Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Packer Plus
Victory included parade of fond memories
Frank Winters, reflecting a quarter century later, remembers vividly the euphoria of winning Super Bowl XXXI in New Orleans and the whirlwind afterward.
The on-field celebration in the Superdome. The victory party at the team hotel and ensuing Bourbon Street visit. The parade and celebration upon returning to Green Bay with the Lombardi Trophy.
After three straight seasons that abruptly ended in frustrating playoff losses to the Cowboys in Dallas and a 29-year championship drought for the franchise, Green Bay was again title town.
“It was quite an experience,” said Winters, the former Packers center who now lives in Chicago. “It’s great to go to the Super Bowl, and so much better when you’re on the winning end of it. And what a great city to celebrate winning a Super Bowl.
“We really got to enjoy the game, celebrate with teammates and coaches and family right after the game in our hotel and then hit Bourbon Street. The next morning we flew home to the parade in Green Bay. A lot of the guys were not ready with the right attire for how cold it was in Green Bay with open air buses. But we basked in the glory with our fans and friends and family.”
Winters was soon basking in the Hawaiian sun, along with teammates Brett Favre, Reggie White, LeRoy Butler, Eugene Robinson, and Desmond Howard to represent the Packers in the Pro Bowl.
“We had to fly out the day after the parade in Green Bay for Hawaii,” Winters said. “So I really didn’t get a chance for it (the Super Bowl title) to sink in until I was back in Kansas City. It takes a while, when all the hoopla is over and you’re with family and friends. Away from football. That’s when you reflect on what we accomplished. And start preparing for the 1997 season.”
For general manager Ron Wolf and the coaching staff, the time to reflect was very short.
“As I recall, we had the parade on
Monday and we started Wednesday preparing for the draft,” Wolf said in a phone interview Monday from his Florida home. “By that I mean putting our draft board together because we had to get that assembled before the combine. We were behind because of the Super Bowl.”
Not that Wolf is complaining. “I’d be behind every year if I could due to being in the Super Bowl,” he said with a laugh.
Wolf said his team of scouts, administrators, and staff worked 12 hours days to evaluate collegiate staff and build their draft board.
“We were basically in a bunker for seven days a week for three-and-a-half weeks,” he said. “We’d go 7:30 in the morning until 7:30 in the evening, with an hour-and-a-half for lunch. We did our board by position, and I’d work with Ted Thompson and Reggie McKenzie to finalize it.”
That’s what Wolf relished the most, bringing a Super Bowl title back to Green Bay — which many in NFL circles thought was impossible when he was hired by team president Bob Harlan in
November 1991.
“When I took the job with the Packers, a lot of people told me how stupid I was, that I’d be gone in three or four years,” Wolf said. “I was fortunate to work with some incredible people and talented players. He had a great head coach in Mike Holmgren, Brett was a once-in-a-lifetime talent, and we signed Reggie White. We were all euphoric on what we were able to accomplish, winning the Super Bowl. It was a special team, a special season.”
Wolf would not get a vacation with his wife Edie and family until the late summer, before the start of training camp.
“We had a house in Bethany Beach, Delaware, and went down there for a couple weeks in June,” Wolf said. “Getting down by the water, the Atlantic (Ocean). In those days we didn’t have cell phones, so they couldn’t find you.”
There was no vacation on the agenda for Sean Jones. The former Packers defensive went right back to work after the parade in Green Bay.
“It was so ridiculously cold for that parade,” joked Jones from his Texas home. “And someone had the bright idea to open the windows on the buses. It was like Gilligan’s Island — supposed to be a three-hour tour. But it ended up being a lot longer.”
Jones did not escape on a vacation after the Super Bowl victory — he resumed his offseason job as a financial advisor with offices in Houston and Los Angeles.
“After the parade and everything, I had to go back to work,” he said. “It’s the offseason. That’s what I did. So for me, it didn’t hit me about being a Super Bowl champion until I got the ring. We went to the White House and met the President (Clinton), but it really hits you when you get that ring.”
For Don Beebe, the fifth time was the charm. And the magnitude of the victory was instantaneous. After four Super Bowl losses with the Buffalo Bills, the Packers receiver relished being a champion. And Beebe received a game ball, thanks to a handoff from Favre.
“I remember the last 10 seconds of the game, standing behind Brett,” said Beebe, now the head football coach at Aurora University in Illinois. “I walked up to Brett and asked him if I could have the ball. Brett said, ‘You deserve it, Beebs.’ It was such an awesome feeling and so gratifying to finally win one.”
Equally memorable was having his two young children — Amanda and Chad (now playing with the Vikings) — on the field with him in the post-game celebration.
“I had like 27 family members in New Orleans — I come from a big family,” Beebe said. “And I’ll never forget the parade in Green Bay, freezing, and absorbing the atmosphere and the crowd as we made our way to the stadium.”
Beebe, along with Favre, White, Robinson, and other players, spoke to the 60,000-plus fans that packed Lambeau Field.
“I got the mic and all I said was, ‘Repeat,’” he said. “The crowd screamed ‘Repeat’ for more than a minute. It was so cool, and it gives me goose bumps to talk about 25 years later.”