Inbox: The best part of being a Packers fan is passing on the tradition

11. How did you become a Packers fan?

Brad from Missoula, MT

I became a Packers fan on Nov. 10, 2002. My dad won a sales contest at work and got an all-expense paid trip to Lambeau in the Miller Electric skybox. So, 9-year-old me was adamant about watching the game knowing he was going to be there, and it's been all Green Bay ever since.

Alex from Bozeman, MT

I became a Packers fan watching Desmond Howard run 71 yards for a touchdown against the 49ers in the 1996-97 divisional win over the 49ers. My fandom was solidified when he then ran 99 yards for a TD in the Super Bowl. Like Mike, I grew up near Platteville and was initially a Bears fan as they practiced at UW-P. Watching Howard have those big moments made me trade out the Curtis Conway jersey for a Robert Brooks one.

Jonathan from Rockville, MD

I blame my mother for being a Packers fan. Growing up in the late 1960s in Connecticut, my football was limited to Yale-Harvard games. To make sure I would read, my mother would go to the book fairs and buy sports books. In those days, all football books focused on Lombardi's Packers. I became fascinated by those stories, which seemed to me like the classical myths I also loved to read. So, I rooted for the Packers. The unique ownership only sealed the deal. And now I am a proud owner myself.

Vince from Mableton, GA

I was born in the heart of Wisconsin (Wild Rose in Waushara County) in the middle of the greatest dynasty ever and my name is Vince. There was no "becoming" a Packer fan – I was born for it. And it's generational: my dad was born in 1930, I was born in 1965, and my daughter Liz was born in 1996 – all championship years! I keep encouraging Liz to have a child so we can all enjoy another Lombardi run – is that wrong?

Rebecca from Madison, WI

I became a Packers fan probably from birth. First memories are watching the games with my dad and listening to Ray Scott on the Packer network. When I was really young, halftime would come and dad would pop the popcorn. Still remember that awesome old popper! When I got older all the neighborhood kids would come out at halftime, and we played touch football in the street. Small town. Dad would come to the door and let us know halftime was over. Precious memories in my Packers world.

Bruce from Fort Myers, FL

In 1968, New Jersey, age 8, I was home sick on the day of the school book fair. My brother Bill thoughtfully plunked down 15 cents for a paperback entitled, "Bart the Cool." Over the next few days, I read that book cover to cover two or three times. I decided then that Bart Starr was my hero, and the Packers were my team. My brother also became a Packers fan, and in 2016 we attended the Randall Cobb snow angel game together – bucket list stuff for both of us!

Garrett from Rockford, MI

I became a Packers fan when I was five years old. My dad is from Wisconsin, so the games were always on at home. Kids don't always care about that much when they are young. But growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, the one team I always wanted them to beat was the Bears. And one playoff gameday, the Packers were playing the Bears. I watched in amazement, jumping up and down as B.J. Raji took a pick six to go up 14 in the fourth. Just like that, the Packers went to Super Bowl XLV and the rest is history.

Venny from Montgomery, AL

As far as being a Packers fan, technically I was born like this, being from Milwaukee. My true Fandom is slightly rooted in being a contrarian. I spent 10 years in the Detroit area with many of my friends touting the Lions while I inferred the Packers were the better team. At that point, I tuned into games much more frequently. The love affair began to blossom in the late 90s and early 2000s.

David from Verona, WI

My parents became GB fans because the fuzzy images on the TV quieted their little boy (me) from crying. Forty-some years later, we all lived in Indiana, and I met dad at BWW to get a table in front of the set showing the Pack. Over nachos and chicken, we cheered with other GB fans as we lived or died with each possession. Along the way, the time we spent watching the game. We made the trip to SB 45 from the seats. Dad passed in 2012, sharing those are memories that make me rich. GPG!

Judy from Brodhead, WI

I was 10 years old, growing up north of Chicago during the Gayle Sayers era and all my dad and brothers wanted to do on Sundays was watch Bears football. So, I watched the games with them and decided I liked the Packers better! I so enjoyed being the antagonist rooting against the Bears each week! But even my dad became a Packer fan when he retired to Wisconsin. I was just sad that he passed away five months before their Super Bowl win in 1997. He would have been proud!

David from Kenosha, WI

I was just a kid when my dad took me to a local bar to watch the Ice Bowl. We sat really close to the color TV. Some other patrons were upset that a kid was taking up a barstool. My dad told them he was trying to make a Packers fan and to pound salt. It worked. I've been a Packer fan for the last 67 years. Side note…my sister worked at Great Lakes naval base and had four tickets. We took my dad to his first and only Packers game.

Matt from Keswick, VA

When I was in grade school in the 60s, Zeke Bratkowski attended our Southern Cal church during the offseason. He showed up at our church picnic with his friend, Rams QB Roman Gabriel. The two hung with the dads and played ball games with us kids. I've been a diehard, name-dropping Cheesehead ever since!

Mark from Fremont, CA

We grew up in a family of six kids north of NYC near Stamford, CT, and I became a Mets, Knicks and Rangers fan but went to Yale/Ivy football games as dad was an alumnus. My parents separated in '73 and we moved to New Mexico with mom where everyone was a Cowboys or Broncos fan. When asked, I didn't have a pro team to name but in many boxes of books we moved I found one of the NFL's greatest players. Many in there were Packers: Lambeau, Starr… so I picked the Packers and have been a fan ever since!

Patrick from Oconomowoc, WI, WI

I became a Packers fan in 1953 when my dad, a transplanted Wisconsinite courtesy of the USMC, took me to a Rams game at the Coliseum. The Packers lost, of course, since they were perpetual cellar dwellers then, but seeing the likes of Tobin Rote, Bobby Dillon (who had only one eye), and others live was an unforgettable experience. I was hooked, have lived through the good and the bad years, and when I retired from the USAF even moved to Wisconsin to follow them for the next 72 years.

Richard from Madison, WI

My mother, Amelia Smilanich Russell, had a nephew, Dan "Buddy" Orlich, who played end (both O and D) for the Packers for three years, 1949-1951. So, every Sunday afternoon growing up (even after Buddy left the team) mom would be glued to the radio, yellow notepad in hand, recording every play. I just assumed that everybody on earth loved the Packers and once asked her where they could find people to play on those other teams. (Frankly, I still don't understand it.)

Michael from Aurora, IL

My family grew up in a small town in Northwest Illinois. However, due to a job, we moved for a short time to Racine where I was actually born and lived for three years. During that short time in Wisconsin, my dad became a Packers fan, which I inherited as many sons do. Growing up in NW IL, it was pretty evenly split between Bears and Packers fans, but probably 70/30 Bears. While I anguished during the 70s and 80s, all I can say now is THANK GOD for the move to Racine! Go Pack!

Bob from Dundas, MN

By drinking Coca Cola! Back in the '60s for a while, Coke put pictures of Packers under their bottle caps, so you had to open the bottle to see who you got. Man, that was exciting! And fortunately, my dad was onboard, so my brothers and I got to drink a lot of Coke there for a while. I think they even had a special sheet for you to paste the bottle caps on – an enticement to buy more Coke to collect all the players.

Eric from York, PA

Earliest memory of football was watching the Ice Bowl. Thrilling victory by GB led me to learn everything about this small midwestern town, with a pro football team and no owner. Read everything I could about GB and the team, and I was hooked for life. Growing up in Central PA (and still here) surrounded by PHI, NYJ, NYG, BAL, WASH, PITT, CLE, CIN, BUF and NE fans, I was always an outlier. I became an owner two stock sales ago and have been to Lambeau twice. Memories make us rich! GPG

Leon from Canada

It was 1975 in Zermatt, Switzerland. Shared an apartment with a Giants fan, who, in the process of explaining "gridiron" to this Aussie, whilst we listened to the game on Armed Forces network out of Germany, told me about this team that wasn't owned by a millionaire but by the townsfolk. The team colors were green and gold, the same as Australian sports competitors. That was enough for me. Been a "Packrat" ever since. Not sure whether his Giants won or lost but Sundays were never the same.

Rich from Bannockburn, IL

I followed the Pack as a kid in Chicago, but it wasn't until I found their healing powers that I became a lifelong fan. I was a 12-year-old riding my bike home when I hit a hole and the bike and my unmentionables violently collided. I crawled home and into my bed writhing in agony. Then I thought how would Bart Starr man up and deal with this pain, and after a few minutes pondering this, I somehow fell asleep and woke up the next morning with no pain. Bart and the boys took care of me.

Jordan from Osterdock, IA

I must've been an impressionable youth, and I remember the day like it was yesterday. My dad was a Vikings fan and I, a 49ers fan, until one day in kindergarten in 1994. A boy in my class, Noah, walked up to me "Who's your favorite football team? "The 49ers." He said, "You should be a Packers fan." "OK." And that was it. From that day forward it was all about Green Bay. Mom and dad went from giving me 49ers gear to Packers gear almost instantly!

Scott from Iron Mountain, MI

As a youngster growing up in a small town in the 60s in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, I would watch the Packers at my uncle's house. I would be sitting on a small stool between a couch and an oil burner watching the great Packer teams. After the games we would go outside in the snow and reenact the plays from the game. When I became a parent, I would watch the game with my daughter and throw her passes with a Packers football in our living room. I am blessed.

Matt from Albert Lea, MN

Being quite young and just started watching football on the old black and white TV and had the opportunity to watch the Ice Bowl with my brother. We each picked a team to cheer for, me the Packers and he the Cowboys. Watched it to the bitter end. I still remember lying on the floor in front of the TV and being consumed. To this day, I am a Packers fan, and he remains a Cowboys fan.

Kevin from New Milford, CT

I grew up in the snow belt in North Central Pennsylvania in the 60s – no cable, only three channels available. I remember watching the Packers teams on the local CBS affiliate and thinking how tough they had to be to play in the bitter cold and the snow. Plus, the image of Vince Lombardi prowling the sidelines put them over the top for me.

Flavio from Brazil

I became a Packers fan at the age of 31, when I went to UW-Madison as a research associate in 1997. At the time, the only football game we got in Brazil was the Super Bowl, which I´d been watching regularly for a few years without any specific preference. Arriving in Madison four months after Super Bowl XXXI, I fell in love with the team, especially after learning that it is public-owned, and have been a follower ever since. Sporting the Brazilian national colors also helps...

Ron from Appleton, WI

Air Force brat and my stepfather was from Maryland, so the Baltimore Colts with Johny Unitas was my team since the early 60's. From my perspective, that field goal was not good by the way. Moved to Wisconsin in 1972. John Brockington and MacArthur Lane were running so well, and I got interested in the Pack. When the Colts left Baltimore, it cemented my new team as the Packers. The first game was against the Bears in the mid-70s and my future father-in-law took me too. Think the Pack won. Lots of losing seasons.

Paul from Nevada City, CA

Being around nine in the early '60s, it was a quandary as my mother was from GB and my dad from Cleveland; recall watching a game between them while in Amarillo and was captivated by both teams, especially Jim Brown. However, GB soon won me over due to the greater family connections and visits to GB, not to mention the NFL Championships and Super Bowls that timeframe.

Dave from Rockford, IL

I became a Packer fan in 1956 because I liked the football card colors of green and gold. Being from Rockford, IL, all the neighborhood boys liked the Bears with their boring football card colors. The Packers were in last place then, but I grew to love them. I always mention to people the gold represents our sun, and the green represents life on earth.

Ellen from Muskego, WI

I always say I was born and raised as a Packers fan. I grew up watching the '60s Lombardi Packers. I remember the Ice Bowl, the Super Bowls, Starr, Favre, Rodgers, Love. My dad had season tickets from when they played in Milwaukee. I remember him telling the story of actually being able to go inside County Stadium to pick out his seats; upper deck, 50-yard line. Treated my daughter and son-in-law to the Miami game for their 20th last year. Their first game at Lambeau. Passing on the tradition!

12. Who is your pick for 2025 Insider Inbox Fan of the Year?

Al from Green Bay, WI

Serious business, nominating II fan of the year. So, I went on a three-day darkness retreat, seeking to have the name revealed to me. In my semi-conscious state, many names danced through my head: Bret from Hertel, Paul from Ledgeview, Caleb from Knoxville, Ray from Phoenix, Lori from Heredia, Lori from Broomfield (all Lori's are great), Jeff from Chandler, Jeffrey from Eveleth, Mark from Weston, even Randy from McDonald, TN (not worthy, but my brother). As I emerged bleary eyed, the name that I uttered - my first words in days - was Jennifer from Middleton, WI. She. Is. Worthy.

She is…and a wonderful lady, as well. Congratulations to Jennifer from Middleton, who is our 2025 Insider Inbox Fan of the Year. Thank you to everyone who participated in this year's Outsider Inbox. I can honestly say this was the best one yet. That brings us to the doorstep of the training camp and the start of the 2025 Packers season. Let the excitement begin.