Curly Lambeau

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Curly Lambeau was born April 9, 1898, in Green Bay, Wisconsin, to Marcelin Lambeau and Mary LaTour, both of Belgian descent. Lambeau attended Green Bay East High School, where he was identified as a standout athlete. He played for the football team all four years of high school and was named captain in 1917 as a senior. Green Bay Press-Gazette sportswriter George Whitney Calhoun noted in September 1917 that Lambeau was trying out for the University of Wisconsin freshmen football team as 'one of the best gridiron prospects that has ever been turned out of a high school'. However, Lambeau never ended up enrolling at Wisconsin. After graduating from high school, he worked for his father in the construction business and participated in different local football teams. In 1918, Lambeau attended the University of Notre Dame and played for college coach Knute Rockne, making the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team's varsity squad. However a severe case of tonsillitis forced him to miss the 1919 spring semester. He never returned to Notre Dame. After a long recovery from tonsillitis, Lambeau went to work as a shipping clerk at the Indian Packing Company for $250 a month. Lambeau and George Whitney Calhoun founded the Green Bay Packers on August 11, 1919, after the packing company put up $500 for uniforms. That fall, the founders secured Willard 'Big Bill' Ryan, former coach of Green Bay West High School, to coach the team. The team's name reportedly was offered to Curly by his girlfriend Agnes Aylward after a pickup game; Curly had wanted to call the team 'The Green Bay Indians' to respect Indian Packing's purchase of uniforms for the team; so Agnes simply blurted, 'Well, for heaven's sake, Curly, why don't you just call them the Green Bay Packers!' The team's naming rights were sold to the Acme Packing Company, and the team remained Packers. The Packers initially played teams from Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. However, the success of the team in 1919 and 1920 quickly led to its joining of the American Professional Football Association (now called the National Football League) in 1921. During that season the team was owned by the Acme Packing Company and John and Emmet Clair of Chicago. Lambeau was a player-captain at first. He played for the Packers for ten seasons, including the first eight seasons after the team joined the National Football League N

In Their Own Story

The wind howled off the Fox River, carrying the scent of snow and diesel exhaust from the nearby plant. Curly stood on the sideline, his wool coat heavy with moisture, watching his boys huddle in the freezing twilight. There were no luxury boxes here, only a wooden bleacher structure creaking under the weight of hopeful neighbors. He tapped his clipboard, not with anger, but with a quiet intensity that demanded perfection. 'They think we're just factory hands,' he muttered to his assistant, his breath pluming in the air. 'Let's show them what happens when you work together.' The whistle blew, and the green jerseys surged forward into the gray dusk, a single unit driven by the man who refused to let them fade away.

Reader's Guide

Curly Lambeau was a founder, player, and coach of the Green Bay Packers. He played halfback for ten seasons, throwing 24 touchdown passes, rushing for eight, and catching three in 77 games. He also kicked six field goals and 20 extra points. As head coach from 1920 to 1949, he won six NFL championships (1929, 1930, 1931, 1936, 1939, 1944) and compiled a regular-season record of 209–104–21 (.657) with a playoff record of 3–2. He later coached the Chicago Cardinals and Washington Redskins for two seasons each, retiring in 1953 with an overall coaching record of 229–134–22 (.624). He was an inaugural inductee to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963 and the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 1970. Lambeau Field was renamed in his honor two months after his death in 1965.

Did You Know?

• Lambeau is tied with George Halas and Bill Belichick for the most NFL championships by a coach.
• He was the first Packer to throw a pass, throw a touchdown pass, and make a field goal in franchise history.
• The Packers' home stadium was renamed Lambeau Field two months after his death in 1965.
• Lambeau purchased Rockwood Lodge in 1946, creating the first self-contained training facility in professional football.