Written by David Zimmerman
The history of the Green Bay Packers portrays the most unique story in professional sports. It all began with a brash, young hometown football hero by the name of Lambeau whose only desire was to keep playing football after high school.

Earl “Curly” Lambeau, boy wonder, was truly “one of a kind.” He was the sort of individual who comes around once in a great while and makes a profound difference – the kind who makes an impact and leaves an imprint for generations to come.

Lambeau, as a youth, played football with such passion and devotion that it eventually parlayed him and his hometown of Green Bay, Wisconsin, into the national spotlight. With Lambeau’s unbridles enthusiasm and wholehearted dedication to his football team, both those who played the game and the citizens of the city formed a bond so uncommon that it has also been called “one of a kind.”

As the years went by, men and boys, businessmen and players, united to constitute one of the most unique and heartwarming stories in sports: the undying vision of Lambeau, the hometown boy who didn’t want to stop playing the game, the industrious and courageous men of Green Bay who supported him, the passionate civic loyalty of Green Bay and the entire state of Wisconsin, who lave all melded together over eight decades to produce the wondrous mystique known as the Green Bay Packers.

No one person owns the green Bay Packers. Not then. Not now. Instead, thousands do. Today, 111,000 stockholders own a total of nearly five million shares. In its infancy, the Packers became a non-profit organization that still ranks as the only publicly owned franchise in the major league sports.

The thousands of stockholders are the average fans, the average working Joe, the guy next door. As a result, the people of Green Bay and all of Wisconsin embrace their team as do no other fans elsewhere.

These people see the Packers as one of their own – much like a father and his son or grandson. Packer football is not just a sport to these folks. To outsiders they seem to have a devotion to the Packers that borders on worship. Clearly, those avid early followers and their descendants have created a special kind of bone with the team that has not been duplicated anywhere else the game of football is played.

The smaller city competing against teams from much larger cities created the compelling, ”David and Goliath” story repeatedly throughout these many years. The faith that rallied the Packers in their early years in the NFL and supported them in other trying seasons is a wondrous quality that made it possible for the Packers to advance from the scrubby turf of an open field in 1919, to the best-known outdoors sports stadium in the nation – Lambeau Field.

The stadium where the Packers play today is names after Lambeau, who organized the team at age 21 and then led it as captain and coach for the first 31 years of its existence. Starting the team s a city club for two years (1919 to 1920), he took the Packers into what would become the National Football League.

As head coach from 1919 through 1949, Lambeau compiled an amazing record. His Packer teams won six National Football League titles – three in a row from 1929 through 1931 – then again in 1936, 1939 and 1944. He compiled a 31-year record of 248-108-23 for a fantastic .685 winning percentage.

Piling up 209 wins from 1921-49, Lambeau had more victories in that period than any other NFL coach.

In the nine-year stretch between 1936 and 1944, the Packers would win 75 percent of all their regular NFL season games, and win the Western Division Championship four times. The Packers’ record during this remarkable time span was 73-21-4.

After each of the six world championships, the Green Bay citizens treated the Packers like conquering heroes, their nights in shining armor. On cold December nights, tens of thousands would greet the team for exuberant title celebrations. Parades and all-night parties would cap of each of the triumphs. It was an unbelievable time of adulation and jubilations.

Lambeau became a national celebrity throughout the 1930s and 1940s. His accomplishments, charming personality and the “David vs. Goliath” theme caught the fancy of journalists in all the major newspapers and magazines of the time. The Saturday Evening Post, Look, Life and numerous other national publications carried feature stories on Lambeau, and he was interviewed hundreds of times.

Earl “Curly” Lambeau was the Green Bay Packers the first 31 years of their existence. It was his team representing the town where he grew up. He started it, picked the players, provided the drive, motivation and ran it with an iron hand until near the end of his tenure with the Packers in 1949. He alone found the players he wanted, negotiated their contracts, handled the team travel and designed team uniforms.

No one close to the situation questions the fact that without Lambeau there would be no Green Bay Packers today. That is some legacy. However, the legacy almost ended right there.

After Lambeau left the Packers in 1950, when he had a falling out with the board of directors, the team fell on hard times. They almost went broke and had a hard time winning all through the 1950s.

Then came a period known as the “Lombardi Era.” The team became a winner once again and unprecedented glory returned to Green Bay – with more grandeur than ever.

Legendary coach and general manager, Vince Lombardi, led the Packers to their most successful period in NFL history before he left Green Bay in 1968.

He took over a club that had had only one win, one tie and 10 losses in 1958 and turned it into an immediate winner (7-5). But the best was yet to come.

Between 1960 and 1967, Lombardi’s Packers won over 80 percent of their games (including play-offs) and posted an 82-23-4 record – an unequaled success in any eight-year period of time.

In addition, the Packers finished first in their conference six out of the eight seasons and second in the other two.

To top off their astonishing success, the Packers won five of their six NFL championship games and the first two Super Bowl games.

No other NFL team ever came close to this unbelievable success during their time frame.

The Packers would then go through another long period of mediocrity before Ron Wolf, general manager, and Mike Holmgren, coach, would team up in the 1990s to make the Packers champions again.

The Packers are still winning under Coach Mike McCarthy and making pro football history with each game they play.

The Green Bay Packers are truly “living legends” of nearly fable proportions.

The Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame attempt to capture some of the historical moments that have led to the making of the legacy.