Frank Jonet
Inducted: 2011
Executive Committee: 1935-51
Treasurer/Secretary-Treasurer: 1920, 1935-51
Receiver: 1933-35
Board of Directors: 1947-51
Jonet helped guide the Packers through one of the most perilous periods in their history when they fell into receivership in the mid-1930s. A local accountant, he had been connected to the team as far back as 1919, its first season, when he was employed as office manager of the local Indian Packing Co. The next year, he served as treasurer of the company's football department. Brown County Circuit Judge Henry Graass appointed Jonet receiver of the insolvent Green Bay Football Corporation on Aug. 13, 1933, often referred to as "the darkest day in Packers history."
Years later, at an organizational meeting prior to the 1950 stock sale, Jonet told a group of local businessmen that when Graass appointed him receiver, he handed him $76.18 in cash, plus judgments and unpaid bills amounting to more than $15,000. But somehow, from the depths of that financial abyss, Jonet kept the team from folding over the next two years. Finally, two months after the court ordered Jonet to pay up or close up, the Packers emerged from receivership and reorganized in early 1935.
"I was told he was the architect of the Packers' tax status," said Bob Jonet, a grandson who took over the family's accounting business. "He was quite a guy, but not a real talkative guy. A very self-effacing man."
As a public accountant, Jonet had audited the Packers' books for many years before becoming receiver and eventually treasurer. He was elected to the executive committee and also treasurer on Jan. 29, 1935. His title was expanded to secretary-treasurer on Aug. 4, 1941. He was elected to the board of directors on July 25, 1947.
Born Jan. 3, 1883, in tiny Tonet, Wis., in Kewaunee County. Given name Frank John Jonet. Died Aug. 17, 1951, at age 68.
- By Cliff Christl
