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Packers Nickname Origin
In the Green Bay Press-Gazette on Aug. 29, 1919, two weeks before the team's first organized game, sports editor and Packers co-founder George Calhoun first publicly identified the team as the "Indian Packers."
Curly Lambeau received $500 from his employer, the Indian Packing Co., for uniforms and equipment, and for use of the company's lot for practice. In exchange, Lambeau and Calhoun agreed to call the team "Packers." Early fans, many of whom were working-class citizens, immediately embraced the name, widely publicized by Calhoun.
Calhoun also called them simply "Indians" briefly in 1919, but that moniker seemed to fold with the company, soon purchased --along with the team -- by Acme Packing Co. In 1921, the team's first season in what is now the NFL, its owners had "Acme Packers" put on the jersey, setting the name in stone.
While "Packers" has served as the primary nickname since the team's embryonic stages, fans and sportswriters also have called them the Big Bay Blues, or the Bays. Lambeau in 1922 applied with the name "Blues," but public opinion quickly vetoed him.
A packer is someone who works at a packing house, an establishment for slaughtering, processing and packing livestock into meat, meat products and byproducts. "Green Bay Packers" is the longest standing team name in NFL history.
| Longest Standing Team Monikers, Major League Sports, North America | | Team | Sport | First year under current name | | Cincinnati Reds | baseball | 1878 | | Pittsburgh Pirates | baseball | 1891 | | St. Louis Cardinals | baseball | 1900 | | Detroit Tigers | baseball | 1901 | | Chicago Cubs | baseball | 1902 | | Chicago White Sox | baseball | 1904 | | Boston Red Sox | baseball | 1907 | | New York Yankees | baseball | 1913 | | Cleveland Indians | baseball | 1915 | | Montreal Canadiens | hockey | 1917 | | GREEN BAY PACKERS | football | 1919 | | Chicago Bears | football | 1922 | | New York Giants | football | 1925 |
Note: Basketball's oldest names are the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks (both 1946).
Last Updated: 12/31/07
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