clark for a 38-yard gain to the Steelers' 2. Two plays later Rodgers hit Greg Jennings for an eight-yard touchdown and a 28–17 lead. "He played extremely well," offensive coordinator Joe Philbin said, adding that Rodgers made a protection adjustment on the play just before the snap. "If you're going to win a championship, you've got to make some plays in the fourth quarter when things are tough."
Rodgers made another such play on the Packers' next possession after the Steelers pulled within three points on Mike Wallace's 25-yard touchdown catch and the ensuing two-point conversion. Facing third and 10 from his own 25 with 5:59 to play, Rodgers threw an absolutely picture-perfect ball to Jennings across the middle with the ball sneaking just over the outstretched hand of cornerback Ike Taylor and right in stride to Jennings, who caught the ball at the Green Bay 45 and turned it into a momentum-shifting 31-yard gain. Rodgers then hit James Jones for a 21yard gain three plays later, and while the Packers settled for a 23-yard Mason Crosby field goal when the drive bogged down inside the 10, the Packers were back in control.
"We put everything on his shoulders," said McCarthy, whose team set a Super Bowl record by having just 13 rushing attempts — 11 by James Starks (for 52 yards) and two kneel-downs by Rodgers (for -2 yards) in the victory formation. "He did a lot at the line of scrimmage against a great defense. He did a hell of a job."
The defense clinched the win from there, and Rodgers, who received 17.5 of a possible 20 MVP votes, joined Bart Starr (Super Bowls I and II) as the only Packers quarterbacks to win the MVP award in the sport's greatest game. "I've said it once and I'll say it again: no one person has ever won a game by themselves," Rodgers said. "This is a team effort and a great group of men, special guys. And I'm just blessed to be one of the leaders on this team. Individually, it's the top of the mountain in my sport, my profession. It's what you dream about as a kid."
CHAPTER 2Vince Lombardi
It is hard to measure Vincent Thomas Lombardi's impact on the city of Green Bay, the Packers franchise, and the National Football League, but we're going to give it a shot. The Packers' stadium and front offices are located at 1265 Lombardi Avenue, a street named after the coach who won five NFL titles in nine seasons, spanning from 1959 to 1967.
Then again, plenty of notable people in other cities are honored with street names. Green Bay-area motorists drive on Holmgren Way, Mike McCarthy Way, and Brett Favre Pass.
There is a Lombardi statue — a 14-footer with a four-foot base — located outside Lambeau Field that draws hundreds of thousands of photo-taking fans per year. A lot of people are honored with statues, particularly athletes, so that isn't exactly unique.
The NFL's Super Bowl trophy carries Lombardi's name. And, you'll see replicas of all sizes in bars, bowling alleys, and backyards throughout Titletown. There are plenty of folks with trophies named in their honor. John Heisman, Cy Young, Larry O'Brien, Hobey Baker, and Lord Stanley spring instantly to mind. There was a Broadway play about Lombardi and a best-selling biography, but Hamilton and countless others have experienced similar honors.
How many people, though, can say they have their own time zone? Since 2012 the clock over the Bellin Health Gate at Lambeau Field has been set to "Lombardi Time," which is to say it is 15 minutes fast. Legend has it that Lombardi demanded that players, assistant coaches, and team attendants arrive for practice, meetings, travel, and other appointments 15 minutes before the scheduled time. "If you weren't early, you were late," Hall of Famer Dave Robinson said, echoing what dozens of other players from the glory years said of their coach. Although its usage may have waned in recent years, a generation of Baby Boom-era parents in Green Bay, De Pere, Ashwaubenon, and surrounding areas implored their kids to get ready for school, church, and family functions on "Lombardi Time."
When the Packers unveiled the giant clock — which faces Lombardi Avenue — in 2012, they considered installing a "Lombardi Time" sign underneath. They didn't. Several people called the team offices to point out the time was off, but then Michele Tafoya broke the news during a national broadcast of a Packers-Lions game in December of 2012. "We decided not to announce it. We thought the best way to do it would be to let it come out naturally," team president Mark Murphy told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "It will be kind of an urban legend. It will be the kind of thing that people will now look at when they come to Lambeau Field and talk about it."
A half-century after his passing, folks in Green Bay still talk about Lombardi — and not just in reference to the time. A Brooklyn native who had spent the previous five years as the halfbacks coach for the New York Giants, Lombardi was hired by Green Bay on January 28, 1959. The Packers were coming off a franchise-worst 1–10–1 record, and "Titletown" hadn't experienced a winning season in 11 years. That changed instantly thanks to a man whose only previous head coaching experience had come at St. Cecilia High School in Englewood, New Jersey. "I've never been associated with a loser and I don't expect to be now," Lombardi said at his introductory press conference, which marked the culmination of infighting among the 45 members of the board of directors, who might as well have been The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight.
The board had considered hiring Forest Evashevski, the head coach at the University of Iowa, but settled on Lombardi, who demanded his fate be decided by the smaller executive committee rather than the full board. Longtime Milwaukee Sentinel columnist Bud Lea was in the crowd that day. "People were asking, 'Who in the hell is Vince Lombardi?'" Lea recalled. "Well, it didn't take very long for them to find out."
A master motivator with a keen eye for talent who was relentless in his pursuit of perfection in both gameplanning and execution, Lombardi led the Packers to a 7 — 5 record his first season. In 1960 the Packers lost an agonizingly close NFL Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles. After that they captured five titles in seven years, including a run of three straight that began in 1965 and ended with triumphs in the first two Super Bowls.
Lombardi resigned as coach of the Packers on February 1, 1968, to focus on his duties as general manager. He left Green Bay the following year and spent one season as the head coach of the Washington Redskins. He died of cancer at age 57 on September 3, 1970.
• Lombardi's legacy in Green Bay encompasses more than a street, statue, championships, trophies, or a clock tower. Consider:
• In 1961 he made the decision to add the "G" logo to the Packers' helmets. The design and development included Gerald "Dad" Braisher and his part-time assistant, an art student at St. Norbert College named John Gordon, along with Romo Display Advertising of Green Bay.
• His final game in Green Bay, the Ice Bowl victory against the visiting Dallas Cowboys, is one of the iconic games in NFL history. The Packers overcame -13 degree temperatures and beat the Cowboys 21 — 17 on Bart Starr's one-yard plunge into the end zone with 13 seconds left.
• Lombardi's infamous power sweep became one of the more famous plays in football history.
In an era when racial tensions ran high throughout the nation, Lombardi lectured his team about intolerance and took steps to make sure black players were treated fairly on the team and in the nearly all-white community. "If I ever hear '[n-word]' or 'dago' or 'kike' or anything like that around here, regardless of who you are, you're through with me," he said. "You can't play for me if you have any kind of prejudice."
The Packers had just one black player, Nate Borden, when Lombardi arrived. He acquired several others, many of whom went on to Hall of Fame careers. In 1967 the Packers had 13 black players, and Lombardi always made it known to Fox Valley landlords and local business owners that he expected them to be treated well. "He treats us all the same — like dogs," Henry Jordan famously said, perhaps only half-kidding. Lombardi made sure that the players stayed in the same hotels and dined in the same restaurants, no matter where the team traveled, and that roommate assignments were not made on the basis of race — a notion believed to be a league first.
Lombardi stressed character, discipline, sacrifice, and mental toughness. In his later years, he became a popular public speaker and — though he was a lifetime Democrat with conservative leanings in foreign policy, youth behavior, and other issues — both major parties considered him a potential candidate for public office.
A week after Lombardi's death in 1970, the NFL named the Super Bowl trophy in his honor, and the seven-pound, 21-inch Tiffany's-produced trinket is the standard for excellence by which teams and players are measured.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "The Big 50: Green Bay Packers"
by .
Copyright © 2019 Jason Wilde and Drew Olson.
Excerpted by permission of Triumph Books LLC.
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Table of Contents
Foreword Bob Harlan 6
1 Super Bowl XLV 10
2 Vince Lombardi 16
3 Favre: Birth of a Legend 22
4 Curly Lambeau 28
5 Ice Bowl 40
6 Drafting Aaron Rodgers 50
7 Super Bowl I 58
8 Don Hutson 62
9 Antonio Freeman's Improbable Bobble 66
10 Lambeau Leap 70
11 Bart Starr 80
12 Reggie White 86
13 The Brett Favre Trade 92
14 Super Bowl XXXI 98
15 Jerry Kramer 102
16 James Lofton 110
17 1966 NFL Championship Game 116
18 Brandon Bostick and the One That Got Away 122
19 Bob Harlan 130
20 Ron Wolf 136
21 The Birth of the Packers 144
22 Ray Nitschke 150
23 The John Hadl Trade 158
24 Lynn Dickey 162
25 Verne Lewellen 170
26 The Instant Replay Game 174
27 Hornung, Taylor, and the Power Sweep 180
28 Early Championships 188
29 Mike Holmgren 196
30 Monday Night Madness 202
31 A MNF Game for Irv 208
32 Ted Thompson 214
33 Dan Devine and His Dog 220
34 The Messiest Divorce in Sports History 226
35 1929 Championship 234
36 Uniform Decisions 238
37 Lombardi and Race Relations 242
38 The Fail Mary 248
39 Snow Bowl 256
40 The Butler Did It 262
41 Mike McCarthy 268
42 Super Bowl XXXII 274
43 Donald Driver 280
44 Ezra Johnson and the Hot Dog 286
45 Clay Matthews 292
46 Mud Bowls 298
47 Fourth and 26 304
48 Charles Woodson 310
49 Getting Their Kicks 316
50 Todd Rundgren and "Bang the Drum All Day" 324
Acknowledgments 330
Bibliography 334