[img_r]http://images.packers.com/images/history/story/calhoun_george.jpg[/img_r]On Aug. 11, 1919, a score or more husky young athletes, called togetherby Curly Lambeau and George Calhoun, gathered in the dingy editorial room of the old Green Bay Press-Gazette building on Cherry Street and organized a football team. They didn't know it, but that was the beginning of the incredible saga of the Green Bay Packers.

Lambeau and Calhoun struck the initial spark a few weeks before, during a casual street-corner conversation. It was apparently a "Why not get up a football team?" remark, but once they were interested, they wasted no time.

First they talked Lambeau's employer -- a war-time industry called the Indian Packing Company, where he worked as a shipping clerk for $250/month -- into putting up money for jerseys.

Because the company provided jerseys and permitted the use of its athletic field for practice, the club was identified in its early publicity as a project of the company. With this tie-in, the name "Packers" was a natural, and Packers they have been ever since, although the Indian Packing Company had practically faded out of the picture before that first season was half over.

That first season the team won 10 and lost only one, against foes from Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. Games were played in an open field with no fences or bleachers, and interested fans "passed the hat." But the team was so successful by 1921 that Lambeau was backed by two officials of the packing plant in obtaining a franchise (Aug. 27, 1921) in the new national pro football league that had been formed in 1920. Cash customers didn't quite pay the freight and the team had to be forfeited at year's end.

This was the first in a long series of troubles that the now famous team overcame, for in 1922 Lambeau gained other backers and bought the franchise back for $250, including $50 of his own money. Troubles continued during that season. One game was rained out and the insurance company wouldn't pay off because the official amount of rain was one one-hundredth of an inch short of that required in the policy.[img_r]http://images.packers.com/images/history/story/lambeau-training-camp.jpg[/img_r]

However, another storm late in the season, when the Packers were scheduled to play the Duluth Kelleys, threatened to throw Lambeau further into debt. But A.B. Turnbull, Green Bay Press-Gazette general manager, advanced Lambeau the Duluth guarantee. He then lobbied town businessmen ("The Hungry Five") behind the team, and formed the Green Bay Football Corporation.

From those modest and somewhat tenuous beginnings, the Packers have gone on to earn national stature and virtual world-wide recognition by winning more championships (12) over the intervening 80-plus years than any team in pro football.

These achievements, while representing a town of approximately 100,000 in competition with the country's largest markets, have endeared the Packers to the nation. The David vs. Goliath concept and the team's unique status as a publicly owned corporation has intrigued generations.

The Packers' colorful saga spans 89 years from the "Iron Man" period of the first decade under founder Lambeau, to the present day, which finds Mike McCarthy presiding as the team's 14th head coach.
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Chapter 1: The Iron Man Era

With good financial backing, Lambeau picked up college stars from all over the country, plus some unknowns who turned out to be "greats." In 1929, tiny Green Bay won the first of three straight national professional football championships, pacing stalwarts from New York and Chicago in league standings (the playoff system began in 1933). The 1929-31 title teams featured all-time pro greats like Red Dunn, Verne Lewellen, Cal Hubbard, Bo Molenda, Jug Earp, Mike Michalske, Johnny (Blood) McNally, Bill Kern, Arnie Herber, Clarke Hinkle, Lavvie Dilweg, Tom Nash, Milt Gantenbein and Hank Bruder. In many games, players would play for almost the full 60 minutes. These teams were hailed all over the country as some of the greatest ever.

Chapter 2: The Hutson Period

Trouble flared again in 1934, when a fan fell from the stands, sued and won a $5,000 verdict. After their insurance company went bankrupt, the Packers went into receivership and were just about to fold when Green Bay businessmen came to the rescue again, raised $15,000 in new capital and reorganized the club.

About this time (1935), a rather slight, lanky end by the name of Don Hutson came to the club. He actually signed two contracts, with Green Bay and the Brooklyn Dodgers. But commissioner Joe Carr awarded Hutson to the Packers, because Green Bay's postmark was earlier.

From his first game on, Hutson became the terror of the league and the secret of Green Bay's next three championships. His arrival and corresponding attendance increases allowed the team to buy itself out of receivership in 1935. With Herber and Cecil Isbell passing and Hutson catching anything they threw at him, despite any kind of a stop-Hutson defense, Green Bay won championships in 1936, 1939, and 1944.

After Hutson's retirement, Packer fortunes again declined. The disastrous pro football war, between the NFL and the new All-America Football Conference, brought on another financial crisis after the 1949 season. From 1946-48, the financially strapped Packers lost two of their three No. 1 draft choices to the AAFC, unable to bid with the rival league. Desperate for new income, the Packers held an old-timers game and intra-squad scrimmage on Thanskgiving Day, 1949, and raised $50,000.

In the midst of the turbulent times, Lambeau lost an internal power struggle -- which ultimately began when he used $25,000 to purchase Rockwood Lodge for training camp. Lambeau resigned, Jan. 31, 1950, ending his 31-year run in Green Bay, to become the Chicago Cardinals' head coach.

Chapter 3: Ronzani Regime

To replace Lambeau, the Packers hired Gene Ronzani of the Bears, the most significant step in yet another major reorganization and rebuilding effort. Nearly $125,000 was raised in a giant 1950 stock sale all over the state. Under Ronzani, Green Bay's best season was 1952; the Packers were in the thick of the title chase until the season's last weeks. In 1953, the team played erratic ball and Ronzani resigned with two games remaining.

Before he departed, though, Ronzani hired Jack Vainisi as full-time talent scout. Vainisi would receive credit for discovering the six Packers Hall of Famers drafted from 1953-58: C Jim Ringo, T Forrest Gregg, QB Bart Starr, HB Paul Hornung, FB Jim Taylor and LB Ray Nitschke.

Chapter 4: Blackbourn Takes Over

The Packers overhauled their front office and coaching staff in 1954, hiring Verne Lewellen, all-time Packers great, attorney and businessman, as general manager. Reaching into the college ranks, Green Bay named Lisle Blackbourn, of Marquette University, its third coach. The Packers were 17-31 during Blackbourn's four years (1954-57).

On April 3, 1956, voters approved a referendum to fund construction of a new stadium. The Packers dedicated the facility (renamed Lambeau Field in 1965), on Sept. 29, 1957.

Chapter 5: McLean Moves Up

Likable Ray "Scooter" McLean moved up from being an outstanding assistant coach to guide the destiny of the Packers for 1958. McLean resigned in December after a 1-10-1 record, the worst in Packers history, in his lone season as head coach.

Chapter 6: The Lombardi Era

The Packers took their time after McLean's resignation choosing a new coach. Vainisi conducted Phase II of the 1959 draft by himself, as the team debated whether to hire a general manager as well as a coach, or one person for both positions. The search spanned from the CFL to the college ranks, and even included a GM application from Lambeau.

On. Jan. 28, when team president Dominic Olejniczak recommended to the committee a little-known New York Giants assistant, longtime committee member John Torinus replied, "Who the hell is Vince Lombardi?"

The committee, and the world, quickly found out. Within hours after his arrival on Feb. 2, Lombardi told the committee, "I want it understood that I am in complete command here." Two days later, the Packers officially gave Lombardi both titles.

In his first season, 1959, Lombardi went 7-5, winning unanimous 'Coach of the Year' recognition. Then in 1960, the Packers captured the Western Division title, only to lose the NFL title game at Philadelphia. However, Lombardi rebounded to win world championships in 1961, '62, '65, '66, and '67.

His teams finished no lower than second from 1960- 67 and became the standard of football excellence. In nine years, Lombardi went 98-30-4 (.758), including 9-1 in postseason, winning his final nine playoff games.

Chapter 7: Bengtson Period

Following the third consecutive title in 1967, Lombardi turned over the head coaching duties to Phil Bengtson and one year later announced that he was leaving Green Bay to become coach-GM of the Washington Redskins. Bengtson coached the Packers from 1968-70, compiling a 20-21-1 record. He resigned in December, 1970.

Chapter 8: The Devine Days

Dan Devine, one of the nation's three most successful college coaches, succeeded Bengtson as head coach and general manager in January 1971. After settling for a 4-8-2 record during his first year, Devine and the Packers appeared on the road to new heights when 1972 produced a 10-4 record and the team's first Central Division title since 1967. But the Packers' Super Bowl hopes dissolved in the second half of 1973 and they slipped to 5-7-2. They continued their recession in 1974, going 6-8, and Devine resigned.

Chapter 9: The Starr Trek

The most successful field general in pro football history, winning five world championships from 1961-67, Bart Starr accepted the challenge to lead the Packers out of the NFL wilderness, agreeing to a three-year contract as head coach and general manager, Dec. 24, 1974. Starr asked for "the prayers and patience of Packer fans everywhere...We will earn everything else."

Although he had a 4-10 record in 1975, the baptismal season of a massive rebuilding project, Starr gave fans new hope by assembling a sound organization and restoring a positive attitude, underscored by three victories in the last five games of the '75 season. He continued the resurgence in 1976, leading the Packers to a 5-9 record, highlighted by a three-game, mid-season winning streak. Major and key injuries slowed the comeback in 1977 but a strong finish produced a 4-10 mark. Hopes soared in 1978 when the Packers posted their first winning slate since 1972, an 8-7-1 record, only to be temporarily dampened in 1979 by a record rash of injuries which spawned a 5-11 mark. Another injury epidemic, one which saw 27 players on injured reserve during the course of the season, struck in 1980, forcing the Packers to settle for a 5-10-1 record. .

Rebounding strongly in 1981, they rallied from a disappointing 2-6 start to mount one of the most dramatic comebacks in team history, closing with a 6-2 rush (an 8-8 mark), one win shy of the playoffs.

The Packers continued the upsurge in 1982, when they qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 1972 by going 5-3-1 during the strike-interrupted season. They then embellished that performance by routing St. Louis 41-16 in the first round of the NFL's Super Bowl Tournament, before bowing to Dallas (37-26) despite a record-setting, 466-yard offensive effort. Starr was relieved of his head coaching duties Dec. 19, 1983, after the Packers finished the season 8-8 and missed the playoffs on the season's final week.