Mount Cheesemore: First face

So, we’ve given you our thoughts on the greatest Packers of all-time (a series that ended up being way more controversial than we at OBOD could have imagined) and the biggest draft steals in franchise history.

So far, we’re pretty pleased with how summer is going over here at OBOD. But we’re going to take it up a notch.

How?

By answering the following question: If the Green Bay Packers decided to build their own Mount Rushmore – their Mount Cheesemore, if you will – who would they put on it?

(Before we go on, yes, I am fully aware that ESPN did something similar to this earlier this year. It’s funny, too, because I actually thought that was a stupid idea, mainly because they went state-by-state and because it’s fairly gimmicky for such a big network. But for a team with such a rich history, like the Packers, it seems like a good idea.)

Deciding the four faces that will adorn Mount Cheesemore (we’re nothing if not clever at OBOD) was not an easy task. Any number of players, coaches and executives could easily fit and make for quite an imposing monument.

After a lot of research (and quite a bit of internal debate), I settled on four names, four towering figures that define the greatest franchise in professional sports (piss off, Yankees fans). We’re going to list them one-at-a-time at the start of each week so make sure to check back throughout the month to find out the full list.

Enjoy and, as always, I can’t wait for your comments telling me how stupid I am.

-Chris Lempesis

Earl “Curly” Lambeau – Founder, Player, Coach, Executive (1919-1949)

I could begin and end this one with, “for God’s sake, they named the stadium after him!” Really, that would be enough to justify Lambeau’s place on this list.

But to do so wouldn’t fully explain the greatness of the man they called “Curly.”

Imagine you’re a young man in the year 1919. You have more than just a little athletic ability (after all, you’re the only freshman to win a letter playing for Notre Dame and legendary head coach Knute Rockne).

Now imagine you get sick – tonsilitis, to be exact. The illness is fairly severe – remember this is 1919 – and it forces you to have to move back home to the sleepy little town of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

You have to get a job with the Indian Packing Company. While there, you have an idea to start a professional football team – well, semi-pro, actually, because the itch to play football is still strong in you. You need equipment and jerseys but don’t have the cash. You convince your boss, George Whitney Calhoun, to pony up $500 – probably the equivalent of $100 billion today – to help you out. Your team is pretty good and eventually becomes known as the Packers.

You know who you are? You’re Lambeau, the man responsible for laying the groundwork for everything that came after him in Green Bay.

He was an innovator. He decided that running the ball on every play wasn’t good enough, that maybe – if you threw the ball – you’d have more success. But he also decided that the passing needed to be thought out, so he decided to have the receivers run specific routes.

He figured out that a good team needs its own facility to practice in. He figured out that teams shouldn’t spend countless hours on a dumpy bus – the Greyhounds of today aren’t exactly first class, so you can imagine what they were like back then – and that maybe if they fly to away games, they’ll be better prepared to play.

He was also a pretty sharp evaluator of talent. Seven – seven! – members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame played with and/or under Lambeau, including Tony Canadeo, Johnny “Blood” McNally, Clarke Hinkle and, oh yeah, Don Hutson – maybe the greatest receiver that ever lived.

All of these things led to Lambeau piling up a 212-106-21 record – his pre-NFL record of 19-2-1 in 1919 and 1920 combined isn’t even included in those numbers – and six NFL Championships in his time guiding the Packers. He is the winngest coach in team history.

And when the Pro Football Hall of Fame opened its doors in 1963, it selected 17 charter members.

Lambeau was one of them.