Legends on Parade offers a glimpose into team's past

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Posted September 23, 2007

Legends on Parade offers glimpse into team's past

At least 2,000 lined streets near Lambeau Field for event

By Malavika Jagannathan
[email protected]


ASHWAUBENON — It's been about 37 years since Sue Kane was in a parade, but on Saturday afternoon, she channeled the giddiness of her then-18-year-old self as she partially relived that experience.


"But that is a day in my life I will always remember," the now 55-year-old Kane said after the Legends on Parade event. It was Oct. 18, 1970 — a day dedicated as Bart Starr Day — and the De Pere native then known as Sue Basche had the honor of leading the parade to Lambeau Field as the Miss Green Bay Area winner that year.


"There was rumor there was a special visitor — someone from Washington and a friend of Bart Starr's," Kane recalled. "Well, it was President Richard Nixon, and they put his float right behind mine because, well, who's going to shoot Miss Green Bay?"


Kane joined other generations of Packers cheerleading squads — the Golden Girls, the Packerettes and the NFL Packers Cheerleaders — on a float Saturday afternoon, rallying the fans with familiar cheers of "Go, Pack, Go!"


At least 2,000 people turned out for the event, lining Lombardi Avenue, Oneida Street, Brett Favre Pass, Armed Forces Drive and Tony Canadeo Run for a glimpse of the faces that they hadn't either seen in a long time or only associated with the record books.


Seated in classic cars from the 1950s and '60s, the roster for this parade read like a who's-who of the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame — Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, John Brockington, Johnnie Gray, Jerry Kramer and Max McGee were among the legends who cruised the streets in the hour-long parade.


Fans greeted them like old pals they hadn't seen in a while, shouting "How are ya, Jerry?" when Kramer and his family drove by and "Thanks for everything, Bart" as Starr coasted past them.


For 89-year-old Annette Albers, a Green Bay resident all her life, 3 p.m. wasn't too early to arrive for a chance to see some of these "old friends," she said.


"Bob Long asked me how long I'd been a fan — and I said 'from the beginning,'" Albers said. "I remember being a fan when I was in high school… and I still go to the games. I love football and I love the Packers."


Starr was a frequent visitor to a flower store Albers worked at — they even had a brief letter-writing correspondence, Albers said.


With today's game between the Packers and the San Diego Chargers bringing visitors to the area, out-of-town fans such as Kevin and Lorrie Haug from Las Vegas were able to get a true taste of Packerland on their first visit to Green Bay.


"We did the tour earlier, then saw this was going to be going on," Kevin Haug said. "To see guys like Bart Starr, well, it's just a real treat."
 

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