Green Bay Packers historian Lee Remmel stands in the team's Hall of Fame in 2005. Credit: Packer Plus files

SHARE

By

The Lee Remmel Sports Award Banquet was held last week for the 15th time, honoring high school, college, and professional athletes and administrators in Wisconsin.

Remmel, the iconic former Packers public relations director and Green Bay Press-Gazette sportswriter, has not attended his namesake event since 2008 due to health issues.

But thanks to the De Pere Rotary and community support, the awards banquet goes on, raising more than $200,000 for local scholarships to date.

"Of course we wish Lee could attend, but that is not possible," said Bill Jartz, a WBAY-TV news anchor and the event's emcee. "So many people think Lee is no longer with us, but that's not the case. In fact, today (Monday) is Lee's 90th birthday."

Jartz told the banquet crowd at the Swan Club in De Pere last week to remember Remmel, a genial man noted for his dedication, loyalty, and fantastic memory of all things Packer.

"Lee had a memory like a lock box; a vibrant person who was respected in Green Bay and throughout the National Football League," Jartz said. "I asked people to remember him on his birthday Monday, for all the things he did for the Green Bay Packers and our community."

Bob Harlan, former Packers president, remembers when the humble Remmel was first approached with the idea of a sports awards banquet in his name.

"Lee was very concerned at first and we had several discussions about it," Harlan said. "Lee wondered if he deserved it. I said it was a great honor and told him that it's something that will go on forever."

Harlan likened the event to the Red Smith awards dinner, which honors the legacy of the legendary Wisconsin sportswriter.

"Just like Appleton has carried on the tradition of Red Smith, so has our community with the Lee Remmel awards banquet," Harlan said. "It says a lot about how Green Bay feels about Lee — it's a great tribute."

The 2014 honorees included John Schneider, the former Packers personnel scout and now general manager of the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, the recipient of the superior achievement award.

Others receiving awards included the UW-Whitewater athletic program for winning an unprecedented three NCAA Division III national championships (football, basketball, and baseball) in a single year and Johnny Gray, the former Green Bay safety, who received a superior achievement award.

"I enjoy giving back to the Green Bay community," said Gray, a Packers Hall of Fame player from 1975-'83. "I was honored to be a part of the awards dinner and hear the stories and sacrifice of the other athletes. I was accepted as a rookie right away in Green Bay and lived my dream."

Gray, who grew up a baseball fan, enjoyed picking Remmel's brain on Packers history and the great defensive backs that came before him. Remmel was an avid Chicago Cubs fan.

"When I first met Lee, I was impressed by his knowledge and professionalism," Gray said. "I'd used to go up to his office and learned about the team and players like Willie Wood. Like Willie, I wore No. 24. Lee said to wear it proudly and that's what I tried to do."

Remmel is one of the most popular figures in franchise history. He was associated with the Packers for 62 years, first covering the team for 29 seasons before becoming a Packers executive.

Beside his remarkable memory, Remmel was a legendary wordsmith.

He described the Packers-Bears rivalry as "antediluvian" and a clash between "venerable neighborhood enemies." Former head coach Mike Holmgren was the "monolithic Scandinavian," and Hall of Fame defensive end Reggie White was the "mountainous Tennessean."

It was not unusual to see exotic words like primordial, invidious, and mellifluous in Remmel's news releases or Packers.com historical columns.

These descriptive modifiers and phrases are a Remmel trademark, and what distinguished him from his peers throughout the NFL — and captured the fancy of Packers fans and national media.

Remmel's career and relationship with the storied Green Bay franchise has been a lifelong love affair.

Growing up in Shawano, Wis., a small town 35 miles northwest of Green Bay, Remmel idolized the Packers and Cubs, listening to games on the radio with his father. As a teenager, he had two surgeries to remove tumors, which delayed his attending high school until 1940.

"I quickly discovered that the athletes get the girls, so if I couldn't be an athlete, the next best thing was to write about sports," Remmel once said in a Packer Plus interview. "So I offered my services to the Shawano County Journal."

Remmel earned 75 cents per article for his prep game reports — which he wrote out longhand, as he had not yet learned to type — and another 50 cents for a column. A sports journalist was born, for $1.25 a week and the opportunity to write on a regular basis.

He moved on to the Green Bay Press-Gazette in 1945 and later received an offer to work on a special project — his first of many for the Packers.

"I was a cub city reporter at the Green Bay Press-Gazette," Remmel said, "and my desk was next to George Calhoun's. That's the same George Whitney Calhoun who called the first meeting of the Green Bay Packers' team at the Press-Gazette in 1919.

"He asked me if I would like to write the team press book. Well, I said 'What's in it,' and he replied, 'Ten dollars and two season tickets.' I said I'd take it and have been writing about the Packers ever since."

Remmel has covered or worked with every coach in Green Bay history: from founder Curly Lambeau to Vince Lombardi, from Bart Starr to Forrest Gregg, from Mike Holmgren to Mike McCarthy.

"Nobody knew who Vince Lombardi was when he came to Green Bay in 1959," Remmel said. "He made quite an impression by telling the Packers' executive committee that he was in complete command. It didn't take long to find out he was. Lombardi made this franchise a winner again."

Green Bay became known as "Titletown" in the 1960s, winning five NFL titles, including three straight from 1965-'67 to match three straight won in 1929-'31 under Lambeau. Remmel interviewed many of the all-time Packers greats, from Don Hutson and Tony Canadeo to Bart Starr and Aaron Rodgers.

Remmel never wavered when asked to name the greatest Green Bay Packer of all-time.

"Donald Montgomery Hutson," said Remmel, who saw Hutson score an NFL-record 29 points in one quarter against Detroit in 1945. "With due respect to the many other great players of our franchise."

Remmel was there for many of the franchise's historic games, from the legendary, 21-17, Ice Bowl victory over the Dallas Cowboys and the first Super Bowl in Los Angeles, to Green Bay's victory over New England in Super Bowl XXXI.

The greatest game in Packers history?

"The Ice Bowl," Remmel stated on many occasions. "Because of the extreme conditions (minus-46 wind chill) and the dramatic finish, in a game of that magnitude."

Remmel covered the first 40 Super Bowls before cutting back on some of his travel and duties in 2007. What he enjoyed most was interacting with the media and seeing the game develop from its humble beginnings to the greatest spectacle in professional sports.

"At Super Bowl I, there were only 338 members of the media and 30,000 empty seats," Remmel said. "Today, there are more than 3,400 members of the media, and they come from all over the world. But you never would have envisioned anything like this from the first one."

Remmel never envisioned being inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame (1996) or having the Lambeau Field press box renamed in his honor in 2003 by Harlan.

As he stated in a Packer Plus interview upon his retirement in 2008, he was just a hard-work kid from Shawano who loved what he did.

"I have been very fortunate to work for the Packers organization," Remmel said. "I wouldn't change a thing. I've experienced so many great moments in my career and met so many great people and Packer fans. The memories have been priceless."