Lambeau, Curly
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Lambeau had been an outstanding athlete at Green Bay East High School and after enrolling at the [[University of Notre Dame]] and making varsity as a freshman under [[Knute Rockne]], Lambeau was back in Green Bay by in 1919 after severe [[tonsillitis]] forced him to miss the spring semester. | Lambeau had been an outstanding athlete at Green Bay East High School and after enrolling at the [[University of Notre Dame]] and making varsity as a freshman under [[Knute Rockne]], Lambeau was back in Green Bay by in 1919 after severe [[tonsillitis]] forced him to miss the spring semester. | ||
− | + | After recovering he began working at the Indian Packing Company, a meat-packing plant in his home town. Lambeau missed playing football, so in the summer of 1919 he helped organize a local team. | |
− | In 1921 Indian Packing was purchased by Acme Packing Company. | + | The 22 year old Lambeau went to his boss and sought company sponsorship of a Green Bay 25. For its first two seasons, the team played games against other teams from small towns in [[Wisconsin]] and [[Michigan]]. In their inaugural season the team went 10-1 and outscored their opponents 565 to 12. |
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+ | In 1921 Indian Packing was purchased by Acme Packing Company and the team became the Acme Packers. | ||
+ | Lambeau appealed to the new owners to put up $50 to buy the Packers a franchise in the newly formed [[American Professional Football Association]] (later renamed the [[National Football League]]). The team did well, playing against clubs from [[Ohio]], [[Indiana]], and [[Illinois]]. When the Packers joined the professional league, the competition got better, and Lambeau began to recruit players from outside of Green Bay. | ||
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+ | But circumstances turned out that Acme had college players laboring on the gridiron. This serious infraction led to franchise revocation. On August 22, 1922, the American Professional Football Association (APFA) newly renamed the National Football League reinstated Green Bay under the ownership auspices of E.L. Lambeau. | ||
What pro sports team is a publicly held corporation? Only the Packers, with 111,967 stockholders owning 4,750,925 shares. Established as the Green Bay Football Corporation back in the early 1920s when the NFL was just getting formed, the team today is run by a seven-member executive committee. | What pro sports team is a publicly held corporation? Only the Packers, with 111,967 stockholders owning 4,750,925 shares. Established as the Green Bay Football Corporation back in the early 1920s when the NFL was just getting formed, the team today is run by a seven-member executive committee. | ||
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− | + | In order to lure players, he needed to guarantee them some financial gain beyond loose change in a hat. Thus in 1923, a group of five area businessmen got together and launched the Green Bay Football Corporation, a nonprofit entity to provide financial backing for the team. Shares of stock sold for $5 each and paid no dividends. Purchasers were obligated to buy at least six season tickets. The corporation had a five-member executive committee and 15 elected directors. As a nonprofit, the corporation was tax-exempt, and all profits were to go to the American Legion. Lambeau signed some impressive players, among them Verne Lewellen, Lavvie Dilweg, and Johnny Blood. In the 1920s and early 1930s Lambeau's team was a powerhouse, winning three national championships from 1929 to 1931. Lambeau had his last season as a player in 1930, but he continued to coach the team. | |
Despite the team's success on the field, it had financial difficulties during the Depression years. Because of a bleacher accident in which a fan was injured, the team was required to settle a $5,000 lawsuit, and when its insurer went bankrupt, the team accrued even more debt. In 1935, Green Bay Football Corporation was put into receivership. Professional football changed for the better in the mid-1930s, when a fair college draft system was instituted. Previously, the four best teams in the NFL dominated year after year, because the good college players would only sign on with the leading teams. Competition within the league evened out after a draft was initiated in 1934, and football became more popular. The Packers had a championship team in 1936, and by 1937 they were out of receivership. The corporation reorganized as the Green Bay Packers, Inc. | Despite the team's success on the field, it had financial difficulties during the Depression years. Because of a bleacher accident in which a fan was injured, the team was required to settle a $5,000 lawsuit, and when its insurer went bankrupt, the team accrued even more debt. In 1935, Green Bay Football Corporation was put into receivership. Professional football changed for the better in the mid-1930s, when a fair college draft system was instituted. Previously, the four best teams in the NFL dominated year after year, because the good college players would only sign on with the leading teams. Competition within the league evened out after a draft was initiated in 1934, and football became more popular. The Packers had a championship team in 1936, and by 1937 they were out of receivership. The corporation reorganized as the Green Bay Packers, Inc. |
Revision as of 15:33, 6 August 2008
Curly Lambeau | |
---|---|
Lambeau during his college career at Notre Dame in 1918 | |
Date of birth | April 9, 1898 |
Place of birth | Green Bay, WI |
Date of death | June 1 1965 (aged 67) |
Position(s) | Head Coach |
College | Notre Dame |
Honors | NFL 1920s All-Decade Team Green Bay Packers HOF Pro Football HOF Wisconsin Athletic HOF |
Records | Green Bay Packers Career Wins (209) |
Career Record | 229-134-22 |
Championships Won |
1929 NFL Championship 1930 NFL Championship 1931 NFL Championship 1936 NFL Championship 1939 NFL Championship 1944 NFL Championship |
Coaching Stats | Pro Football Reference |
Coaching Stats | DatabaseFootball |
Team(s) as a coach/administrator | |
1919-1949 1950-1951 1952-1953 |
Green Bay Packers Chicago Cardinals Washington Redskins |
Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1963 |
Earl Louis "Curly" Lambeau (April 9, 1898 – June 1, 1965) was the founder, a player, and the first coach of the Green Bay Packers professional football team. As a standout player from 1919*-1929 he pioneered the forward pass in professional football.
Lambeau led the Packers to six world championships as head coach and is one of just five coaches in NFL history to record 200 wins (others are Don Shula, George Halas, Tom Landry and Chuck Noll).
Lambeau's career coaching record with the Packers was 212-106-21 (.656), including postseason (1921-49). He also coached the Chicago Cardinals (1950-51) and Washington Redskins (1952-53).
Early years
Lambeau had been an outstanding athlete at Green Bay East High School and after enrolling at the University of Notre Dame and making varsity as a freshman under Knute Rockne, Lambeau was back in Green Bay by in 1919 after severe tonsillitis forced him to miss the spring semester.
After recovering he began working at the Indian Packing Company, a meat-packing plant in his home town. Lambeau missed playing football, so in the summer of 1919 he helped organize a local team. The 22 year old Lambeau went to his boss and sought company sponsorship of a Green Bay 25. For its first two seasons, the team played games against other teams from small towns in Wisconsin and Michigan. In their inaugural season the team went 10-1 and outscored their opponents 565 to 12.
In 1921 Indian Packing was purchased by Acme Packing Company and the team became the Acme Packers. Lambeau appealed to the new owners to put up $50 to buy the Packers a franchise in the newly formed American Professional Football Association (later renamed the National Football League). The team did well, playing against clubs from Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. When the Packers joined the professional league, the competition got better, and Lambeau began to recruit players from outside of Green Bay.
But circumstances turned out that Acme had college players laboring on the gridiron. This serious infraction led to franchise revocation. On August 22, 1922, the American Professional Football Association (APFA) newly renamed the National Football League reinstated Green Bay under the ownership auspices of E.L. Lambeau.
What pro sports team is a publicly held corporation? Only the Packers, with 111,967 stockholders owning 4,750,925 shares. Established as the Green Bay Football Corporation back in the early 1920s when the NFL was just getting formed, the team today is run by a seven-member executive committee.
In January 1922 Green Bay briefly lost its NFL franchise. The Acme Packers had their franchise revoked for illegally using college players. In September the franchise was returned to Green Bay, but to a different ownership group. Lambeau tried to get the team's name changed to the "Big Bay Blues", but even though the Acme Packing Co. no longer had anything to do with the team - the name Packers stuck.
Lambeau coached the Packers as an NFL team from 1921-49. As the head coach, he led the Packers to six NFL championships (1929, 1930, 1931, 1936, 1939, 1944), including a record three straight. Lambeau's regular season record as head coach of the Packers was 209-104-21 (.626 winning percentage) with a playoff record of 3-2.
In 1946, Lambeau purchased Rockwood Lodge, creating the first self-contained training facility in professional football. The purchase was controversial among the Packers' board of directors, and Lambeau's deteriorating relationship with the board was one of the factors that would lead to his departure in early 1950.
In order to lure players, he needed to guarantee them some financial gain beyond loose change in a hat. Thus in 1923, a group of five area businessmen got together and launched the Green Bay Football Corporation, a nonprofit entity to provide financial backing for the team. Shares of stock sold for $5 each and paid no dividends. Purchasers were obligated to buy at least six season tickets. The corporation had a five-member executive committee and 15 elected directors. As a nonprofit, the corporation was tax-exempt, and all profits were to go to the American Legion. Lambeau signed some impressive players, among them Verne Lewellen, Lavvie Dilweg, and Johnny Blood. In the 1920s and early 1930s Lambeau's team was a powerhouse, winning three national championships from 1929 to 1931. Lambeau had his last season as a player in 1930, but he continued to coach the team.
Despite the team's success on the field, it had financial difficulties during the Depression years. Because of a bleacher accident in which a fan was injured, the team was required to settle a $5,000 lawsuit, and when its insurer went bankrupt, the team accrued even more debt. In 1935, Green Bay Football Corporation was put into receivership. Professional football changed for the better in the mid-1930s, when a fair college draft system was instituted. Previously, the four best teams in the NFL dominated year after year, because the good college players would only sign on with the leading teams. Competition within the league evened out after a draft was initiated in 1934, and football became more popular. The Packers had a championship team in 1936, and by 1937 they were out of receivership. The corporation reorganized as the Green Bay Packers, Inc.
Curly Lambeau continued to coach the Packers through the 1940s. But after 1945, many of the team's great heroes had retired, and the Packers began to lose. An All-American Football Conference was organized in 1946, splitting the sport between the old NFL and the new league. This drastically increased the number of professional teams on the American scene. As a result, good players were in high demand, and they began to command large salaries. Because of this, running the Packers became more expensive. Lambeau muddied the Packers' financial picture too by using the corporation's assets to buy an expensive lodge north of Green Bay to house the team. The players then had to be bused into town to practice. The team's record slid. In 1948 they won 3 games out of 12, and the next year won only two. In order to bring money to the team, the board of directors decided to sell more stock. Lambeau led a behind-the-scenes move to sell the stock to four backers who would put in $200,000 if the corporation could be changed to a for-profit one. He was outvoted on this move, and a stock sale went ahead in 1950. Single shares went for $25 each, and the sale raised $125,000. Shortly after this Lambeau left the Packers to become head coach of the Chicago Cardinals.
The conflict between the two major football leagues ended in 1949 when the All-American Football Conference came to an arrangement with the NFL, and the country was divided into a National Conference and an American Conference. The Packers secured a new coach, Gene Ronzani, in 1950.
After Lambeau's career with the Packers came to an end, he went on to coach the Chicago Cardinals for the 1950 season and most of the 1951 season. His record with the Cardinals was 7-15 (.318 winning percentage). After leaving the Cardinals, Lambeau went on to coach the last two years of his career with the Washington Redskins for the 1952-1953 seasons. His record in Washington was a disappointing 10-13-1 (.417).
Lambeau completed his 33 year coaching career with an overall record of 229-134-22 (.595 winning percentage). He was a member of the inaugural class inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963.
Family
Father: Marcel Lambeau Wife: Marguerite Van Kessel (m. 1919, div. 23-May-1934, one son) Son: John (b. 1920) Wife: Sue (former Miss California, m. 1935, div. 1940) Wife: Grace Nichols (m. 16-Jul-1945, div. 1955) Girlfriend: Mary Jane Sorgel (at time of his death)
Legacy
The Packers' stadium, Lambeau Field in Green Bay, is named after Curly Lambeau. The venue opened in 1957, called the new "City Stadium" for its first eight years. It was renamed "Lambeau Field" in September 1965, three months after Lambeau's death in June. Only two other pro sports stadiums in North America have been in use longer than Lambeau Field.
In 2003 a bronze statue of Curly Lambeau was unveiled in the main plaza outside the Lambeau Field Atrium.
In 2003 research lead to the discovery of Curly Lambeau's birthplace home at 615 North Irwin Avenue. Further research proved that the home was not only the birthplace home of Curly Lambeau, but was also one of the oldest houses in Green Bay still standing on its original foundation with its original exterior walls. The home has now become one of Green Bay's Historical Landmarks.[1]
Preceded by: First coach |
Green Bay Packers Head Coaches 1919–1949 |
Succeeded by: Gene Ronzani |
Preceded by: Buddy Parker |
Chicago Cardinals Head Coaches 1950–1951 |
Succeeded by: Phil Handler |
Preceded by: Dick Todd |
Washington Redskins Head Coaches 1952–1953 |
Succeeded by: Joe Kuharich |
Notes
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Green Bay Packers Coaches - Curly Lambeau. Packers.com. Retrieved 2008-03-22.
- Green Bay Packers History - Birth of a Team and a Legend. Packers.com. Retrieved 2008-03-22.
- Member - Pro Football Hall of Fame - Curly Lambeau. Profootballhof.com. Retrieved 2008-03-22.
Further Reading
- Names, Larry D. 1987. The History of the Green Bay Packers, Book I: The Lambeau Years, Part One. Wautoma, WI: Angel Press of WI. ISBN 093999500X
- Names, Larry D. 1989. The history of the Green Bay Packers, book II: the Lambeau years, part two. Wautoma, WI: Angel Press of WI. ISBN 0939995018
- Names, Larry D. 1990. The history of the Green Bay Packers, book III: the Lambeau years, part three. Wautoma, WI: Angel Press of WI. ISBN 0939995026
- Stotts, Stuart. 2007. Curly Lambeau: Building the Green Bay Packers. Badger biographies. Madison, WI: Wisconsin Historical Society Press. ISBN 9780870203893
- Zimmerman, David. 2003. Lambeau: The Man Behind the Mystique. Hales Corners, WI: Eagle Books. ISBN 188298708X
External links
- Pro Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved May 26, 2008.
- Earl L. (Curly) Lambeau - Class of 1963
- Lambeau House
- Earl (Curly) Lambeau
- Pictures of Stadium and Statue
- Lambeau Field
- Franchise History
- Earl L. "Curly" Lambeau". Retrieved May 26, 2008.
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