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<blockquote data-quote="Vladimirr" data-source="post: 593598" data-attributes="member: 5605"><p>I'm a fan of Arch Ward's "Green Bay Packers". I have an old copy and really enjoy reading through it from time to time. It chronicles the early years of the team from the start through the 1940s. Some good stories in there from when gridiron football was a tough man's sport.</p><p> </p><p>Here's an excerpt that I keep around in a text file. As you read it, filter it through the experience of 1946 - World War II had just ended, radio had not-long-ago surpassed <a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3153/2298930159_ee079002ef_b.jpg" target="_blank">the grid-o-graph </a>for real-time scoring updates, and the Packers had won their sixth league championship. 1919 was not even thirty years ago.</p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Packers-Ishpeming, 1919</span></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> The upper peninsula of Michigan has long been known as </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">a territory where men are men and football players are big </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">and tough. Ishpeming was an example in the Packers' first </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">season as an organized team. For five years no team had </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">been able to beat the Michiganders on their home grounds, </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">and they were acknowledge champions of the Wolverine</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">state.</span></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> Captain Lambeau and his mates dared to invade Ishpem-</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">ing on October 20, 1919, even though older heads had</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">counseled them about the punishment they would take from</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Ishpeming. It required only three running plays for the</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">young Packers to realize that their elders had not been josh-</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">ing them. Jimmy Coffeen, the quarterback who now officiates</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">at the public-address mike at all Packer home games, was</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">the first casualty, a brace of broken ribs sending him out.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Another scrimmage play followed, and tackle Al Petka</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">emerged from that with a cracked collarbone. One more</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">rushing maneuver, and tackle Andy Muldoon made his exit</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">with a broken ankle.</span></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> Lambeau & Company took quick stock of the situation.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">This was hardly a day to buck the rugged Ishpeming line.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">The Green Bay personnel totaled only twenty players, and</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">just seventeen were left for duty. Curly suggested a drastic</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">switch in tactics--no line plays, just passes and punts. The</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">reversal not only resulted in a 33-to-0 triumph for Green</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Bay, with Lambeau doing the pitching, but also infuriated</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">the Ishpeming team to a point where it used a seven-man</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">line that included its fullback. The Michiganders taunted</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">their lighter rivals to come through, but the Packers hewed</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">to the pass-and-punt line for the rest of the day. Lambeau,</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">Tubby Bero, Walter Ladrow, and their associates continued</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">to fling and kick footballs through the air until the game</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">was over, and the riled Ishpeming gents had been given a</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">sound trouncing.</span></span></p><p> <span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px"> This game is chosen as outstanding because it proved</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">conclusively that brawn could be conquered by strategy, the</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">same aerial brand which young Lambeau and his friends had</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">learned in their knicker days on Cherry Street, Green Bay,</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">when they used a stuffed salt sack for play. It was to become</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">a concrete factor in Green Bay offensive play, one that is</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Courier New'"><span style="font-size: 12px">still employed today.</span></span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Vladimirr, post: 593598, member: 5605"] I'm a fan of Arch Ward's "Green Bay Packers". I have an old copy and really enjoy reading through it from time to time. It chronicles the early years of the team from the start through the 1940s. Some good stories in there from when gridiron football was a tough man's sport. Here's an excerpt that I keep around in a text file. As you read it, filter it through the experience of 1946 - World War II had just ended, radio had not-long-ago surpassed [URL='http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3153/2298930159_ee079002ef_b.jpg']the grid-o-graph [/URL]for real-time scoring updates, and the Packers had won their sixth league championship. 1919 was not even thirty years ago. [FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]Packers-Ishpeming, 1919 The upper peninsula of Michigan has long been known as a territory where men are men and football players are big and tough. Ishpeming was an example in the Packers' first season as an organized team. For five years no team had been able to beat the Michiganders on their home grounds, and they were acknowledge champions of the Wolverine state. Captain Lambeau and his mates dared to invade Ishpem- ing on October 20, 1919, even though older heads had counseled them about the punishment they would take from Ishpeming. It required only three running plays for the young Packers to realize that their elders had not been josh- ing them. Jimmy Coffeen, the quarterback who now officiates at the public-address mike at all Packer home games, was the first casualty, a brace of broken ribs sending him out. Another scrimmage play followed, and tackle Al Petka emerged from that with a cracked collarbone. One more rushing maneuver, and tackle Andy Muldoon made his exit with a broken ankle. Lambeau & Company took quick stock of the situation. This was hardly a day to buck the rugged Ishpeming line. The Green Bay personnel totaled only twenty players, and just seventeen were left for duty. Curly suggested a drastic switch in tactics--no line plays, just passes and punts. The reversal not only resulted in a 33-to-0 triumph for Green Bay, with Lambeau doing the pitching, but also infuriated the Ishpeming team to a point where it used a seven-man line that included its fullback. The Michiganders taunted their lighter rivals to come through, but the Packers hewed to the pass-and-punt line for the rest of the day. Lambeau, Tubby Bero, Walter Ladrow, and their associates continued to fling and kick footballs through the air until the game was over, and the riled Ishpeming gents had been given a sound trouncing. This game is chosen as outstanding because it proved conclusively that brawn could be conquered by strategy, the same aerial brand which young Lambeau and his friends had learned in their knicker days on Cherry Street, Green Bay, when they used a stuffed salt sack for play. It was to become a concrete factor in Green Bay offensive play, one that is still employed today.[/SIZE][/FONT] [/QUOTE]
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