A Championship Team: The Packers and St. Norbert College in the Lombardi Years

192 Pages·26.585 MB·English

by  Cliff Christl

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A Championship Team
The Packers and St. Norbert College
in the Lombardi Years
by
Cliff Christl
A Championship Team© copyright 2010 by St. Norbert College Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form
whatsoever, by photography or xerography or by any other means. by
broadcast or transmission, by translation iJ1to any kind oflanguage, nor
by recording electronically or otherwise, without permission in writing
from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in
critical articles or reviews
ISBN 978-0-615-39566-1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2010935844
Published and printed in the United States of America
First edition paperback: October 2010
Cover design by Drew Van Fossen
Printing by Independent Printing Inc., De Pere, Wis.
St. Norbert College Press
100 Grant Street
De Pere, WI 54115-2099
w·w\v.snc.edu
Dedication
To my dad, Clifford H. Christi, a decorated soldier, who died when I
was just 13 days old. He served in the Army for four years during World
War II and spent 14 months fighting in Europe. As a staff sergeant in
the 11th Armored Division, also known as "The Thunderbolts," he was
part of Gen. George Patton's Third Army and fought in the Battle of the
Bulge. But before my dad went overseas he attended Chemical Warfare
School and later was exposed to radioactive material at Camp Cooke,
Calif. He was diagnosed with cancer within seven months after he was
honorably discharged from the Army, following the war, and died April
4, 1947, at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Hines, Ill. My dad
was born in 1919 at the St. Mary's Mothers and Infants Home in Green
Bay and adopted 10 months later by Peter and Martha Christi of
Appleton. He attended St. Joseph Grade School and graduated from
Appleton High School in 1937.
"All Gls have their own rating systern of each othe1~" Parker Schultz,
one of his Army buddies, once wrote me. "Our system was very simple.
Ify ou had to be in a foxhole during combat who would you choose for
a partner? A guy like Cliff would be my first choice."
A Championship Team
Acknowledgements
Most of the material in this book was gleaned through interviews
with more than 50 people and from my own collection of stories from
my years at the Green Bay Press-Gazette, and both The Milwaukee
Journal and Journal Sentinel. But a lot ofh istorical data- mostly dates,
times, places, transactions, etc.- also was uncovered by looking through
microfilm of the Press-Gazette at the Miriam B. and James J. Mulva
Library on the St. Norbert College campus. And almost all of the stories
on the Packers that appeared in the paper between 1959 and 1968 were
written by Art Daley and Lee Rernmel, each of whom covered the team
for three decades or more. Mike Counte1; director of media relations at
St. Norbert College, was a big help and so was Mary Jane Herber of the
Brown County Library. Other valuable sources were the Buildings and
Memorials booklet published by St. Norbert and the Green Bay Packers
2009 Media Guide. But the biggest help of all ·was my wife, Shirley
Christi, who as always was understanding and supportive as I plowed
through this project.
- Cliff Christi
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Table of Contents
Aclmowledgments 4
Foreword 9
Introduction 13
Chapters
I. Two August Men, One Glorious Era 17
2. The Norbertines 33
l~r. Brendan McKeough 33
Fr. Rowland De Peaux 37
Fr. Nicholas Nirschl 42
Abbot Jerome Tremel 43
3. Assistant Coaches and Staff 45
Pat Peppler, personnel director 45
Bob Schnelker, receivers coach 49
Bill Austin, offensive Line coach 53
Jerry Burns, defensive backs coach 54
Chuck Lane, director of public relations 55
Al Treml, film director 60
4. The Players (Part I) 63
Bart Starr, 1956-71 63
Forrest Gregg, 1956, 1958-70 65
Gary Knafelc, 1954-62 68
A Championship Team
Bob Skoronski, 1956, 1959-68 72
Paul HornUJ1g, 1957-62, 1964-66 75
Tom Bettis, 1955-61 78
Jim Temp, 1957-60 79
Norm Masters, 1957 -64 81
Jerry Kramer, 1958-68 84
Jesse Whittenton, 1958-64 88
Lew Carpenter, 1959-63 89
Boyd Dowler, 1959-69 90
5. The Players (Part 2) 95
Willie Davis, 1960-69 95
Marv Fleming, 1963-69 97
Dave Robinson, 1963-72 100
Zeke Bratkowski, 1963-68, 1971 J07
Tom Brown, 1964-68 JI 1
Doug Harl, 1964-71 113
Ken Bowman, 1964 -73 114
Carroll Dale, 1965-72 116
Bill Curry, 1965-66 117
Donny Anderson, 1966-71 121
Gale Gillingham, 1966-74, 1976 122
Jim Flanigan, 1967-70 125
6. The Media 127
Bud Lea, Milwaukee Sentinel sportswriter 127
Lee Remmel,
Green Bay Prcss-Gautte sportswriter 131
Dave O'Hara,
Associated Press state sports editor 132
Dave Anderson,
New York Times sportswriter 134
Lou Volpicelli, ABC-TV and
director of Ru11 to Daylight 135
Table of Contents
7. Family, Friends and Others 139
Vince Lombardi Jr. 139
Sue Lombardi 143
Jack Koeppler, friend and golfing partner 143
Pat Cochran, widow of coach Red Cochran 144
John Gordon, equipment aide 146
Doug Brozek, De Pere native and
training camp hopeful 148
Al Groves, St Norbert product and
training camp hopeful 150
Jim Hughes, neighbor and camp follower 150
Mike Manuche, son of one of Lombardi's
New York friends and camp aide 158
Bill Bohne, professor of art at
St. Norbert College 160
Don George, owner of Century Lanes 165
Jim Maes, driver for Maes Bus Service 166
Gerry Oesterreich, newspaper and
pizza delivery boy 167
Jim Gevers, De Pere bm·ber 167
Timeline of Lombardi's Training Camps 171