Curly Lambeau

Founder, player, and coach of the Green Bay Packers; six-time NFL champion.

Earl Louis "Curly" Lambeau (April 9, 1898 – June 1, 1965) was an American professional football player and coach in the National Football League (NFL). Lambeau, along with his friend and fellow Green Bay, Wisconsin settler, George Whitney Calhoun, founded the Green Bay Packers in 1919. He served as team captain in the team's first year before becoming player-coach in 1920. As a player, Lambeau lined up as a halfback. He was the team's primary runner and passer, accounting for 35 touchdowns (8 as a rusher, 3 as a receiver, and 24 as a passer) in 77 games. He won an NFL championship in 1929 and subsequently retired from playing.

Quick Facts

Role: Founder and Head Coach
Affiliation: Green Bay Packers
Championships won: 6 NFL Championships
Hall of fame status: Inducted 1963

Lore & Background

Lambeau was born April 9, 1898, in Green Bay, Wisconsin, to Marcelin Lambeau and Mary LaTour, both of Belgian descent. He attended Green Bay East High School, where he was a standout athlete and football team captain in 1917. After high school, he worked for his father in construction and played local football. In 1918, he attended the University of Notre Dame and played for Knute Rockne, but a severe case of tonsillitis forced him to miss the 1919 spring semester and he never returned.

He then worked as a shipping clerk at the Indian Packing Company. Lambeau and George Whitney Calhoun founded the Green Bay Packers on August 11, 1919, after the packing company put up $500 for uniforms. The team's name was reportedly offered by his girlfriend Agnes Aylward. Lambeau played for the Packers for ten seasons, including the first eight after the team joined the NFL in 1921.

He was the first Packer to throw a pass, throw a touchdown pass, and make a field goal in franchise history. He won his only NFL championship as a player-coach in 1929, retiring as a player after the season. From 1920 to 1949, Lambeau was head coach and general manager, leading the Packers to six NFL championships (1929, 1930, 1931, 1936, 1939, 1944). He also coached the Chicago Cardinals and Washington Redskins for two seasons each before retiring in 1953.

Reader's Guide

Lambeau was an inaugural inductee to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963 and the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 1970. Two months after his death in 1965, the Packers home stadium was renamed Lambeau Field in his honor.