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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Voyageur" data-source="post: 1060992" data-attributes="member: 17953">I love those old pictures of the stadium. It reminds me of when they opened it for the first game. It was September 1957. Miss America was there. So was Richard Nixon who dedicated the stadium at halftime. A sellout crowd, over 32,000. We actually beat the Bears; I think it was 21-17 or 21-14. Can't remember exactly. I'm trying to remember the weather. I think it was cold and rainy. Miss America was wearing a fur coat if I recall. I think she had a tarp over her on the sidelines.  I was 16 at the time, I wanted her out there in a bathing suit darn it! That first season we had some cold games out there. The crowds weren't too dense either, until Lombardi turned things around. Gawd! As a Packer fan in those days, we really had to love our team to maintain our season tickets and actually attend games. There were times we could have all huddled together in a half a dozen phone booths and had elbow room!I wouldn't trade any of it for the world. That first year, sitting inside New City Stadium was a treat after sitting on the wooden bleachers often covered in ice seasons before. I think I knew I was a real Packer fan when I was about 8 years old, and when my Dad wouldn't take me to a game where it was so cold that he decided we'd stay at home instead. It was about zero outside, we lived 6 hours away from Green Bay, and it was snowing like a banshee outside, with roads being closed across Highway 29. My Dad knew, because starting on Saturday evening, he was calling the State Highway Patrol every couple of hours to see how the road conditions were. He was upset with himself because we didn't leave on Saturday morning, or even Friday evening and stay in a motel. He was obsessed, just like me. Then I found out the game was going to be on TV. The old Dumont network I believe. I don't remember the announcer. I think there was just one. Not sure. That was on Sunday morning, just before going to Church. Mass was at 11:00 AM, and I kept insisting my dad should make sure he had his wristwatch and pocket watch to make sure we weren't going to be late getting home to watch the game. I think it started at 2 PM in those days.It was okay. I drank hot chocolate and enjoyed it. But, when it was over, I told my dad that we had to leave earlier for games because I didn't like not being there. It was rough on him at that time. Over six hours driving to Green Bay. We'd leave at around 4:00 AM. We'd always stop at the Abbey Cafe in Abbotsford, WI for breakfast, then finish the trip. After the game, we'd be off, on that long drive. We'd get home about 10 or 11 PM. My mom always had a dinner ready for us, just heat it up a bit in the oven which she had already heated. I'd go to bed with a full stomach, and tales to tell the following morning at school about how I wanted to be just like the players I saw out there.Something surprising happened back in the early 80s, in New Braunfels, TX. My wife was offered a job by a company called Packers Welding handling the front office, including personnel. Their colors were green and gold. She ended up taking the job, and came home and laughed and said, "Guess who I met today?" I said I did have a clue. That's when she told me she was working for Ed Smith, owner of the company, who played with the Packers in 1948 and early 1949 before ending up elsewhere. I'd seen the guy play in GB. He suffered an injury in training camp his rookie year, and he was never the same as he was before it. I sat around with him a lot of evenings after that talking football. His most memorable time in life, beyond his wife and family, was the opportunity of playing in Green Bay. He told me that if he wasn't a born and bred Texan, he would have settled in Green Bay permanently.Ed died some years back. Great guy. I wish it would have worked out better for him in Green Bay. From what I've been told by others, he could have been one darned good player if not for the injury.Sorry! Long post.</blockquote>

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