Film examines Ice Bowl’s impact
GREEN BAY – There was a losing team in the Ice Bowl, too.
A new NFL Films documentary, “The Timeline: The Ice Bowl,” by Michael Meredith, looks at the 1967 NFL championship game from a more Dallascentric view than usual, though it does not shortchange the Green Bay Packers.
The hour-long documentary will premiere Thursday at the Radisson Hotel and Conference Center in Ashwaubenon, during a Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame 50th anniversary celebration of the Ice Bowl.
It’s first broadcast will be at 8 p.m. Friday on NFL Network.
Meredith, the son of late Cowboys quarterback Don Meredith, counts many of the surviving Packers, whom he had not met until doing the film, as new friends; but the film also looks at how the game affected his family and the Cowboys.
The game elevated the already successful Packers into legends and, Meredith argues, focused the Cowboys, who dominated their conference and went to Super Bowls after the 1970 and ’71 seasons. But they did it without Don Meredith, who played one more year after the Ice Bowl, leading the Cowboys to a 12-2 record before retiring at age 31.
The documentary reveals that losing back-to-back championship games to the Packers weighed heavily on Meredith, who was more serious about football than his folksy image sometimes made it appear.
“I hope people can empathize a bit and understand what he went through and how hard he tried,” Michael Meredith said. “I also hope it puts a spotlight on Jerry Kramer. I don’t want to jinx anything, but that would be a perfect end to this journey.”
After many years of being overlooked, the former Packers guard is a senior finalist for induction in February into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The film opens with Meredith’s mother, Cheryl King, and former Packers quarterback Bart Starr’s wife, Cherry, talking about how the Ice Bowl changed their lives, but with very different meanings.
“It just changed our lives and provided us with a great life,” Cherry Starr said.
Meanwhile, King believes, “My whole life would have been different. Your dad’s life would have been different. Not only did it break my heart, it wounded my soul. You don’t ever get over something like that.”
Michael Meredith was fortunate enough to meet and interview Starr before the Hall of Fame quarterback suffered a series of strokes. He hopes to go to Starr’s home in Birmingham, Ala., next week to show him the finished film in person.
“I started this in July 2013 by calling up Mr. Bart Starr out of the blue,” Meredith said. “Of course he was incredibly gracious.”
The long list of interviewees includes Packers players Dave Robinson, Chuck Mercein, Donny Anderson and Boyd Dowler; Cowboys players Mel Renfro, Rayfield Wright, Walt Garrison and Lance Rentzel; actor Willem Dafoe, and many others. Meredith found himself working against time.
“Over a dozen folks passed away since I started this,” he said.
Don Meredith never talked much about the Ice Bowl. He had a successful post-football career as a color commentator on “Monday Night Football,” and as an actor.