PICTURED TO THE RIGHT: This photo was taken during the Packers 2nd full season as a professional team and the earliest known image I have seen. The Packers are depicted playing an unidentified team. The Allouez Water and Beverages advertising sign can be seen in the background of the playing field. The players are shown wearing leather helmets and football pants. The ground is lightly peppered with freshly fallen snow. The Packers are about to score and are closing in on the goaline as the wooden hand constructed goalpost is shown. The back running the ball is believed to be Lambeau, but this cannot be positively supported.
HAGEMEISTER PARK (1919-22) - Green Bay's first home games were at Hagemeister Park, a vacant lot marked with a football gridiron, adjacent to East High. There were no gates because there wasn't a fence. Spectators just dropped off the Walnut Street trolley and walked to the sideline, or drove their own cars and parked about 10 yards behind the ropes stretched around the playing field. If they felt like it, they either sat in their automobiles or on top of them, but most preferred to get out and follow up and down the field.
THE BEGINNING: On the evening of August 11, 1919, a group of young athletes, called together by Curly Lambeau and George Calhoun, gathered in the dingy editorial room of the old Green Bay Press-Gazette building and organized a football team. The initial spark had been struck a few weeks before during a casual street corner conversation between Lambeau and Calhoun. They talked Curly's employer at the Indian Packing Company into putting up some money for equipment. Because the packing company, which also permitted the use of its athletic field for practice, had provided the team's jerseys the club was identified in its early publicity as a project of the company. With this tie-in the name "Packers" was a natural, although the corporation had practically faded out of the picture before the season was half over. That 1st season the team won 10 games and lost only 1 against other teams from Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. Games were played in an open field with no fences or bleachers, and interested fans "passed the hat." In 1920, a section of stands was built, but it was just a small bleacher with a capacity of a couple hundred, on one side of the field, and a fee charged to sit there.
1919 REGULAR SEASON RESULTS (10-1) - September (3-0)
14 Menominee North End A.C. W 53- 0 1- 0-0 N/A
21 Marinette Northerners W 61- 0 2- 0-0 N/A
28 New London W 54- 0 3- 0-0 N/A
OCTOBER (4-0)
5 Sheboygan Company C W 87- 0 4- 0-0 N/A
12 Racine W 76- 6 5- 0-0 N/A
19 at Ishpeming W 33- 0 6- 0-0 3,000
26 Oshkosh Professionals W 85- 0 7- 0-0 N/A
NOVEMBER (3-1)
2 Milwaukee Maple Leaf AC W 53- 0 8- 0-0 N/A
9 Chicago Chilar A.C. W 46- 0 9- 0-0 N/A
16 at Stambaugh Miners W 17- 0 10- 0-0 2,500
23 at Beloit Professionals L 0- 6 10- 1-0 N/A
1920 REGULAR SEASON RESULTS (9-1-1) - September (1-0)
26 Chicago Boosters T 3- 3 0- 0-1 1,200
OCTOBER (5-0)
3 Kaukauna American Legion W 56- 0 1- 0-1 N/A
10 Stambaugh Miners W 3- 0 2- 0-1 800
17 Marinette Professionals W 25- 0 3- 0-1 N/A
24 De Pere W 62- 0 4- 0-1 3,500
31 Beloit Fairies W 7- 0 5- 0-1 2,000
NOVEMBER (4-1)
7 Milwaukee All-Stars W 9- 0 6- 0-1 N/A
14 at Beloit Fairies L 3-14 6- 1-1 N/A
21 Menominee Professionals W 19- 7 7- 1-1 800
25 Stambaugh Miners W 14- 0 8- 1-1 N/A
28 Milwaukee Lapham A.C. W 26- 0 9- 1-1 N/A
Curly Lambeau
1919 SEASON
September 14: Green Bay (1-0) 53, Menominee North End A.C. 0
September 21: Green Bay (2-0) 61, Marinette Northerners 0
September 28: Green Bay (3-0) 54, New London 0
October 5: Green Bay (4-0) 87, Sheboygan Company C 0
October 12: Green Bay (5-0) 76, Racine 6
(GREEN BAY) - The Packers humbled the city team of Racine here today at a well-attended game. Somers, fullback, starred for Racine, his touchdown in the third quarter accounting for all the scoring the visitors were credited with. The Packers perfect aerial football brought them an easy victory.
October 19: Green Bay (6-0) 33, Ishpeming 0
October 26: Green Bay (7-0) 85, Oshkosh Professionals 0
November 2: Green Bay (8-0) 53, Milwaukee Maple Leaf A.C. 0
(GREEN BAY) - The Maple Leaf Athletic club squad from Milwaukee proved an easy victim for the Packers. Green Bay claims to have annexed the state championship in professional football by their victory over the
Cream City team.
November 9: Green Bay (9-0) 46, Chicago Chilar A.C. 0
(GREEN BAY) - The Packers, who claim the professional football championship of Wisconsin, easily
defeated the Chilar A. C. aggregation of Chicago here yesterday.
November 16: Green Bay (10-0) 17, Stambaugh Miners 0
November 23: Beloit Fairies 6, Green Bay (10-1) 0
(BELOIT) - An off-side play called by the head linesman on a Green Bay player just as the Packers shoved across a touchdown and tied the score, gave one of the most hotly contested football games ever seen in this vicinity to Beloit at Fairbanks-Morse field yesterday afternoon. Cries of derision were heard all over tho sidelines from the spectators when the penalty was called. For a time, with the 2,000 spectators surging over the field toward the two teams and the referee, it appeared that a riot would be in progress, but the players of both teams forced the crowd back.
1920 SEASON
September 26: Green Bay (0-0-1) 3, Chicago Boosters 3 (Tie)
(GREEN BAY) - The Packers and Chicago Boosters' club football teams played a 3 to 3 tie game here this afternoon. The game, was a thriller throughout, with the exception of several disputes over decisions and a near fist fight. Both teams scored their final field goal in the final quarter. Neilson of Chicago put a pretty drop between the goal posts from the twenty-seven yard line, while Curley Lambeau, former Notre Dame star, booted one over from the thirty-foot mark in the last minute of play. Lambeau's spectacular work in tying the score at the very last brought the crowd surging on the field at the close of the game and the carrying of Lambeau around on their shoulders in true college style. The game was the first for both elevens this fall and both showed a lack of training. Both teams marred the game in wrangling over decisions.
CHICAGO - 0 0 0 3 - 3
GREEN BAY - 0 0 0 3 - 3
4th - CHI - Nielson, 27-yard field goal CHICAGO 3-0
4th - GB - Lambeau, 1-yard field goal TIED 3-3
October 3: Green Bay (1-0-1) 56, Kaukauna American Legion 0
(GREEN BAY) - Kaukauna was handily defeated by the Packers, but the men were not disheartened because they entered into the game with but little practice while the Baymen had been working out for several weeks. In addition the Green Bay team is much heavier and is made up of some of the best football men in the Midwest.
October 10: Green Bay (2-0-1) 3, Stambaugh Miners 0
(GREEN BAY) - The Packers football team defeated the Stambaugh team from Stambaugh, Michigan here yesterday. The game was played on a muddy field. Curley Lambeau, captain, kicked the only goal in the first period.
STAMBAUGH - 0 0 0 0 - 0
GREEN BAY - 3 0 0 0 - 3
1st - GB - Lambeau field goal GREEN BAY 3-0
October 17: Green Bay (3-0-1) 25, Marinette Professionals 0
October 24: Green Bay (4-0-1) 62, De Pere 0
(GREEN BAY) - The Packers defeated DePere today before a crowd of 4,000, nearly half of them from DePere.
The one-sided score does not tell the story of the battle. DePere fought every inch and early in the game looked like they were on par with the Packers. Dalton and Lambeau were the stars of the day. Lambeau retired in the first half because of an injury, and Ladrow was laid out in the third quarter.
STAMBAUGH - 0 0 0 0 - 0
GREEN BAY - 3 0 0 0 - 3
1st - GB - Lambeau field goal GREEN BAY 3-0
October 31: Green Bay (5-0-1) 7, Beloit 0
(GREEN BAY) - The Packers outlucked the Beloit Fairies independent football team on Sunday. The winning
touchdown came in the third quarter after Everson caught a punt on his own goal line. He was thrown so hard he lost the ball. In the scramble that followed several players fell on the pigskin, and when the pile was unraveled it was found in the arms of Wagner, Green Bay player. Dalton kicked goal. In the first half the teams fought hard, with the ball in Green Bay's territory most of the time. The Packers' defense was splendid. It
rained during the entire game and the field was extremely slippery, but fumbles were not frequent. A crowd
of 300 saw the battle.
BELOIT - 0 0 0 0 - 0
GREEN BAY - 0 0 7 0 - 7
3rd - Wagner recovered fumbled punt in end zone (Dalton kick) GREEN BAY 7-0
November 7: Green Bay (6-0-1) 9, Milwaukee All-Stars 0
November 14: Beloit 14, Green Bay (6-1-1) 3
(BELOIT) - The Council Packers of Green Bay lost their first game here to the Beloit Fairies football team by a score of 14 to 3. About 400 fans journeyed from Green Bay to witness the game.
November 21: Green Bay (7-1-1) 19, Menominee 7
(GREEN BAY) - The Council Packers defeated the Menominee football eleven here yesterday. The game was played in the rain. About 500 rooters accompanied the team from Menominee, Mich. NOTE: On November 22, Rigney (Dutch) Dwyer, star end of the Packers, was badly injured while switching in the Northwestern yards. He suffered the loss of his right leg and right arm. Doctors claim he has an even chance for recovery despite his injuries. Dwyer is prominently known in Wisconsin state football circles. From 1913 to 1917 he played end for the West side high school team. While in government service he played much football over in France. After the war he started with the Packers, playing two years with the team.
November 25: Green Bay (8-1-1) 14, Stambaugh Miners 0
(GREEN BAY) - The Packers exhibited their strength here on Thanksgiving afternoon when they defeated the Stambaugh football eleven, champions of the upper peninsula of Michigan. It was a hard fought game, with the Green Bay backs, repeatedly tearing through their opponent's line for large gains. For the greater part of the battle, the play was confined to the territory of the visiting eleven. Time and again, the Packers worked the ball deep into the territory of the Michigan eleven, where the Stambaugh line would stiffen and hold for downs. The Packers were also forced to fight in the shadow of their goal posts at several stages of the game, but always staved off a touchdown. The sensational plunging and kicking of Lambeau featured the game. The Stambaugh eleven were accompanied by several hundred rooters.
November 28: Green Bay (9-1-1) 26, Milwaukee Lapham A.C. 0
(GREEN BAY) - The Lapham A.C. fought stubbornly against a superior team Sunday afternoon and lost
to the Packers, who were reinforced by the presence of Cub Buck, former Badger star all-American and member of Jim Thorpe's Canton team. Buck was the life of the game, tossing his lighter opponents about at will and opening huge holes in the line. He stopped two forward passes, paving the way for one Packer touchdown.
Of the visitors, McNutt played a whale of a game, mussing up many of the Packers' forward passes. The visitors brought a good sized crowd along and the rooting was a la collegian. The Laphams were greatly outweighed by the Packers, but on defense played a wonderful game. The Packers scored once in the first quarter, but throughout the first half the fighting was almost even.
Dwyer Benefit Game: December 6: Belevues 21, Northerners 13
(GREEN BAY) - Fully 5,000 persons packed the stands at the game between two local football teams here Sunday afternoon and in this way paid tribute to Keg Dwyer, star end of the Packer grid squad, who lost a leg and an arm while railroading. This game was played as a benefit for the unfortunate player and all the proceeds were turned over to him, which amounted to almost $6,000. The game resulted in a victory for the Belevues over the Northerners by a score of 21 to 13. Along with the victory goes the city championship. Landrow, Rosenow, Dalton and Lambeau were the stars of the thrilling battle.
