Green Bay Press-Gazette du lieu suivant : Green Bay, Wisconsin • Page 156

'741(1 ANNIVERSARY Sunday' August ''Green Bay Press-Gazette I portswriter's idea spurre 81 iJ 1946, churning out publicity in the newspaper, to the state media and even around the country. "If it hadn't been for George Whitney Calhoun, maybe there wouldn't be an NFL team in Green Bay," said Lee Remmel, a former sportswriter at the Press-Gazette and current executive director of public relations for the team. The story goes like this: In 1919, Lambeau was about to return to Notre Dame for his sophomore year when a throat infection kept him in Green Bay. He went to work at a packing plant, one day ran into Calhoun and mentioned his hankering to play football. Calhoun suggested that Lambeau get up his own team.

They held two meetings at the Press-Gazette for prospective players. That season the team played 11 games against teams from around the state and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Calhoun passed around the hat for donations at home games, and the team went 10-1. In 1920 they went 9-1-1, then joined the National League in 1921. When the club incorporated, Calhoun became the first secretary treasurer.

He also was publicity director until he and Lambeau had a The Press-Gazette's Calhoun suggested the team, publicized it, then helped build its pro level By Pete Dougherty Press-Gazette A crochety newspaperman will go down in history as a co-founder of the Green Bay Packers. Curly Lambeau gets a lot of the credit, and for good reason: He was the young guy who in 1918 got the itch to play football, then managed to field winning teams for the first 14 years of the franchise. A.B. Turnbull, general manager of the Press-Gazette, helped carry the club through some difficult financial times. He also organized some local businessmen to form the Green Bay Football Corporation when the team was on the brink of folding.

But George Whitney Calhoun, a sportswriter for the Press-Gazette, first planted the idea with Lambeau, publicized the club when Lambeau decided to follow through, and was there for the first meeting of the team at the Press-Gazette on Aug. 11, 1919. And he stayed with the Packers through CAROL LAGERQUIST. CRS, GRI, REALTOR" r-: rTi Real contact Office Res. (414) travplpH tn the bier cities.

He and the Chicago Bears' George Halas had been friends in pro football from the start, and Halas regularly visited with Calhoun at a tavern on Saturday nights before the Bears played the Packers. His misstatements were legendary around the Press-Gazette. One editor kept a list of Calhounisms. For example, when the Green Bay Blue Jays won the Wisconsin State League baseball title one year, Cal, as he was called, thought the manager was a little too full of himself and told him: "You're walking around like Jesus Christ on the cross." He never covered the team as a reporter for the Press-Gazette, though he did occasionally write the stories when the team was on the road. His style was of the times, always putting the Packers in a positive light.

But he was innovative; Remmel thinks he was the first man in the NFL to chronicle a full box score with individual statistics of a game. Calhoun's association with the Packers ended in 1946. After years of great success, the Packers began to slip, and Calhoun thought Lambeau, who now had a winter home in California, had gone too "Hollywood." Lambeau thought time had passed by Calhoun and unceremoniously dumped him in the off-season. Calhoun found out about it when the story came across the wire at the Press-Gazette. "I heard Cal say one time, 'I hope to live to on his Remmel said.

Lambeau was fired three years later. He did outlive Calhoun, who died in 1963. Lambeau died in 1965. WAUWATOSA "If it hadn't been for George Whitney Calhoun, maybe there wouldn't be (an NFL team in Green Bay)." Lee Remmel falling out in 1946. In fact, he even had a stipulation in his will to have his ashes spread on the field at East Stadium, the old home field of the Packers.

Lee Remmel, who had a desk next to Calhoun's for several years at the newspaper, said a city ordinance prevented the wish from being granted. "He always had the welfare of the Packers at heart," said Remmel. Calhoun was known as a character because of his misuse of words. Writers in major cities took to him and even wrote stories about him. But apparently he wasn't always the most pleasant man to be around.

He had been a hockey goalie at the University of Buffalo but developed arthritis in his legs that continually worsened. "He hardly talked to me," said Art Daley, a former Press-Gazette sports editor who joined the paper in 1941 when Calhoun was wire editor. "As he got older he was pretty sour on life." He had few friends, though Remmel says the ones he had were loyal. "He tried to conceal what was a rather soft interior with a crusty exterior," he said. He entertained sportswriters with vulgar stories and a bathtub full of bottled beer when the team Price Includes: Filter Pump Ladder Chemicals Vac Head Vac Hose Pole tn stock items only Headquarters" inc.

1 5 (414)339-901" 2700 Vernon Drive Green Bay, Wl 54304 Estate is a contact business Carol Lagerquist for your real estate needs. (414)494-2700 FAX (414)499-9866 336-4480 Mobile (414) 621-4500 George Whitney Calhoun The beginning Aug. 11, 1919: A group including Curly Lambeau and George Whitney Calhoun met at the Press-Gazette to determine the level of interest in fielding a town football team. Aug. 14, 1919: The birth-date of the Green Bay Packers.

Curly Lambeau is elected captain of the town football team sponsored by the Indian Packing Company, which agrees to provide land on which to practice and money to buy equipment and jerseys. Oct 23, 1921: In its professional debut, Green Bay defeats the Minneapolis Marines 7-6 at Hagemeister Park. Flexible Affordable Dependable Hassle-Free CHARTER SERVICE E2 IF TIME IS WITH Executive Air Fast Above-ground SIZE pools at or below cost! STARTING AT DISPLAY $799.00 15' 18' 2V 24' 27' PACKAGE $899.00 PACKAGE $999.00 PACKAGE $1099100 PACKAGE $1399.00 Save on pool installation Executive Air "Your Full Service Pool Spa 24 Hour Service 7 Days a Week Passenger Canada 414-498-4880 Store Hours 8-6 Fri. 8-8 Sat 8-4 2131 AIRPORT DRIVE Austin Sfraubel Field Green Bay. 5431 765 lawrencs Criv Da Pare, VVI 541.