ON this Day in the NFL

[Claystation360]

September 16, 1919

Newswriter George Whitney Calhoun names the Green Bay team the Packers.

[ShinyHubCaps]

Aw, man, I only have an hour to celebrate! And everybody knows that the 89th anniversary is... probably nothing in particular...

Good to know, though. I can see it now: "...and thus, a legacy was born."

[DrBear]

Not that you'd know it from the Packers. Even though the team's media guide lists a 1919 start for the Packers, the team's Website says "est. 1921" which was the year the team entered the NFL after two years as an independent.

Yes, this is driving me mad.

[TruColor]

What makes me crazy, is that the NFL recognizes the Packers-Bears series as the "oldest" in the NFL, when it's actually the Cardinals-Bears.

There have just been more games between the Packers and Bears than the Cardinals and Bears.

[Gothamite]

Not that you'd know it from the Packers. Even though the team's media guide lists a 1919 start for the Packers, the team's Website says "est. 1921" which was the year the team entered the NFL after two years as an independent.

Yes, this is driving me mad.

That's the thing that drives me the most insane. The Cardinals can acknowledge their pre-NFL history, why can't the Packers?

I don't mind the new "Acme Packers est 1921" merchandise that they're selling now. The ACME Packers were in fact established in 1921. But the fact that the regular merchandise all has the wrong date on it bothers the hell out of me.

The first is okay, the second isn't.

[Gothamite]

Getting back to the subject at hand:

September 16, 1919

Newswriter George Whitney Calhoun names the Green Bay team the Packers.

What's your source for this? I don't think it's correct, on several levels.

Lambeau and Calhoun (who never gets proper credit) founded the Packers sometime in 1919. Lambeau had missed the spring semester at Notre Dame, and the lore tells us that the two young men, who knew each other, bumped into each other on the street while Lambeau was still in Green Bay.

The two held organizational meetings at the Green Bay Press-Gazette (where Calhoun worked) in. According to Packers.com, they played their first game on September 14th, 1919, which makes the date of their naming suspect. Did they play that first game without a nickname, then decide that they needed one?

It's also misleading in that the name came from Lambeau's employer, who donated money for uniforms and let them practice on company land. I don't know who suggested that the Indian Packing Company get "naming rights" for its $500, but haven't seen anything conclusively establishing that it was Calhoun. It may have been Calhoun who later convinced Lambeau not to change in the name, though.

I am loath to remove any of his credit, since I really don't think history gives him enough, but this just seems fishy. Compacting a long and complicated series of events to one handy little line usually ends up causing confusion.

[TruColor]

That's the thing that drives me the most insane. The Cardinals can acknowledge their pre-NFL history, why can't the Packers?

Speaking on behalf of Cardinals fans, that doesn't make any sense to me either.

The Cardinals have "Est. 1898" signs all over UOP Stadium.

[Sodboy13]

That's the thing that drives me the most insane. The Cardinals can acknowledge their pre-NFL history, why can't the Packers?

Speaking on behalf of Cardinals fans, that doesn't make any sense to me either.

The Cardinals have "Est. 1898" signs all over UOP Stadium.

And don't forget, they also wore a 100th Anniversay patch in 1998. Then again, the Packers wore a 75th season patch in '93, so they obviously recognized the real origination date of the franchise at some point...

[Gothamite]

You're right - don't know what has changed.

[DrBear]

I have a feeling what has changed is a. the idiots who did the Web site checking the league's history, not the Packers and b. nobody at the Packers paying any damn attention to the site.

I looked it up - Sept. 16 is a Tuesday. There went my theory of "the team played Saturday, the game story ran Monday (no Sunday paper in those days) and that's when Calhoun used it." It could be that's the first time the word "Packers" was used in conjunction with the team, but I haven't got time to run down to the Green Bay library and check the microfilm.

[Gothamite]

ooops. double-post.

[Gothamite]

I can't believe that nobody in the Packers offices has noticed that the date is wrong on the website and on merchandise. No way.

Hadn't thought that the date might have referred to the first time the name was in print. Interesting. Let me do some digging and I'll see if I can find anything.

I seem to recall that "Indians" was the first name used in print to refer to the Packers, before the organizational meeting. But will see if I can substantiate that. I'll check Larry Names' book when I get home - that ought to do it.

[Claystation360]

Well were it came from was the "ON this day in the NFL' part of the NFL website . I thought it was interesting But of course you could go into it & claim that they were to different packer organiztions & that the NFL doesn't count it until they joined the League . But it still doesn't make since for the Cardinals claim to date should be based of the same . either the joining of the NFL or when the organization started .

[illwauk]

Getting back to the subject at hand:

September 16, 1919

Newswriter George Whitney Calhoun names the Green Bay team the Packers.

What's your source for this? I don't think it's correct, on several levels.

Lambeau and Calhoun (who never gets proper credit) founded the Packers sometime in 1919. Lambeau had missed the spring semester at Notre Dame, and the lore tells us that the two young men, who knew each other, bumped into each other on the street while Lambeau was still in Green Bay.

The two held organizational meetings at the Green Bay Press-Gazette (where Calhoun worked) in. According to Packers.com, they played their first game on September 14th, 1919, which makes the date of their naming suspect. Did they play that first game without a nickname, then decide that they needed one?

It's also misleading in that the name came from Lambeau's employer, who donated money for uniforms and let them practice on company land. I don't know who suggested that the Indian Packing Company get "naming rights" for its $500, but haven't seen anything conclusively establishing that it was Calhoun. It may have been Calhoun who later convinced Lambeau not to change in the name, though.

I am loath to remove any of his credit, since I really don't think history gives him enough, but this just seems fishy. Compacting a long and complicated series of events to one handy little line usually ends up causing confusion.

Not to mention the team was also known as "Indians" and "Blues" at some point in its history. Packers was simply the name that stuck.

Part of me wishes that Blues would've been the name that stuck. Wisconsin is full of high school and college teams that are named after colors.

[Gothamite]

Not to mention that if the team had been called "Blues," they would have more than likely stayed with these beauties:

http://www.thesportgallery.com/products/packers.html

I'd go back to those in a heartbeat.

[Claystation360]

I would wonder if they could pull off Packer Gold , Green Bay Green , & Navy combo all in the same uniform .

[Gothamite]

Might be a little busy. Maybe if the numbers were gold (meaning you could eliminate all white) it could work.

Substitute metallic gold for athletic gold, and you've got the Brewers' 1994-1999 color scheme (which was never entirely successful).

[Gothamite]

Not to mention the team was also known as "Indians" and "Blues" at some point in its history. Packers was simply the name that stuck.

Just as a point of interest, "Packers" was also the original name. None of the other nicknames, all of which were used in addition to Packers, were popular enough to overthrow the "official" nickname.

Okay, I consulted my Bible. That would be, of course, The History of the Green Bay Packers, Volume One: The Lambeau Years - Part One, by Larry Names. Larry's not great with titles, but his is the definitive history of the club, exhaustively (if not obsessively) researched. Larry has this to say about the origins of the team's name, referencing an August 15, 1919 article in the Green Bay Press-Gazette, published without a byline:

A few lines further into the story the author of the article called the team the Packers . When he reported on the first meeting three days earlier, he also referred to the team as the Packers.

There is another controversy over this article. Who wrote it? It had no byline, so who was the author? This is important because this was the first time the nickname Packers ever appeared in print.

It is the opinion of this writer that the author was George Whitney Calhoun, and this conclusion is made after carefully reading and studying several hundred other articles, columns and reports which did have Calhoun's name on them. To the contrary Jimmy Ford related to this chronicler that Val Schneider, another reporter for the Press-Gazette, named the Green Bay aggregation the Packers, and Jimmy said he was told that tidbit of so very important information by Calhoun himself. The evidence of Calhoun being the author of the article is overwhelming, but even so, he may not have coined the name Packers. As Jimmy Ford put it, "Cal said that he got the name from Val Schneider." Jimmy didn't say "Cal said Val Schneider wrote the article." Just possibly, Schneider used the word in a conversation with Calhoun, and Calhoun put it in print. This seems to be best logical (sic) answer to the question of who named the Packers. 1

But that's complicated and messy, as is so much of real life. Much easier to say "On this date in history, George Whitney Calhoun named the Green Bay Packers." Tidy. Neat. Not necessarily true, but it fits the legend.

I am reminded of this exchange from the episode of The Simpsons where Apu takes the citizenship test:

Proctor: All right, here's your last question. What was the cause of the Civil War?

Apu: Actually, there were numerous causes. Aside from the obvious schism between the abolitionists and the anti-abolitionists, there were economic factors, both domestic and inter--

Proctor: Wait, wait... just say slavery.

Apu: Slavery it is, sir.

______________________

1. "Larry Names, The History of the Green Bay Packers, Volume One: The Lambeau Years - Part One (Wautoma, WI: Angel Press of WI, 1987) p. 29", for those of you keeping score at home.