There are very few names as synonymous with the Green Bay Packers as that of Curly Lambeau. After all, the very stadium in which the Packers now play bears his name. One of the founders of the Packers in 1919, Lambeau played for, coached, and/or ran the front office of the organization for 31 years. During that time, he amassed 209 victories, and his 226 victories as a NFL Coach (also with the Chicago Cardinals and Washington Redskins) still rank sixth all-time.
During his three decades in Green Bay, his hometown, the Packers won six NFL Championships. No coach has won more titles, and just one, Bill Belichick, formerly of the New England Patriots, has matched his number of titles.
In 1963, Lambeau was one of four Packers that were included in the inaugural Pro Football Hall of Fame class, joining Cal Hubbard, Don Hutson, and Johnny “Blood” McNally.
However, Lambeau’s own association with the Packers officially ended on February 1, 1950 in a most unfortunate way.
Curly Lambeau Officially Resigned from the Green Bay Packers on February 1, 1950
As great as Lambeau’s legacy is in Green Bay, it does not erase the fact that Lambeau’s own ill-advised financial handling of the organization nearly led to it either being privately owned, moved to the west coast, or shut down completely by the NFL.
After Lambeau’s final NFL Championship in 1944, the Packers’ organization started to slip into an era of irrelevance. While they had some “competitive” seasons, they would not win more than six games in a season until 1959, Vince Lombardi’s first year as head coach and general manager.
Much of the Packers’ woes stemmed from Lambeau’s 1946 purchase of the Rockford Lodge. In total, he spent $40,000 (a huge sum at the time) to make it the first self-contained training facility in the NFL. So egregious was the sum that many Packers board members threatened to resign.
The upkeep of the lodge bled the Packers’ financials, with players, coaches, and Lambeau himself needing to take pay cuts in order to keep the organization afloat. Even that wasn’t enough, though, and Lambeau was forced to search for private investors who would help save the franchise.
Of course, the idea of making the publicly owned Packers a privately run organization did not go over well. The Board of Directors revised Lambeau’s contract in a way that stripped him of all control over non-football matters. Lambeau refused this new contract and formerly resigned on February 1, 1950.
Seven days before he resigned, the Rockford Lodge burned down in an electrical fire. The insurance money the Packers’ received from it eliminated all of their financial issues.
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