When you think of the great Green Bay Packers teams of the past, your mind probably conjures up images of Vince Lombardi, Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, Jim Taylor, Ray Nitschke, Willie Davis and the rest of the great 1960s lineup. The Packers, though, had plenty of great moments long before then.
Our Photo of the Day from RMY Auctions takes you back to the fall of 1939. This news photo, which finally broke free from its newspaper archive just months ago, features Hall of Famer Clark Hinkle carrying the football against the Chicago Bears in a game at Wrigley Field. Teammate Joe Laws looks on from the background as Hinkle tries to avoid tacklers against the backdrop of Wrigley’s brick walls.
The Bears were in desperate need of a win to stay in the Western Conference playoff chase and they got one that day, stopping the Pack, 30-27. They would win their last four games but Green Bay, with coach Curly Lambeau and stars like Hinkle, Don Hutson and Arnie Herber, would win out too, clinching the title and earning a spot in the NFL Championship game with a 9-2 record. The Packers shut out the Giants 27-0, the first such blanking in league championship history. It was already Green Bay’s fifth NFL championship since the league’s launch 20 years earlier.
The 7×9 photo is in great shape and is one of several early NFL photos up for bid in RMY’s August auction, set to close Tuesday, August 12 at RMYAuctions.com.
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