Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Packer Plus
Some top moments from a memorable run
It’s challenging to condense nearly 20 years of covering the Green Bay Packers for Packer Plus in 1,500 words or less. Here it goes.
I’ve had the privilege of being part of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s publication team since 2004, when I wrote a feature on Lambeau Field public address announcer Gary Knafelc, former Packers tight end in the 1950s and early ’60s. Then Packer Plus editor Dick Pufall, a fellow UW-Eau Claire journalism alum, gave me the opportunity to contribute.
In September 2005, I wrote my first “Flashback” column — chronicling the career and post-football life of former Packers — on Fuzzy Thurston. Three hundred plus more on Green Bay players, coaches, administrators, and major games/events would follow. From the final years of the Brett Favre era under Mike Sherman and Mike McCarthy to the present with Aaron Rodgers and Matt LaFleur, it’s been quite a ride. Here’s some of my favorites and top moments:
The legends
Bart Starr. Jerry Kramer. Paul Hornung. Bob Harlan. Ron Wolf. Mike Holmgren. Pat Peppler. Lee Remmel. Forrest Gregg. Dave Robinson. Vernon Biever. Mark Murphy. I was fortunate to interview and get to know many Packers players, coaches, and administrators in the last 19 years. Starr, Harlan, and Remmel stand out as true gentlemen with an unmatched passion for the franchise who always were gracious with their time and insights. I’ll never forget the car ride interview with Bart and Cherry Starr to La Crosse, the phone interviews with Harlan (the only CEO I know who answered his own office phone), and watching game film of Packers legend Don Hutson with Remmel.
The games
The Aaron Rodgers’ Hail Mary’s. The NFC Championship victory in Chicago. The stunning playoff games at Lambeau Field against Tampa Bay and San Francisco the past two seasons. There are many
highlight-reel worthy games and Green Bay victories, highlighted by the 31-25 win over Pittsburgh at Cowboy Stadium in Super Bowl XLV. But the most memorable to me is a loss in Brett Favre’s last game in a Packers uniform. The New York Giants came into Lambeau Field for the 2007 NFC Championship on a frigid Sunday night — wind chill of minus-23 degrees — and pulled out a 23-20 win in overtime on Lawrence Tynes’ 47-yard field goal, who missed 43- and 36-yarders in regulation. I covered the Giants’ emotional and chaotic locker room afterward and witnessed the special chemistry and toughness of the team. I was one of the few local media members to pick New York to bust New England’s perfect season in the Super Bowl.
Super Bowl XLV
Classic case of a team — and Rodgers — getting hot at the end of the season and making a run for the ages. My main focus at the Super Bowl was doing a story on Ed Demyan, a 47-year-old single dad with three children who was dying of Stage III pancreatic cancer. Demyan and his fiancé, Mary Kaye Mackulin, were sent to the Super Bowl by the Dream Foundation, a nonprofit organization that makes dreams come true for adults with terminal illnesses. Demyan, a die-hard Cleveland Browns fan from Westlake, Ohio, adopted the Packers and cheered them on to victory over Pittsburgh. I interviewed Demyan and Mackulin during halftime of the Super Bowl and was moved by their courage and resolve to live each day to the fullest in a battle he couldn’t win. Demyan accurately predicted a close Packers victory over Cleveland’s bitter rival. “That’s where the Lombardi trophy belongs — in Green Bay,” he said. “I’m a traditional football kind of guy. I love the old-school stuff with busted teeth and grass stains and mud hanging from the face mask.” So do I.
The surreal
U.S. Bank Stadium press box for the 2020 season opener versus the Vikings with no fans due to the pandemic. You could hear nearly every call, grunt, curse, scream, and groan from the officials, players, and coaches down on the field. Usually the crowd noise is so loud I wear earplugs. Equally surreal was the Packers next game at Lambeau Field with no fans in attendance. But No.1 goes to Brett Favre’s much hyped return to Lambeau Field on Nov. 1, 2009, in a Minnesota uniform and the intense crowd reaction to a once-favorite son.
Favorite players to interview
Brett Favre. Whether in the locker room during his playing career or in the bowels of Lambeau Field by the tunnel before halftime introductions on Alumni weekend, interviewing Favre was never dull. I was the last person to walk out of the stadium with Favre after the Packers’ 28-24 victory over the Vikings in October 2010, two years after his bitter split from the franchise and trade to the New York Jets. I had a brief interview with Brett as he walked gingerly out of the visitors’ locker room to the Vikings team buses. “I hope to be back one day,” he said. That day came in July 2015, when he was greeted with a thunderous standing ovation as he entered Lambeau Field before his induction into the Packers Hall of Fame.
Players like Charles Woodson and Josh Sitton were always very candid in their interviews and it was always entertaining and informative when the Smith Brothers (Za’Darius and Preston) held court in the locker room after a game. Aaron Rodgers’ wit and insights have been appreciated over the years, and I look forward to him one day crafting me another Brett Favre special at the Pickle on Water Street in Eau Claire, just like after 2007 Tailgate Tour stop.
The coaches
Matt LaFleur is about as congenial and open as any NFL head coach can be toward the media. Over the years Steve Mariucci, now an NFL Network analyst, has been a great resource, but one stands alone: Da Coach.
The first time I tried to interview Mike Ditka for a Flashback story on Jim McMahon, the former Chicago head coach was rather terse and uncooperative. “Why the hell are you calling me?” he said. “And what the hell is Packer Plus? Never heard of it.” After that auspicious start, I mailed Ditka a few copies of the publication and going forward he took my phone calls and shared his experiences and opinions on the Packers-Bears rivalry. Ditka has great respect for Vince Lombardi’s championship teams in the 1960s and Packers stars like Starr, Hornung, Robinson and Ray Nitschke. And he is quick to laud Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre and mention that Green Bay has enjoyed an unprecedented run of hall of fame quarterbacks.
The fans
Bob and Tyler Kessler of Pennsylvania. I met father and son at Brett Favre’s Steakhouse after the Packers’ loss to Minnesota in the 2004 NFC wild-card game. I chronicled the amazing journey of this 14-yearold boy, Tyler — who beat cancer and awaited a kidney transplant — and his dad, who trekked to 24 of the NFL’s 32 stadiums at the time. Their goal was to visit every venue by 2006 and they almost always shared a steak dinner after every game. This story has a happy ending as Tyler received a kidney from Bob seven months later and they completed their stadium visits over the next few years. And I can’t even make this up: the Kessler family lives in Bethlehem, Penn., and Tyler was born on Christmas Day.
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