When Nike rolled out the new line of NFL uniforms for the 2012 season, virtually every team tweaked and updated its look. But the news from Lambeau Field was simply: “The Green Bay Packers have chosen to stay with their traditional design aesthetic as well as their former uniform fabrication for the coming season.” Translation: There’s no need to mess with perfection.
Founded by Curly Lambeau and George Calhoun in 1919, the Packers initially wore navy jerseys and gold pants inspired by Lambeau’s alma mater, the University of Notre Dame. The Indian Packing Company, where Lambeau worked, paid for the uniforms and gave the team its name. After that company was bought out by another in 1921, the team spent a couple of seasons with the Looney Tunes-esque “Acme Packers” emblazoned on their chests. In 1950, new head coach Gene Ronzani did away with the navy and introduced green jerseys with gold numbers, green pants and white socks, insisting, “We are the Green Bay Packers.”
Vince Lombardi took over as GM and head coach in 1959, and quickly set about overhauling the team’s look. He brought in the now-classic green-and-yellow uniforms (always called “green and gold” by Packers faithful) with contrasting stripes on the helmet, sleeves and socks. Other teams around the league swiftly copied the stripes, but Lombardi had created a visible legacy. The only significant change since then is the “G” logo on the helmets, which was designed by equipment manager Gerald “Dad” Braisher and added in 1961. Half a century later, it remains exactly the same.
Cheeseheads had a brief scare in 1993 when GM Ron Wolf considered tinkering with the team’s colour scheme. But he aborted the plans at the last minute, realizing he needed to make changes to the team, not its uniforms. Wolf focused on putting pieces around his burgeoning star at QB, Brett Favre, and the Packers won the Super Bowl three years later.
More recently, the team that’s won more league championships than any other—13, including four Super Bowls—reached way into its past, introducing alternate uniforms in 2010 that paid homage to the navy and gold of the 1929 team that won the franchise’s first title. They were worn exactly twice. It was announced in April 2012 that the team would not wear them the following season. Nobody messes with the Packers’ green and gold—not even the Packers themselves.
This story originally appeared in Sportsnet magazine. Subscribe here.