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Curly Lambeau

Earl Louis "Curly" Lambeau (April 9, 1898 – June 1, 1965) was the founder, a player, and the first coach of the Green Bay Packers professional football team.

Lambeau and George Whitney Calhoun formed the Packers in 1919 while Lambeau was working as a shipping clerk at the Indian Packing Company. The success of the team quickly led to it joining the National Football League in 1921.

Lambeau coached the Packers as an NFL team from 1921-49. As the head coach, he led the Packers to six NFL championships (1929, 1930, 1931, 1936, 1939, 1944). Lambeau's regular season record as head coach of the Packers was 209-104-21 (.626 winning percentage) with a playoff record of 3-2.

In 1946, Lambeau purchased Rockwood Lodge, creating the first self-contained training facility in professional football. The purchase was controversial among the Packers' board of directors, and Lambeau's deteriorating relationship with the board was one of the factors that would lead to his departure in early 1950.

Curly Lambeau had a genius for selling pro football and was a shrewd judge of talent. But his cold personality and distant manner did not endear him to his players or the Packers management board.

Lambeau was married three times, first to Marguerite Van Kessel from 1919 ending in divorce with one son in 1934. His second wife Sue was a former Miss California. They were married from 1935 to 1940. He married Grace Nichols in 1945 and was divorced in 1955.

After Lambeau's career with the Packers came to an end, he went on to coach the Chicago Cardinals for the 1950 season and most of the 1951 season. His record with the Cardinals was 7-15 (.318 winning percentage). After leaving the Cardinals, Lambeau went on to coach the last two years of his career with the Washington Redskins for the 1952 and 1953 seasons. His record in Washington was a disappointing 10-13-1 (.417).

Lambeau completed his 33 year coaching career with an overall record of 229-134-22 (.595 winning percentage). He was a member of the inaugural class inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963.

The Packers' stadium, Lambeau Field in Green Bay, is named after Curly Lambeau. The venue opened in 1957, called the new "City Stadium" for its first eight years. It was renamed "Lambeau Field" in September 1965, three months after Lambeau's death in June.