The Ice Bowl was a championship game that was held in Green Bay at Lambeau Field. The game occurred on December 31st, 1967; it was a frigid 13 degrees below zero. The packers played the Dallas Cowboys and won the championship with a score of 21-17. During the game, both teams were ill prepared for the arctic blast. The Cowboys didn’t even have gloves to wear due to their defensive coordinator Ernie Stautner who didn’t want to “coddle” their players. The Packers had long underwear and heaters on the side but not much else to protect them. Amazing enough over 50,000 fans showed up at Lambeau Field in the frigid weather to watch the Championship; even though it was -13 degrees below with a windchill making the air feel like -48 degrees. “It was so cold that when referee Norm Shachter blew the metal whistle to start play, it froze to lips. When he tried to pry it off, it tore a chunk of his lip off with it” according to the Wisconsin State Journal. After the Ice Bowl the NFL switched to plastic whistles so the incident wouldn’t be repeated in the future. The Packers scored the first time the team switched to offense, and soon it was a 14-0 lead on the Cowboys. The Cowboys managed to sneak in 10 points before the half. The second half of the game the players moved slower due to the freezing air; towards the end of the fourth quarter the Packers got the ball and moved towards the end zone. The Packers were able to move the ball to the one yard line with 16 seconds left; Bart Starr called for a wedge play, and seconds later Starr tumbled into the end zone with the winning points.

Bob Mann is known as the person who broke the color barrier in Green Bay. Bob Mann played offensive end during his time with the Packers and played for the Packers from Nov. 25, 1950 through the entire 1954 season. He attended the University of Michigan and played for the Detroit Lions as a receiver before coming to Green Bay. Most of the Packers liked Mann a lot, and thought that if not for the racial barriers that were still in Green Bay and the United States he could’ve succeeded even more in Green Bay. Due to the Jim Crow Laws when the Packers went on the road Bob Mann often had to settle in some other hotel due to the laws. After a damaging injury the Packers let Mann go in 1954. In 1988 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Lambeau field was built on the west side of the city of Green Bay. It’s original name was New City Stadium but due to the passing of the Packers historic coach Curly Lambeau they named the field after him. The stadium originally had 32,154 seat stadium which is the largest for the time period.  The construction of the New City Stadium was such a big deal, that when it opened its doors on September 29, 1957 Vice President Richard Nixon sat in the stands. The first game that was held in Lambeau Field was the Green Bay Packers against the Chicago Bears. To break in their new home, the Packers came out with a surprising win of 21-17 over the Bears. The old city stadium located at East High School in Green Bay was falling apart at the time; when that stadium was built in 1925 it was the gem of the NFL. Over the years and with the NFL’s growing teams it became inefficient, enough to move half of the Packers games to the County Stadium in Milwaukee between the years of 1952 through 1957. Without the construction of the New City Stadium the Green Bay Packers might have moved elsewhere.