REACHING OUT TO A FRIEND — AND RIVAL — IN NEED
George Halas helped keep the Packers in Green Bay. Halas had a spirited rivalry with Curly Lambeau and the Packers since the early days of the NFL. His appreciation for the rivalry ran so deep that he did everything he could to keep the Packers in Green Bay when the financial realities of a maturing league nearly sent them packing in 1956.
The Packers were in a rut at the time, with eight consecutive non-winning seasons, and their future in Green Bay depended on a referendum to build a new stadium. It was Halas who went to Green Bay to use his influence as a founding father of the NFL to promote the passage of the referendum.
‘‘I confess I have a deeper feeling of attachment for the Packers than any other club,’’ Halas said at the meeting in March 1956. ‘‘Sometimes I wonder if there would be a Chicago Bears today if there had not been such a terrific rivalry between the Packers and Bears since the early ’20s.
‘‘I can say to you sincerely — just as sincerely as we hope to edge out the Packers in both games next fall — that the best way for you to guarantee the current and future success of the Packers is to build a new stadium, a place where your team can grow and flourish in the future, just as it has grown and flourished here in Green Bay from the earliest days of professional football.’’
The referendum passed, new City Stadium (the eventual Lombardi Stadium) was built and the Packers indeed flourished — often at the expense of Halas’ Bears.
Even more so, Halas helped ensure the future of the Packers in Green Bay by supporting revenue sharing when the NFL started negotiating ever-increasing television contracts. That provided the Packers with the same share of the national-TV revenue as the Giants of New York and the Bears of Chicago. As much as Packers fans reviled Halas in the glory days of the rivalry, they owe him a huge debt of gratitude.