On Nov. 7, 1926, the Green Bay Packers traveled south to play the Milwaukee Badgers in an intrastate contest between two members of the fledgling National Football League. Led by legendary player-coach (and team founder) Curly Lambeau, the visiting team was only 7 years old, the Badgers even younger.
Every player on the field was a professional, but just barely; even the biggest stars put their bodies on the line for just $100 a game. Shoulder pads were dangerously thin, and every “leatherhead” helmet was a concussion waiting to happen.
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The game was played at Borchert Field, a North Side venue squeezed into a single city block at Eighth and Chambers, within the modern-day corridor of Interstate 43. The park’s regular tenants were the minor-league Milwaukee Brewers, who ran the basepaths there from 1902 to 1952.
No accommodation was made for football; the Packers and Badgers slid on grass in the outfield and scraped across gravel in the infield. Although there was plenty of action, the hundreds of empty bleacher seats indicate that pro football had not yet captured the public’s imagination. In fact, a high school game played the day before at Borchert had drawn nearly twice as many spectators.
The Packers won the contest by a score of 21-0, and three years later would win their first NFL championship. The Milwaukee Badgers, on the other hand, faded into oblivion alongside other NFL pioneers like the Pottsville Maroons, the Muncie Flyers and the Columbus Panhandles, now little more than footnotes in the history of the game. Today, the Packers boast an unmatched 13 championships and a market valuation of nearly $6 billion. Curly Lambeau would be astounded.
Special thanks to Bob Buege and Michael Benter for research assistance.
Take a closer look:
- Second-floor porches overlooking the field were the closest thing to luxury boxes in 1926.
- Robert Taylor, the Milwaukee Journal’s one-man photo department who captured this shot, was an early master of stop-motion photography.
- Founded in 1856, the Gettelman brewery served a largely local market, including sports fans.
- Football referees had not yet graduated to zebra-striped shirts.
IN COLLABORATION WITH THE MILWAUKEE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
