This Day in Packers History

On July 21, 1965, Packers coach Vince Lombardi teed off against golf legend Jack Nicklaus in a charity match at Oneida Golf & Riding Club - Lombardi shot a 10-stroke-worse 82, and still won.

On July 19, 1968, LeRoy Butler was born in Jacksonville, Florida. Green Bay took him 48th overall in the 1990 draft and spent two years trying to draft over him - until a move to strong safety unlocked a Hall of Fame career. On December 26, 1993, Butler scooped a Reggie White lateral, scored, and leaped into the Lambeau bleachers, inventing the Lambeau Leap - the one NFL celebration where the fans catch the player. Four-time All-Pro, Super Bowl XXXI champion, Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2022.

On July 18, 1994, the Green Bay Packers dedicated the Don Hutson Center, an indoor practice facility named for football's first modern wide receiver - a career touchdown record that stood for 44 years.

On July 16, 1932, Max McGee was born. By the 1966 season the 'Maxie the Taxi' receiver was a Packers backup with just 4 catches all year - and didn't expect to see the field in Super Bowl I. Then starter Boyd Dowler separated his shoulder, McGee came in wearing a borrowed helmet, and reached back one-handed for a 37-yard touchdown from Bart Starr: the first points in Super Bowl history. He finished with 7 catches, 138 yards, and 2 TDs in Green Bay's 35-10 win.

Bill Anderson was born on July 13, 1936. He was Rookie of the Year in Washington in 1958 and a two-time Pro Bowler - then he retired after 1963 to coach at Tennessee. In 1965 he un-retired to sign with Vince Lombardi's Packers, and the gamble paid off completely: Green Bay won the 1965 and 1966 NFL Championships and Super Bowl I over Kansas City. The tight end who 'finished' his career walked away with a ring from the first Super Bowl ever played.

July 6th, 2023 — Green Bay had just traded Aaron Rodgers and spent their first pick on Lukas Van Ness, a hybrid edge rusher from Iowa. The Packers passed on names the mock drafts loved and picked the linebacker-end hybrid who fit what they were building. That pick said everything about who the new Green Bay was.

July 5th — James Lofton's birthday. In 1978, the Packers used a top-six pick on a Stanford sprinter who averaged over 22 yards per catch. Seven Pro Bowls. Nine seasons. The first receiver in NFL history to reach fourteen thousand career yards.

July 4th belongs to Desmond Howard and the ninety-nine-yard return that ended Super Bowl XXXI. The only special-teams MVP in Super Bowl history — and the returner Green Bay spent a decade trying to replace.

In 1921, in their first pro season, the Green Bay Packers were expelled from the league for slipping active college players into an exhibition game under fake names — and the man who reported them came from the Chicago club that would soon become the Bears. This episode tells how Curly Lambeau appealed, paid a $50 entry fee for a new franchise in June 1922, and kept alive the team that is today the only publicly-owned club in major American pro sports.