Matt Gage is a member of the Packers Hall of Fame Board of Directors. His father, Mike Gage, is currently President of the Packers Hall of Fame and Director Emeritus of the Packers’ Executive Committee. Mike’s grandfather was Andrew (A.B.) Turnbull, co-founder of the Green Bay Press-Gazette, a Hall of Famer himself, and a member of the so-called “Hungry Five.”

It was the Hungry Five – Lee Joannes, Dr. W. Webber Kelly, Curly Lambeau, attorney Jerry Clifford and Turnbull – who laid the foundation for the modern Packer corporate structure. They supported Turnbull’s 1923 stock drive and also set up the Packers as a non-profit corporation. Turnbull was also the first President of the Green Bay Packers.

So the Gage family has a story or two about their life surrounded by all things Green Bay. Packers Hall of Fame.com asked Matt Gage to share his favorite fan experience, and he took us back to 1995 and a special game against the Detroit Lions.

I have been going to games since the beginning of the 70s. When asked to recall some of the most notable games I can remember; I think back to one particular game on January 1, 1995.

Green Bay (10-7) hosted (impolitely, I may add) the Detroit Lions (9-8). Barry Sanders came into the game as the league’s leading rusher at 1,883 yards on the season. But that afternoon, the Packers put on a clinic of block shedding and backside pursuit like few have ever seen.

The thing that makes me remember the game so vividly was that I could not recall the fans being so much a part of the game in many years before that contest. Every time Sanders touched the ball, the fans were angry and screaming at the top of their lungs. I literally heard people yell, “Kill him!” again and again.

Now, you may have heard that kind of spirit in recent games, but that day was the first time I had heard the crowd roar like that in a long, long time. You could literally feel the vibration from the noise on the skin of your face. For a longtime fan of the Packers, it was a stirring moment. Maybe even a game-changing moment as the team was peaking toward back-to-back Super Bowl runs.

Anyway, I can’t remember a more dominant defensive showing than what Green Bay showed that day against the Lions. At the end of the day, Sanders ran the ball 13 times for a total yardage day of minus 1 yard.

And to top off a great defensive game, Green Bay won that day by the score of 16-12. Stopping a future Hall of Famer dead in his tracks and beating the hated Lions…it doesn’t get much better than that for a fan of the Green and Gold.

Gilbert Brown #93 welcomes Barry Sanders to Lambeau Field with open arms.

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Everyone has their favorite Packers story, and we are pleased our new Packers Hall of Fame Digital Archive will allow everyone to share them between Packers fans everywhere.

As a long time member of the Packers Hall of Fame Board of Directors and Executive Committee, I have my own personal collection of Packers stories.

One I’d like to share one with you today stands out in my mind as truly unique.

Several years ago the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame Induction Banquet was held at the Riverside Ballroom in Green Bay. It was 1975, the year that Vince Lombardi and several of his players were inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame. This group included Don Chandler, Willie Davis, Paul Hornung, Henry Jordan, Jerry Kramer, Ron Kramer, Max McGee, Jim Taylor and Fuzzy Thurston. The banquet, of course, was sold out, and packed with admirers and fans.

Here Marie Lombardi makes fun of Paul Hornung with a boutonniere at the 1975 Packers Hall of Fame Induction Banquet.

Marie Lombardi was there to accept the award on behalf of her husband. It was an emotional time, as it was a short time after he had passed away. She told the audience about a conversation she had with Vince a couple days before he died.

She said, “I was sitting on the edge of the bed and Vini (as she always called him) was so sick and semi-conscious. He awoke and said, “Marie, honey, I want to go home.”

I said, “You are home.”

And Vini said, “No, I mean I want to go home to Green Bay.”

This was a tear-jerking moment for everyone.

There was never a question about how the city of Green Bay felt about Vince Lombardi.

Now we know how Vince Lombardi really felt about Green Bay.

Still, Levens had the skill to earn the starting spot, but injured his knee and transferred to Georgia Tech, where – after sitting out a year – he set a school record by averaging 7.2 yards-per-carry. In his senior season, he was voted First-Team All-ACC in 1993. He rushed for 823 yards and scored eight touchdowns that season.

Due in part to his injury, Levens was considered a risky draft pick, but the Packers took a chance in the 1994 draft. After playing in various backup roles, Levens emerged at just the right time as the spotlight was shining brightest on Green Bay. In 1996 in primarily a backup role, he rushed for 566 yards as the Packers won the 1996 Super Bowl 35-21 over New England.

When starting halfback Edgar Bennett tore his Achilles tendon in the 1997 pre-season, Levens stepped up and amassed his biggest year. He rushed for 1,435 yards, scored seven touchdowns and was voted to the Pro Bowl.

At his induction ceremony in 2009, Bill Harper, a childhood friend said, “Dorsey is a very humble person for all the things he’s been blessed to have.”

Click the video link below to hear his storied tales of sitting in a dorm room anxiously waiting to be drafted in 1994. He thanks Ron Wolf and applauds the Green Bay faithful saying, “Fans would be here tailgating before I’d get out of bed on game day. That’s what makes you guys the best fans in the world.”

Levens is a class act in the hallowed annals of the Packers Hall of Fame.

Now entering its tenth decade, the Green Bay Packers have long ago established itself as a symbol of resilience and determination in an always-changing league. Part of celebrating Green Bay’s always exciting present is honoring its storied past. The Packers Hall of Fame (PHOF) physically located inside Lambeau Field is a testament to the many men who shaped the organization’s stellar reputation both on the field and off. Exactly 147 individuals have thus far had the honor of being immortalized in the Packers hallowed Hall.

So how did the PHOF come to be?

During the 1960’s, Bill Brault, a local restaurateur and John VanDenWymelenberg, hotel owner both members of the Green Bay Visitor and Convention Bureau conceived an idea that a museum dedicated to the history of the Green Bay Packers would not only be a great source of community pride, but could also become a significant tourist attraction. Surveys were indicating that visitors to the Green Bay area wanted to learn more about the history and tradition of the football team.

In 1966, Brault approached Vince Lombardi for an official approval from the Packers as he began his independent pursuit of developing what would eventually become the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame. Lombardi’s last words to Brault as he left the coach’s office were, “Don’t screw it up.”

He didn’t.

Later that summer a temporary display of Packer memorabilia, which was either donated or loaned by interested individuals, was set up in the concourse of the Brown County Veterans Arena. The Arena, built in 1958, is located across Oneida Street from Lambeau Field. The display of Packer memorabilia became an instant hit with summer visitors to the Green Bay area.

In 1967, the Packers Hall of Fame Association was established. The induction process began in 1970 as eight Packers legends from the 1920’s became the first class of inductees.

The original group included: Curly Lambeau, Cal Hubbard, Jug Earp, Johnny ‘Blood’ McNally, Mike Michalske, Bernard ‘Boob’ Darling, Lavvie Dilweg and Verne Lewellen.

With the success of the Induction Banquet and the growing popularity of the Hall of Fame displays, the Packers Hall of Fame Association decided to pursue a permanent location in its own building, open throughout the year. On May 23, 1975, the Association became a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation which would allow it to receive funds as a charitable organization. With the corporate structure in place, Brown County and the Packers joined forces in a joint venture to build an addition to the Brown County Veterans Arena which would house the Hall of Fame. Then a ‘34th and Goal’ fund raising campaign was launched, which sold Charter Lifetime Memberships to more than 5,000 fans at $25 per membership.

On July 12, 1976, President Gerald Ford helped dedicate the new 17,000-square foot Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame. During the next 12 months, over 60,000 visitors toured the new facility which now offered hundreds of pieces of Packers memorabilia donated by loyal fans and former players.

Committed to building one of the premier sports venues in the country, the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame Board of Directors, along with Executive Director Bill Brault, planned for continued growth. In 1981, a new 7,000 square foot extension was added. In 1985, additional fund raising efforts collected $42,000 from 42 individuals, including many former Packer players and corporations. Each individual paid $1,000 to autograph the world’s largest football, which became the basis for the famous ‘receiver’ statue located just outside the Hall of Fame. The entire concept for the statue was conceived by Jim Van Matre of the Green Bay Visitor and Convention Bureau.

In 1990, another $750,000 renovation was completed, followed by a $150,000 investment in 1994. The 1994 investment brought in new interactive technology which included games, trivia tests, and a ‘touch screen’ biography for each inductee.

By 1996, when the Packers Super Bowl winning season was in progress, attendance reached 160,647. This represented a 60% improvement over 1995. Once again the Packers Hall of Fame Board of Directors approved another ambitious renovation. This time it was an overall renovation for $1.6 million which would increase the display area of the Hall to 21,000 square feet. The facility remained open during the entire renovation which was completed July 2, 1997. Incredibly, attendance soared along with the Packers success on the football field with year end figures exceeding 259,000 fans. To put things in perspective, attendance at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton Ohio was 198,451 that year.

In 1999, Packers President Bob Harlan approached the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame Board of Directors on moving the Hall to a proposed newly renovated and expanded Lambeau Field.

After much discussion and negotiation the move was approved by the Hall of Fame Board and a new management contract was entered into. All the artifacts were inventoried and valued prior to the move. The new and current Hall of Fame opened its doors in September 2003.

A website was launched in 2007 and a major upgrade to the Packers Hall of Fame online experience began in March 2011 and is now going strong with unique, exclusive and interactive features not found anywhere else.

Click the link to watch a classic video clip discussing the origin of the Packers Hall of Fame.

The Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays. The day before a game the Hall is open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Hours may vary on game days and holidays. The cost is just $10 for adults, $8 for seniors (62 and older), military (with valid military ID), student (with college student ID) and youth (12-17), $5 for children (6-11) and free for kids less than five years old. Group pricing is available for schools and other groups; for more information, contact the Hall of Fame at 920-569-7512. Information also is available online at http://www.packers.com/lambeau-field/hall-of-fame/visit.html

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His exploits on and off the field, have made Max McGee seem larger than life. His love of the game and the party are something we have greatly missed since his passing on October 20, 2007.

This uncut, unedited video interview was created for the 1983 movie Grandstand Franchise, about the Green Bay Packers and the Packers interaction with the city and their fans.

These interview clips have never been released to the public before.

We are thrilled that you can once again hear Max McGee’s funny and fascinating memories.

His 1983 comments about the state of football compared to the 1950’s & 60’s are particularly prophetic, including:

• The need for a salary cap on payrolls – (amazing insight from 1983)
• His first meeting with Vince Lombardi
• Fireworks with Lombardi after a night on the town
• Competing with the rival USFL and what it did to players salaries
• Drafting under classmen
• The future of football in Green Bay
• Comparing players attitudes then to now

Many people have often wondered how so many of the former Lombardi players became very successful businessmen in their careers after football. Here is a quote from the video that really summarizes how they implemented what they were taught; to be successful in football and in life:

“We didn’t make a lot of money, but we made a living,” he said. “We were encouraged to invest in other things outside of football, in order to make sure you set yourself up for later in life. Because football is a very fast life.”

About The Grandstand Franchise
One of the most exciting aspects of the new Packers Hall of Fame website is our ability to showcase video that has been stored in the archives for decades.

At the very top of this list is the collection of video tapes from 1982-83. This was a UW – Green Bay project in the early 1980’s. They produced a one hour film on the Packers, called The Grandstand Franchise.

Enjoy this glimpse back with Max McGee.