The decision to change the name of Green Bay City Stadium to Lambeau Field couldn’t appear today to have been more prescient.
But like most ideas, it didn’t come about without a political tug-of-war.
Curly Lambeau died June 1, 1965. The stadium, originally dedicated in 1957, was officially renamed on Sept. 11, 1965. But the more than two-month debate over whether to do so was more protracted than one might think.
The proposal to name the Packers’ home field after Lambeau, the team’s co-founder and driving force behind its improbable survival, was nothing new.
As early as 1937, Milwaukee Sentinel sports columnist Howard Purser wrote, “Green Bay fans have started a movement to change the name of the city stadium to ‘Lambeau field’ as a tribute to the Packer coach.