Lambeau was the grandson of Belgian immigrants and his family put roots down in Green Bay. The area was known for iron smelting, papermaking, lumber milling, manufacturing and to some extent meatpacking. Green Bay is a place that does the difficult. Lambeau's grandfather was a bricklayer and his father operated a construction company.
Not unlike Lombardi, Lambeau had generations of difficult physical labor in his genes. A handsome muscular boy with "curly" hair, he played football and track at Green Bay High School. His father encouraged college, but Curly had little interest in it other than for the opportunity to play more football. He attended the University of Wisconsin briefly and the University of Notre Dame for a year. At Notre Dame he played for Knute Rockne in the backfield behind the likes of George "the Gipper" Gipp. Lambeau was a fan of the passing game as was Knute Rockne. [When he coached, he would use the single wing formation, which was used by ND.] Towards the end of his single year to ND, he got sick and went home to recover. He never returned, but kept in touch with Rockne and would recommend local talent from time to time. One that he recommended was Jim Crowley, who would go on to fame as one of the Four Horseman of ND and later coach.
As a young man, Lambeau had a reputation for athletic prowess. After his schooling, he was interested in the Wales football team in Green Bay and started playing ball with them. He joined a pal on the team, Nate Abrams, whose family owned a cattle business. The Wales were a semi pro industrial league that had an inconsistent past. In 1919, Abrams pal Frank Peck was persuaded to sponsor the team, Lambeau was taking more of a leadership role, and they got local reporter George Calhoun to tout the team. Ambitions were growing to turn the team into something more lasting and significant.
The Packers grew out of the amateur Whales with lots of help from Calhoun. In 1921, they became an official pro team by joining the American Professional Football Association the group that Halas was involved in establishing in Canton, Ohio that would change it's name to the NFL in 1922.
Lambeau had put together team with many regional players, but he had much more work to be done in order to compete with the best. There must have been times when the team was desperate to fill slots for games, and the Packers had put in college players during the season. In the early days of professional football, many people believed that the College game was the best level for football and the professional football was where the game might get corrupted. Many were concerned about the pros encroaching into the college game and doing damage. The truth was that there was plenty of problems that would surface in the college game itself. However, the league fathers felt compelled to take away the Green Bay franchise because the team was caught with college players. Other teams had done it as well, but Green Bay was caught at a critical time.
Oddly enough, it was Lambeau himself who applied for a new franchise and was allowed to field a team in 1922. Lambeau would only own the team for one season as financial woes to operate the team were beyond his means. Local Green Bay business owners came to his defense and established a corporation and shares to bankroll the team and take ownership.
The modest Packers won the hearts of local fans. The team had its own amateur band, fans helped in volunteering efforts for various aspects of the operation. In the early days, the team would change before they came to the field to play. Where they played home games was primitive by some standards, but Lambeau and the town kept after things and making the whole operation an excellent one within the first decade of existence.
Lambeau was not a good coach when the team started out. At times, newly recruited players from established colleges would comment on the coach's lack of understand of the game. But Lambeau was good at finding talent and Calhoun drew in the fans. His naïve approach to coaching would change and before too long he became quite good. In 1929-1931, his Packers won three championships in a row. The Packers won again in 1936, 1939, and 1944.
For a quarter of a century, the Corporation allowed Lambeau to manage the team as if he was the owner. Postwar changes to the Packers including a decentralization of power and a rival league competing for players left the entrepreneur free-spirited Lambeau out of his element. He resigned before the 1950 season began.
There will never be another coach in Green Bay who was born and raised in the town, and then stays on for decades.
Image: Copyright William Potter, Used in Pillars of the NFL--found in products on this website. sportingchancepress.com
Copyright Sporting Chance Press
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