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The Green Bay Packers, founded in 1921, have an incredible fan following and rightfully so. The Green Bay Packers hold the record for most NFL league championships with 12: nine NFL Championships and three Super Bowl victories; I, II and XXXI. The Green Bay Packers thrive in the smallest media market to be home of a major professional sports league.
Now with the oldest team name used in the NFL, the Green Bay Packers were founded in 1919 by Curly Lambeau and George Whitney Calhoun.
The Green Bay Packers are currently the only publicly owned major league professional sports team in the US. There are 111,967 stockholders, none of which receive any dividend. To safeguard against any one individual having controlling interest in the team, it has ruled that no one person can ever own more than 200,000 shares of Green Bay Packer stock.
As far as play on the field goes, it's hard to beat the glory days of the Green Bay Packers in the 1960s. Head Coach Vince Lombardi took a defeated team to the top. The Green Bay Packers won five league championships in seven years and then went on to win the first two Super Bowls. In fact, the Super Bowl trophy was renamed the Vince Lombardi Trophy in 1970 in recognition of these awesome accomplishments.
The next couple of decades were long ones for the Green Bay Packers. Poor drafting lead to less than desirable performance on the playing field. Coaches Bart Starr, Forrest Gregg and Lindy Infante coached the Green Bay Packers to losing seasons year after year in the 70's and 80's. This all changed when new General Manager Ron Wolf was hired in the early 1990s. Ron Wolf hired Mike Holmgren as head coach and negotiated a trade for Brett Favre from the Atlanta Falcons to turn the Green Bay Packers back in to the winning franchise it once was.
Change was immediate. The Green Bay Packers went on to have 13 non-losing seasons in a row. With two Super Bowl appearances and one win, the Green Bay Packers were back with a vengeance.
As the old saying goes, all good things must come to an end. In 2005, under Head Coach Mike Sherman, the Green Bay Packers finished the season 4-12, their worst performance since 1991. Needless to say, Mike Sherman has since been fired, replaced with Mike McCarthy, whose future as the 14th head coach of the Green Bay Packers is still to be determined.
The Green Bay Packers play in the NFC North division. Before the league realigned all the divisions, the Packers played in the NFC Central Division, affectionately known as the Black & Blue division. While all teams have rivalries, few reach the intensity of the rivalry between the Packers and the Chicago Bears to the south or the Minnesota Vikings to the west.
It would not be fair to speak of the Green Bay Packers without emphasizing the impact quarterback Brett Favre has had on the team. At this stage of his career, Brett Favre is one of the five most recognizable athletes in the world. As the NFL's only three-time MVP, Brett Favre ranks in the league's top three in four major categories: second in touchdowns, second in completions, third in yards and third in attempts. The Green Bay Packers have been spoiled to have their quarterback, Brett Favre not miss a start in well over a decade - a record no one has ever come close to touching.
Still under the stellar leadership of future Hall-of-Famer Brett Favre, the Green Bay Packers have been in a bit of a rebuilding mode. Injuries have affected this team in recent years to the point that the Packers were running out of players at the skill positions. However, the future is always bright for the Green Bay Packers. Having the most loyal fans in all of sports, the Green Bay Packers have millions of fans who each year say the team is Super Bowl bound.
These same fans buy up merchandise emblazoned with the now signature green and gold team colors of the Green Bay Packers. Because Curly Lambeau's employer, the Indian Packing Company, paid for the team's first uniforms when they played their first game, they were called the Packers. Initially, due to Lambeau's affinity to the University of Notre Dame, the Packers' team colors were blue and yellow. When it was time for a change in 1959, new head coach Vince Lombardi introduced the current green and gold we have all come to know and love. Just two years after the new colors, the oval G was created by Green Bay Packers equipment manager Dad Braisher. While other organizations utilize a similar logo, the Green Bay Packers were first to use it and trademark it.
Key Green Bay Packers are too numerous to name. There are 20 former Green Bay Packer players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the second most in the league. Most recently, the Minister of Defense, number 92 Reggie White was inducted posthumously. White is one of only five Green Bay Packer players to have their number retired and on display at hallowed Lambeau Field.
Lambeau Field stands with pretty good company. Only two other pro sports venues have been in continuous use longer ? Fenway Park and Wrigley Field. Tickets to Lambeau Field to see the Green Bay Packers in person have been sold out for decades. The waiting list has more then 67,500 names on it with fans as far away as Australia occupying spots on the list. Current Green Bay Packer season ticket holders come from all 50 states. With this sort of support, the Green Bay Packers have benefited (with a few exceptions) with tremendous home field advantage.
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