Lumberjack Band
Encyclopedia
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
games. They originally wore plaid flannel jackets, hence the name.
The Lumberjack Band was formed in 1921, originally made up of a group of volunteers. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the Lumberjack Band accompanied groups of fans to road games, most notably to games with the Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
.
In 1931, they first played Go! You Packers! Go!
Go! You Packers! Go!
"Go! You Packers! Go!" is the fight song of the Green Bay Packers, and the first for a professional American football team. It was written by Eric Karll, a commercial jingle writer in Milwaukee, and first played at a Packers football game by the Lumberjack Band in 1931.The rights to "Go! You...
, the official fight song of the Green Bay Packers.
The Lumberjack Band was a fixture at Packer games, and an integral part of the City Stadium
City Stadium (Green Bay)
City Stadium is a football stadium in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It served as home of the Green Bay Packers of the NFL from 1925 to 1956. It remains the home of the Green Bay East High School football team...
experience. Curly Lambeau
Curly Lambeau
Earl Louis "Curly" Lambeau was founder, player, and first coach of the Green Bay Packers professional American football team...
was convinced that the Band played a part in many Packer victories.http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/tp&CISOPTR=14297&REC=14. A bandstand was built for the Lumberjack Band at one corner of the field, and early designs for New City Stadium, later renamed Lambeau Field
Lambeau Field
Lambeau Field is an outdoor football stadium in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the home of the NFL's Green Bay Packers. Opened in 1957 as City Stadium, it replaced the original City Stadium as the Packers' home field...
, showed separate stands with a bandstand in one corner, before the decision was made to have a bowl-shaped stadium.
When Vince Lombardi
Vince Lombardi
Vincent Thomas "Vince" Lombardi was an American football coach. He is best known as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers during the 1960s, where he led the team to three straight league championships and five in seven years, including winning the first two Super Bowls following the 1966 and...
became head coach and general manager, he upgraded the band's look, saying the traditional flannels did not fit with the team's new stadium. The band was renamed simply "The Green Bay Packer Band" and was set up in the southwest corner of the field, occasionally seeing "guest appearances" by players running out of bounds. The uniforms changed to green military-style outfits. At the time of Lambeau's death in 1965, he was dating Mary Jane Sorgel, a majorette
Drum Major
A drum major is the leader of a marching band, drum and bugle corps, or pipe band, usually positioned at the head of the band or corps. The drum major, who is often dressed in more ornate clothing than the rest of the band or corps, is responsible for providing commands to the ensemble regarding...
for the Green Bay Packer Band.
Wilner Burke directed the band during this period, giving way to Lovell Ives in the late 1970s.
But in the 1990s, the use of recorded music and the airing of advertisements on video screens led to the band's playing time being cut back. By 1997, the band was disbanded and re-formed as three six-piece bands called the "Green Bay Packers Tailgaters", which roam the Lambeau Field parking lot before games, playing songs by request for tailgating fans.http://www.uwosh.edu/news_bureau/releases/june06/butcher.htmhttp://graphics.jsonline.com/packer/sbxxxiii/rev/lamb100598.asp