I became a Packer fan at the age of 7 or6 or 7 when we moved to Milwaukee. I remember we would go to my grandmother’s house to watch Packer games on Sundays. She had one of the first big screen color TVs ever manufactured .Large, Front projection red/ green/ blue cathode ray to movie screen. This was 1965 so not all of you are going to know what I am talking about but it was big and fuzzy and in color. We watched the first three Super bowls on that TV.
It was there that I learned how my family was somewhat connected to the Packers. My grandfather, Russ Winnie had died the year before I was born. He was however, the first radio broadcaster to call packer games.
Starting in 1929 he called packer games for WTMJ for 18 years. The very first games were not live, but were animated as he got a ticker tape feed from the games. Eventually WTMJ bought the contract to be the official packer broadcast network and Russ became the Voice of the Packers
My grand mother was also involved. Being his wife, she would also go to the packer games with him. With a pair of binoculars she would be the spotter and, in her deep gravelly voice , she would give Russ the players involved as play happened on the field .. I’m told he would say “thank you George” as women weren’t really supposed to be in the broadcast booth.
I remember the walls of her house were filled with black and white photos of everything packer related. I didn’t really have a choice , I was kind of born a Packer fan.
