Lambo Earl

Lambo was born on April 9, 1989 in Green Bay , Wisconsin, into a family of Belgians, Marcelin Lambo and Mary Sarah Tour,

As a student at the East School in Green Bay, which he graduated in 1917, Lambo was interested in many sports and was the captain of the school football team. In 1918, when he entered the University of Notre Dame , he joined the team of the famous coach Knut Rockne , who created the "Irish squad", but the disease with severe tonsillitis made Lambo miss the games of the spring semester.

Making Packers

Upon returning to Green Bay, Lambo takes a job at a local cannery. Curly Lambo and George Whitney Calhoun agreed with the employer to give them $ 500 dollars for a football uniform, from that moment the history of the Packers football team is counted. In the fall of the same year, the founders recruited the former Green Bay West West School football coach, Willard "Big Bill" Ryan. As reported, the name for the team was proposed by Agnes Aylward, Lambo's girlfriend. Lambo himself wanted to name the Green Bay Indian team, in gratitude to the company for the form, to which Agnes said: “For heaven’s sake, Curly, why don’t you just name them Green Bay Packers!” The rights to the team name were sold to the packaging company AKME and the team became officially known as the Packers.

Packers initially played with teams from Wisconsin and Michigan, but the team’s success in 1919–1920 quickly led to joining the American Professional Football Association (now called the National Football League) in 1921. During the first season, the team belonged to the packaging company AKME and its managers, brothers John and Emmett Clare.

Green Bay Packers

A year later, Lambo, succeeding Willard Ryan in this position, becomes Packers coach and holds this post from 1920 to 1949. Most of this time, he not only supervised the training process, but also controlled the daily life of the team.

Initially, Lambo was the captain of the team, playing a halfback in the single-wing formation, which was popular for the attack of that time, combining the duties of the handler and the main take-out player. In 77 games, Lambo earned 24 touchdowns with a pass, 8 take-aways and three touchdowns at the reception. Lambo became the first player in the history of Green Bay Packers to give an accurate pass, to pass in a touchdown and to realize a field goal. He won his only National Football League champion title as a playing coach in 1929 , after which he was only involved in coaching. In 1921, Lambo was a kicker of the team. He also scored one goal in 1922, 1924 and 1925.

Before joining the NFL, the Packers showed a score of 19-2-1. Under the leadership of Lambo Packers, they won the NFL Championship 6 times, in 1929, 1930 , 1931 , 1936 , 1939 and 1944 . Under the leadership of Lambo, the Packers showed 209-104-21 (.657) in the NFL regular seasons, and 3-2 in the playoffs (.600). Lambo is still a record among Packers coaches for the number of victories. With 209 wins, he leaves far behind the closest pursuer, the team’s current coach, Mike McCarthy . The number of Lambo's defeats is 104, and this result is also unlikely to be surpassed by anyone in the near future.

The most successful period in Packers' history is the 30s of the 20th century, thanks in large part to the receiver Don Hutson , one of the best receivers in NFL history. Lambo and Hutson were among the first NFL supporters of the aerial game, which allowed Packers to dominate 1930s football.

End of the Lambo era in Green Bay

In 1946, Lambo acquired Rockwood Lodge, a former Norbertin shelter, creating the first independent training base in professional football in this area. On the Packers Board of Directors, a $ 32,000 acquisition and $ 8,000 repair was considered a dubious investment. Two of the directors resigned. Team players also did not like the facility, in part because the field at the base was extremely hard due to limestone.

In addition to everything, after Hutson left in 1945, the Packers began to lose their former position in football. The team remained competitive until 1948, when for the first time in 15 years (since 1933) and for the second time in its history, the season ended with a negative result. The following year was even worse and is still the worst Packers ever. In 1949, the team won just two games.

Packers' financial problems worsened, mainly due to the purchase of Rockwood Lodge. At the beginning of the 1949 season, Lambo transferred control of the team to his assistants in order to tackle financial problems. Reducing the salaries of employees and cutting their own salaries did not help to rectify the situation. By the end of the season, the Packers were on the verge of imminent bankruptcy. Lambo was able to find investors willing to invest in the team, provided that the unique structure of public property was canceled. At Green Bay, the proposal was seen as an insult, prompting rumors that the NFL was trying to force Lambo to move the team to another location. Team officials replied that they proposed Lambo a revised contract, which almost completely deprived him of his influence on the affairs of the team, not directly related to football. After reviewing the contract, Lambo practically threw him away. In fact, this was the end of his 31-year tenure at the helm of the team he founded. However, he did not officially resign until February 1, 1950. This happened 7 days after the Rockwood base burned down in a fire, the causes of which are still unclear. The money received from the insurance company for damages, on the one hand partially solved Packers' financial problems, and on the other, guaranteed that the team will remain in Green Bay.

After Green Bay

Lambo coached the Chicago Cardinals in 1950-1951 and the Washington Redskins in 1952-1953, but he also did not come close to the former level of success. Over 4 seasons, his teams won only 12 matches. In August 1954, at a Senator Hotel in Sacramento, Lambo got into a dispute with Redskins owner, George Marschel, after which he was fired.

Curly Lambo completed his 33-year coaching career with the NFL with an official score of 229-134-22 (.623).

Lambo was married three times. He had a son from his first wife Margaret Van Kessel, with whom they lived from 1919 to 1934. His second wife from 1935 to 1940 was ex-Miss Susan Johnson, the third was Grace Garland, from 1945 to 1955.

Lambo died of a heart attack in Sturgeron Bay on June 1, 1965 at the age of 67. Death overtook him as he stepped out of his new red Cadillac to help mow the grass of his girlfriend Mary Jane Van Dyce's father.

Lambo Field , the Packers home stadium, is named after Curly Lambo. Immediately after the opening in 1957, the stadium was officially called the City Stadium, and unofficially - the New City Stadium. In 1965, the stadium was given the modern name, it happened two months after the death of Lambo.

After the reconstruction of 2003, a monument to Lambo was installed at the entrance to the stadium.

In Green Bay there is a street named after Curly Lambo, it is located in the industrial zone of Packerland.

Lambo was inducted into the Wisconsin Sports Hall of Fame in 1961.

Lambo was inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame in 1963.