Zero2Cool
I own a website
By Jeff Ash
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Orvell Peterson took thousands of photographs during his 35-year career at the Green Bay Press-Gazette, but perhaps none more memorable than one capturing Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi reluctantly shaking hands with the team's founder, Curly Lambeau.
Peterson, a Press-Gazette photographer who started at the paper in 1951, died Saturday at a local nursing home. He was 87.
The rare photo of Lombardi and Lambeau was taken on Nov. 17, 1962, and published in color — then still something special — in the upper left corner of the front page of the Press-Gazette the next day. The photo also appeared on the cover of the 1965 Packer Yearbook after Lambeau's death.
It was a remarkable photo largely because Lombardi didn't care much for Lambeau.
Last year, retired Press-Gazette sports editor Art Daley recalled how the photo came to be:
"Curly was elected to the Wisconsin (Athletic) Hall of Fame in 1962 and I figured it would be appropriate to take a picture of Vince congratulating Curly with a handshake. I asked Lombardi after a Tuesday practice and he flat out refused, shrugging something like 'I won't do that with him.'
"W.C. (Bill) Heinz, widely known author, was in town gathering information for 'Run To Daylight' and I asked Bill if he could talk to Vince and get him to pose for the picture.
"Well, come Saturday morning, Vince had on his Sunday coat, and after practice he went to the stadium and posed with Curly for what turned out to be a rare photo snapped by Orvell Peterson. …
"Now let's advance to 1965. I had planned to put Tom Moore on the cover of that year's yearbook, but Curly died on June 1 and that picture of the handshake replaced Moore. Vince was furious when he saw the yearbook and said on a phone call, 'What do you mean putting me on the cover with him?' After he said, 'That was the worst yearbook you ever put out,' the phone clicked."
In 1966, Peterson, reporter Dave Devenport and city editor Bob Knaus shared an Associated Press citation — just one of 38 such awards nationwide that year — for the Press-Gazette's photo coverage of the Astor Hotel fire in downtown Green Bay, in which eight people died. Peterson's photos also won many awards from the Wisconsin Press Photographers Association.
Peterson, a Wausau native, was a camera buff in high school. He spent 4½ years in the Army during World War II. After the war, he majored in photography at the Layton School of Art in Milwaukee, then moved to Green Bay in 1947 and went to work as an apprentice at the Sheffer Studio. He also joined the Green Bay Camera Club, where a fellow club member told him about a job opening at the Press-Gazette.
Peterson is survived by his children, Keith, Eric, Paul, Mark, Tim and Kathleen; one sister, Dorothy; and seven grandchildren. His wife, Helen, died in 1968.
Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Pfotenhauer Funeral Home, 2379 E. Mason St., Green Bay. The funeral service will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home. Burial will be at Nicolet Memorial Gardens
I didn't know Lombardi and Lambeau didn't get along.
