Lambeau: The Man Behind The Mystique

Rating:
Summary: Lambeau Revealed
Review: As a life-long Green Bay Packer fan (since 1960), I was amazed to learn that nobody had ever written a biography on Curly Lambeau until now. After all, he's been gone since 1965. It's incredible to think that two generations of fans have been going to Packer games in Green Bay and seeing the name "Lambeau Field" emblazoned on the stadium but possessing little or no knowledge about the man who founded the team, coached it for 31 years, nurtured it financially and emotionally through thick and thin, and brought home six NFL Championships! David Zimmerman truly fills a stadium bowl-sized void with this book! It's packed with intriguing information about how the Packers - and the league - were formed. Lambeau's larger-than-life aura shines through, both in his football success and his human failures. But you don't have to be a football fan to enjoy this book. No doubt, women will be intrigued with Lambeau the ladies man. Colorful characters like Johnny "Blood" McNally will make you laugh and scratch your head in amazement. You'll meet other NFL Hall of Fame legends like Don Hutson, Clarke Hinkle and "Iron Mike" Michalske. This book is a must-read for any Packer fan, football fan, history buff or anyone who just enjoys a good, colorful collection of all-too-human stories. Plus, the pictures, many of which have never before been published, are outstanding. I loved it!

Rating:
Summary: Curly and the Legacy
Review: I heard the author David Zimmerman on a local sports radio program. I was impressed with his historical knowledge of the Green Bay Packers and Curly Lambeau. So much so I bought the book. In it he has given us special access into the colorful life of a football pioneer and icon Curly Lambeau. Packed with insights, great photo's, bigger than life characters and legends of the game. I found the book well researched, carefully compiled and absorbing, a welcome addition to my football library. If you have an interest in the Green Bay Packers or the NFL, you will want to read LAMBEAU-The Man Behind The Mystique.

Rating:
Summary: Great Niche, but not the best bio.
Review: In the interest of accentuating the positive (and I did enjoy this book) I will say that it was purchased from my wish list by my mother, who ended up buying a copy for my cheddarheaded sister as well. My mother grew up in Green Bay (one block from Curly's birthplace! she exclaimed) and said that it brought back her childhood in the 30s and 40s quite vividly. With every mention of every store or venue she recalled stories of old Green Bay. She would tell me of the Packers practicing in leather helmets just outside of the old East High School. She would tell me of going around the corner to the modest home of Mike Michalske (an oft-mentioned Packer in the book) to play with his newborn. She loved it.

To me (and she admitted as much) the book read at times like a low-scoring football game. By this I mean that it appeared the author had several anecdotes which he strung together into chapters, not paying great amounts of attention as to whether or not he had already introduced a trainer here, or used a turn of phrase there. The reader, therefore, is left going over the same phrases repeatedly, with their repetition distracting from the overall telling of the story of Lambeau. You read one account, skip back several years for another account, and then read the first account as a natrual terminus of the second. Like a low scoring football game, on each play you main gain a few yards or lose a few, and find yourself forced recover the same yardage.

That said, the author seems to both idolize Lambeau as the patriarch of the team, and find little for which to do so. He repeatedly shows players that did not much like the guy, nor respect his actual abilities as a football coach. Players would have to explain where plays wouldn't work, and though his dependency on the forward pass was innovative in 1919, he was unable to modify his game as football evolved in the 30's and 40's. He's portrayed as a vain, egotistical salesman who (quoted some three times in the book ver batim) "did more for his hometown than anyone else" and founded a great tradition in professional sports.

A recurring theme in Packers History seems to be frustration with intervention by the executive committees governing the franchise causing the head coach to leave. Lambeau cited this when he left the Packers (and later the Cardinals). Lombardi warned against interference when he stepped up to the plate, and of course as Packer fans of this era remember, Holmgren went to Seattle largely to enjoy the general managership denied him at Green Bay. Ironically, Sherman has the dual role today, and Holmgren has been stripped of the same in Seattle.

Anyway, the book provides a light and interesting look at an era I've not seen well covered elsewhere. It covers the first 31 seasons relatively well, and Green Bay at the time as well. It identifies the times this unlikely team faced dissolution early in their institutional life, and how the means by which it was saved sets the team apart from every other team in professional sports. It covers the Packer-Bear rivalry through the years (although showing Halas as quite the protagonist and Packer Backer by the end) and provides a cursory look at Lambeau's Post-Packer life.

I'm glad I read it, but it's not exactly 5-star material.

Rating:
Summary: Essential reading
Review: Remarkably, this is the first full-length biography of Lambeau. It does not disapoint. Extremely detailed and thoroughly researched without being overwhelming, the author presents a straigthforward re-telling of Lambeau's life. But the thing is, Lambeau's life was like a novel. His rise, fall, and redemption is compelling, and several chapters in this book are nothing less than gripping. This is essential reading for football fans, Packers fans, the people of Wisconsin. A terrific book.

Rating:
Summary: Who Knew?
Review: Since the mid-Sixties millions of fans of the Green Bay Packers have enjoyed thrilling football games in arguably one of the greatest sports stadiums ever, Lambeau Field. But how many fans know for whom the stadium is named? How many fans watching Packer and NFL games on national TV know of the pivotal role played by the Packer founder in the creation of professional football? These answers and more can be found in "Lambeau: The Man Behind the Mystique," the first-ever biography of the legendary Earl Louis "Curly" Lambeau, founder, player and coach of the Green Bay Packers. Lambeau won six NFL championships, an amazing streak for a team from a tiny town in Wisconsin. But this book is not just for football fans. Readers learn that in his day Lambeau was one of the country's biggest celebrities. Married three times, Lambeau was a ladies man. In fact, some of his players hated him because he had a habit of wooing their girlfriends. A small-town boy from Green Bay, Lambeau eventually worked his way into Southern California society. This rubbed many locals in Green Bay the wrong way, and may have led to his demise as Packer coach. After his fall from grace, Lambeau rehabilitated his career and reputation only to die of a heart attack while picking up his girlfriend (a woman who was 35 years his junior) for a date one evening. Lambeau's story is like a Hollywood script. Read it now before the movie comes out.

Rating:
Summary: A book for all Packer Fans
Review: The first chapter draws you in so completely, you feel like
you are there with Curly and makes you want to read more.
This book has so much information on Curly's professional and
personal life. Never before has a book covered so much on the
history of Curly Lambeau and the beginning of Packer football.
A book to be shared by everyone who wants a piece of Wisconsin's great local sports history. David Zimmerman is a thorough writer with a personal touch.

Rating:
Summary: A book for all Packer Fans
Review: The first chapter draws you in so completely, you feel like
you are there with Curly and makes you want to read more.
This book has so much information on Curly's professional and
personal life. Never before has a book covered so much on the
history of Curly Lambeau and the beginning of Packer football.
A book to be shared by everyone who wants a piece of Wisconsin's great local sports history. David Zimmerman is a thorough writer with a personal touch.

Rating:
Summary: Going Back In Time
Review: This book not only accurately depicts the life of Curly Lambeau, but also the start of professional football. David Zimmerman reveals many interesting facts about the game, the players and the era in this timeless masterpiece.