by Greg Koelker
I am a Green Bay Packers fan. I grew up in a family of Packers fans. Ellen is a Packers fan. Our sons are Packers fans. I was in high school when the Packers won the first two of their four Super Bowls. The names of Bart Starr, Paul Horning, Boyd Dowler, Max McGee, Ray Nitschke, Jim Ringo, Forrest Greg, Willie Wood, Willie Davis, Henry Jordan, Carroll Dale, and of course the great coach Vince Lombardi are etched into my past.
I was playing bass in the GMC band at The Club Midway near Fountain City back in the early 70’s when the Packers traveling basketball team came in after a Fire Department fundraiser game. I sat at the bar and was startled to look into my face – not in the mirror mind you but next to me. My doppelganger was place kicker Chester Marcol. He looked at me and was startled too. We exchanged greetings and I got back on the stage. Later QBs Scott Hunter and Jerry Tagge came up and played and sang a tune or two. When our drummer, Little Greg Anderson – FYI I was Big Greg – greeted him, rookie defensive back Willie Buchanan shook his hand and Little Greg bounced around like a doll getting a big laugh. Buchanan dubbed him “Killer,” a nickname that would stay with him until he joined forever The Righteous Brothers’ Hell of a Band last year.
Through the years up or down, there have been other greats like Lynn Dickey, James Lofton, John Brockington, and Chester Marcol. Ellen named produce from her garden Julius Peppers. Pictures of the great Reggie White and Charles Woodson and Mike Holmgren hang on our wall. Desmond Howard, Don Beebe, Gilbert Brown, Leroy Lambeau Leap Butler, Antonio Freeman, Craig Newsom, Bad Moon Andre Rising, Frank Winters remain Packers heroes. There are more of course.
I/we suffered through the down decades with our team and finally found a reason to hope when the Magic Man Don Majkowski started racking up victories. I was crushed in 1992 when Majkowski went down. Hope sprung up suddenly in the person of an unknown back up Mississippi quarterback. Brett Favre was a gun slinger who played with the excitement and abandon of a boy with a fiery right arm. He led the Pack to win Super Bowl 31 – and lose Super Bowl 32. He wrecked his reputation as a Jet and was a double agent as a Viking, pulverizing purple hopes – two seasons in a row.
One fall day I stopped by to look at an Amish roofing crew putting a new metal roof on my neighbor’s house. Green Bay had just announced Aaron Rodgers as their new starter. One of the roofers had done some work for us and he asked me, “So Koelker, do you think this Rodgers guy is gonna be any good?” I’m not making this up. He was an Amish Packers fan who said he often read about them in the papers and occasionally got to hear a game on radio. With the perspective of time -including a super bowl – my answer now is definitively, “Yes, he is pretty good.”
Today Packers fans move on, from what had been a hope filled season that ended after serious injuries, missed scoring opportunities, missed kicks and dropped balls. 5 straight losses, giveaways really to be fair tarnish the label. That said, at least we have many championships and four Super Bowl trophies. I saw a meme online the other day: My two favorite teams are the Packers and whoever is beating the Bears. Yeah.
On this sunny day after almost all of the first round of the NFL playoffs, this quote from Kristin Harmel’s Book of Names seems appropriate, “Hope can steal your present by focusing too much on a future that may never arrive, keeping you from acting or finding joy now.” She might have something there, but what the hey, we’re Packers fans. Ellen and I will be Broncos fans in honor of our Mountain Kids until the melee all ends next month, especially for our Denver daughter Jennifer, a life-long Broncos fan.
Until next time, get out – resist and pray for peace.
Greg Koelker is a lifelong resident of the Driftless region and a proud member of the De Soto, Wisconsin, community. He is the acclaimed author of the “Grouse Hollow Journal,” a column that celebrates rural life, nature, family heritage, and the traditions that bind communities together. While technically focused on the “outdoors,” his writing often explores broader themes of community values and education.
I was reminded I forgot the great Jim Taylor. Duh.