Green Bay relishes its “Titletown” moniker, and the nickname is well-deserved. After all, the Packers have won four Super Bowls and 13 total championships. Here are the early championships, which were not covered in other chapters.
1930 Championship
December 14, 1930
Universal Stadium (Portsmouth, Ohio)
Packers 6, Spartans 6
It’s hard to fathom now, but the Packers sewed up the second of their 13 championships with a tie. (Since there were no playoffs back then, champions were decided by who had the best record.) Playing their seventh straight road game, they entered with a 10–3 record, which was good for a .769 winning percentage and a narrow lead over the New York Giants, who were 13–4 (.765). Looking forward to splitting another $5,000 winner’s purse from their devoted followers in Wisconsin, the Packers took the field confident—perhaps overly so—against a team they had beaten at home 47–13.
Green Bay jumped to a 6–0 lead when Red Dunn hit Wuert Engelmann with a 10-yard touchdown pass on fourth down. Dunn’s extra point sailed wide left, which would prove pivotal.
The Portsmouth Spartans entered with a 5–6–2 mark and used the running of Chuck Bennett, Father Lumpkin, Mayes McLain, and Tiny Lewis to chew up chunks of yardage. The host team gained 201 yards from scrimmage, but numerous drives stalled in Packers territory.
The Spartans, who years later would move out of Ohio and become the Detroit Lions, stunned Green Bay with their physical play. Milwaukee Journal reporter Oliver Kuechle said Portsmouth fought “like a bunch of college sophomores at homecoming.”
The only game on the NFL schedule drew reporters from a dozen different cities and a visit from league president Joe F. Carr, who smoked cigars from his seat in Box No. 11 and sent a telegram to the victors that read: “My congratulations. When the smallest city in the league can win the championship twice in a row, it’s something to be proud of, and I am just proud of Green Bay as any of the hundred Packers followers up in Wisconsin.”
1931 Championship
November 29, 1931
Ebbets Field (Brooklyn, New York)
Packers 7, Dodgers 0
Had instant replay existed in 1931, the Packers may have had to delay their championship celebration. When the Packers jogged onto Ebbets Field on November 29 to play their fourth consecutive road game, they knew that a victory would clinch their third consecutive championship.
Eight minutes into the opening quarter after three unsuccessful running plays from the 2-yard line, the Packers gave the ball to Verne Lewellen, who reached his long arms toward the goal line. The ball bounced out of his grasp, and Brooklyn recovered, but referee Bobby Cahn ruled—to the dismay of 18,000 fans—that the ball had been grounded over the goal line. (The phrase “broke the plane” was not yet invented.)
An extra point by Red Dunn made the score 7–0, and that score held for the rest of the afternoon as Green Bay improved its record to 12–1, claimed the title, and rendered a season finale with Chicago irrelevant. (The Packers lost that game 7–6.)
1936 Championship
December 13, 1936
Polo Grounds (New York City, New York)
Packers 21, Redskins 6
Don Hutson caught a 48-yard pass in the first quarter of title game, and the Packers never trailed. But for the 1936 Packers, who earned their fourth championship under Curly Lambeau, a galvanizing moment came early in the season. After enduring endless rumors that the financially-strapped club would end up in Milwaukee, St. Louis, or a number of other cities, Green Bay opened the season with a 10–7 victory against the Chicago Cardinals. In Game 2 the Packers hosted the other Windy City team, the Bears, on September 20 at City Stadium. With a record crowd of 14,312 watching, the Bears crushed Green Bay 30–0.
It was the most lopsided loss the Packers had suffered since the Pottsville Maroons beat them 31–0 in 1925, and Lambeau did not take it well. With 10 days to prepare for the next contest—another date with the Cardinals—Lambeau released halfback Harry Mattos, end Alfred Rose, and tackle Ralph (Primo) Miller from the team. While those players sought to latch on to other clubs, Lambeau intensified negotiations with halfback Johnny “Blood” McNally, who ended a holdout and inked a deal on a Thursday morning just in time to participate in a grueling three-hour practice session. “Johnny has a perfect mental attitude,” Lambeau said of the 12-year veteran, who was Green Bay’s second-leading all-time scorer. “I am confident he will have one of his best seasons.”
Blood’s impact on the field throughout the season wasn’t particularly significant, but his return—on the heels of the crushing loss to Chicago—proved to be “galvanizing.” The Packers thrashed the Cardinals 24–0 at State Fair Park in Milwaukee and then went on to win nine straight games—often dominating—and wrapped up the Western Division championship with a 26–17 road victory against defending champion Detroit. Although they closed the season with a meaningless scoreless tie against the Cardinals on a frozen Wrigley Field, the Packers rolled into the championship game with a 10–1–1 record and a railroad car’s worth of confidence.
1939 Championship
December 10, 1939
State Fair Park (West Allis, Wisconsin)
Packers 27, Giants 0
As the 1939 season wound to a close, the Packers and their die-hard fans received a little bulletin board material from the East Coast. Bill Corum, sports editor of the New York Journal-American and one of the most respected voices in the industry, wrote a column saying that Green Bay did not belong in the NFL. “The present National League must soon strengthen its membership,” wrote Corum, who was considered a peer with sportswriting giants like Grantland Rice, Ring Lardner, Damon Runyon, and Red Smith. “Great as Green Bay is as a team, loyal as the fans of the little town are, it can’t go on indefinitely being a big-league city. It isn’t.”
After earning the right to host the New York Giants in the first championship game ever played in Wisconsin, the Packers decided to move the game to their second home, State Fair Park. Though it was primarily used as a racetrack, the facility in West Allis, dubbed “the Dairy Bowl,” could accommodate 7,000 more spectators than City Stadium in Green Bay.
Fans and business owners were less than thrilled with the change in venue. And the New York press wasn’t overly impressed either—until the Packers took the field. A seven-point lead at halftime turned into a rout. Cecil Isbell and Arnie Herber led the offense, but it was a stout defense, which intercepted six passes, that carried the Packers to a victory that was described as “savage.” “What is there to say?” Giants interim coach Bo Molenda, a Packers alum pressed into duty when Steve Owen left to attend his mother’s funeral, said. “Anyone, who saw the game and knows the score, has the answer to that one. The Packers were the better team out there today. We have no excuses. We were just outplayed all the way through.”
1944 Championship
December 17, 1944
Polo Grounds (New York City, New York)
Packers 14, Giants 7
Even in football-crazy Green Bay, sports were largely an afterthought in 1944. World War II forced cancellation of many events, including the Olympic Games, The Masters, and all auto racing events. Athletes from every discipline, including Packers stars like Tony Canadeo, were pressed into military service.
The 1944 Packers won their first six games of the season but lost two of their last four by shutout, including a 24–0 thrashing against the New York Giants in Week 9 in New York.
The rematch in the championship game was different. Curly Lambeau took his team to Charlottesville, Virginia, for a week in order to prepare in more comfortable weather conditions. The Packers held two practices a day, mixing in meetings and film study of the Giants’ suffocating defense. Coupled with contributions of heroes of the moment, Irv Comp and Ted Fritsch, that preparation propelled Green Bay to a 14–7 victory and its sixth championship.
1961 Championship
December 31, 1961
City Stadium (Green Bay, Wisconsin)
Packers 37, Giants 0
1962 Championship
December 30, 1962
Yankee Stadium (New York City, New York)
Packers 16, Giants 7
After suffering a heartbreaking 17–13 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1960 Championship Game at Forbes Field, Vince Lombardi’s squad embarked on a dynasty that would see them win five titles in seven seasons. “I remember vividly what Coach Lombardi said to us in the locker room after that loss in Philadelphia,” Bart Starr said. “He didn’t yell or scream at us. Coach Lombardi’s greatest strength was his ability to appropriately handle the situation. What he said was my motivation for the offseason and training camp to prepare for the 1961 season. ‘Gentlemen, never again will we fail to win a championship game.’ And he was right. We didn’t lose another one.”
The 1961 game was a blowout. The ’62 version was more competitive, but in an MVP performance, Ray Nitschke deflected a pass to set up a Dan Currie interception and recovered a pair of fumbles to help key Green Bay’s victory on a frigid afternoon. The Packers would also win the championship in 1965.
Super Bowl II (1968 Championship)
January 14, 1968
Orange Bowl (Miami, Florida)
Packers 33, Raiders 14
Accomplished before a capacity crowd of 75,546, this game capped the Packers’ dynasty under Vince Lombardi. It also mirrored the initial Super Bowl held a year earlier in that the Packers started slowly, pulled away, and then won easily.
Bart Starr, the game’s Most Valuable Player, completed 13-of-24 passes to five different receivers en route to winning MVP honors. Starr’s biggest plays included a 62-yard scoring pass to Boyd Dowler that put Green Bay ahead 13–0 and a methodical 82-yard march in the third quarter. Don Chandler kicked four field goals for the Packers, and Green Bay’s defense held off the upset-minded Raiders. Herb Adderley sealed the deal with a 60-yard interception return for a touchdown.