1959 Green Bay Packers season

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1959 Green Bay Packers season
General managerVince Lombardi
Head coachVince Lombardi
Home fieldCity Stadium
Milwaukee County Stadium
Results
Record7–5
Division place3rd (tied) NFL Western
Playoff finishDid not qualify

The 1959 Green Bay Packers season was their 39th season in the National Football League and 41st overall. The team finished with a 7–5 record in the 1959 season under first-year coach Vince Lombardi to earn a third-place finish in the Western Conference.

It was the Packers' first winning season in a dozen years, the last was a 6–5–1 mark in 1947. Green Bay had just one victory during the previous season in 1958 with the worst record in the twelve-team league, and were 3–9 in 1957, tied for worst. Hired in early February, Lombardi was previously the offensive coach (coordinator) for the New York Giants under head coach Jim Lee Howell.

Offseason

NFL draft

Main article: 1959 NFL draft
Round Pick Player Position School/Club Team
1 1 Randy Duncan Quarterback Iowa
2 13 Alex Hawkins Back South Carolina
3 25 Boyd Dowler Wide receiver Colorado
5 55 Andy Cvercko
Guard
 Northwestern
6 61 Willie Taylor
Center
 Florida A&M
7 73 Bobby Jackson Back Alabama
7 83 Gary Raid Tackle Willamette
8 85 Buddy Mayfield End South Carolina
8 95 Bob Laraba Back Texas Western
9 97 George Dixon Back Bridgeport
10 109 Sam Tuccio Tackle Southern Miss
11 121 Bob Webb Back St. Ambrose
12 133 Larry Hall Guard Missouri Valley
13 145 Jim Hurd Back Albion
14 157 Ken Kerr Guard Arizona State
15 169 Dick Teteak Guard Wisconsin
16 181 Dan Edgington End Florida
17 193 Tom Secules Back William & Mary
18 205 Dick Nearents Tackle Eastern Washington
19 217 Bill Butler
Safety
 Chattanooga
20 229 Charley Sample Back Arkansas
21 241 Dave Smith Back Ripon (WI)
22 253 Charlie Anderson End Drake
23 265 Ben Lawver Tackle Lewis & Clark
24 277 Joe Hergert Center Florida
25 289 Leroy Hardee Back Florida A&M
26 301 Ken Higginbotham End Trinity (TX)
27 313 Timothy Brown Running back Ball State
28 325 Jerry Epps Guard West Texas State
29 337 Jack Flara Back Pittsburgh
30 349 Dick Emerich Tackle West Chester
  • Yellow indicates a future Pro Bowl selection

The Lombardi Era begins

On February 4, 1959, Vince Lombardi seized his opportunity and began building his football dynasty in

Hall of Famer Emlen Tunnell from the New York Giants. He also acquired Fuzzy Thurston from the Baltimore Colts and defensive tackle Henry Jordan
from Cleveland by the start of training camp. In all, 16 veterans from the previous season were sent packing as Lombardi installed a new attitude in the Packers' locker room.

Training camp

Lombardi borrowed from the Giants model — the players had to feel like champions. The team traveled first class under the philosophy that "you can't be a winner unless you feel like one." The change in culture was pronounced. Lombardi had to find a quarterback, and he was resistant to making Bart Starr the quarterback. Starr was in his fourth year in the league and had not won a game in which he had played four quarters. "Did Bart tell you how bad he was?" a player was to later quip to biographer John Eisenberg. Former Razorback Lamar McHan beat out Starr, while veteran Babe Parilli was cut in mid-September, along with rookie running back Alex Hawkins, the thirteenth overall selection in the 1959 NFL draft.[4]

Master plan

Through his now-legendary coaching style, Lombardi whipped the underachieving Packers into instant winners. He set his plan immediately into action at his very first team meeting. "I have never been on a losing team, gentlemen, and I do not intend to start now!"

Dramatic improvement

The results of Lombardi's approach were dramatic. In the season opener against the

NFL coach of the year
.

Schedule

Preseason

Week Date Opponent Result Venue Attendance
1 August 15, 1959 Chicago Bears L 16–19 Milwaukee County Stadium 28,286
2 August 23, 1959 at San Francisco 49ers W 24–17 Kezar Stadium 18,916
3 August 29, 1959 Philadelphia Eagles W 45–28
Portland, OR
 25,456
4 September 5, 1959 New York Giants L 0-14
Bangor, ME
 20,000
5 September 12, 1959 at Washington Redskins W 20–13
Winston-Salem, NC
 15,000
6 September 20, 1959 at Pittsburgh Steelers W 13–10
Minneapolis, MN
 18,081

Regular season

Main article: 1959 NFL season

Lombardi's first regular season game as Packers coach was on September 27.[5] In front of 32,150 fans, the Packers won the game. In the final seven minutes, the Packers put up nine points to win the game by a score of 9–6. Jim Taylor scored a touchdown to put the Packers on the scoreboard. Max McGee would have a sixty-one-yard punt which would land on the Bears 2-yard line. The punt set up the final score of the game. Hawg Hanner scored a safety on Bears quarterback Ed Brown.[6] After the game, Jim Ringo grabbed the game ball and gave it to Lombardi.

Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance
1 September 27 Chicago Bears W 9–6 1–0 City Stadium 32,150
2 October 4 Detroit Lions W 28–10 2–0 City Stadium 32,150
3 October 11 San Francisco 49ers W 21–20 3–0 City Stadium 32,150
4 October 18 Los Angeles Rams L 6–45 3–1 Milwaukee County Stadium 36,194
5 October 25 at Baltimore Colts L 21–38 3–2
Memorial Stadium
 57,557
6 November 1 at New York Giants L 3–20 3–3 Yankee Stadium 68,837
7 November 8 at Chicago Bears L 17–28 3–4 Wrigley Field 46,205
8 November 15 Baltimore Colts L 24–28 3–5 Milwaukee County Stadium 25,521
9 November 22 Washington Redskins W 21–0 4–5 City Stadium 31,853
10 November 26 at Detroit Lions W 24–17 5–5
Briggs Stadium
 49,221
11 December 6 at Los Angeles Rams W 38–20 6–5 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 61,044
12 December 13 at San Francisco 49ers W 36–14 7–5 Kezar Stadium 55,997
Note: Intra-conference opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Regular season

Week 1: vs. Chicago Bears

Period 1 2 34Total
Bears 0 3 036
Packers 0 0 099

at City Stadium, Green Bay, Wisconsin

Game information
Second Quarter
  • CHI – John Aveni 46-yard field goal – Bears 3–0
Fourth Quarter
  • CHI – John Aveni 42-yard field goal – Bears 6–0
  • GB – Jim Taylor 5-yard run (Paul Hornung kick) – Packers 7–6
  • GB – Safety, Brown tackled by Hanner in end zone – Packers 9–6

Standings

NFL Western Conference
 W L T PCT CONF PF PA STK
Baltimore Colts 9 3 0 .750 9–1 374 251 W5
Chicago Bears 8 4 0 .667 6–4 252 196 W7
San Francisco 49ers 7 5 0 .583 5–5 255 237 L2
Green Bay Packers 7 5 0 .583 6–4 248 246 W4
Detroit Lions 3 8 1 .273 2–8 203 275 L1
Los Angeles Rams 2 10 0 .167 2–8 242 315 L8
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Roster

Green Bay Packers roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Rookies and first-year players in italics

Awards, records, and honors

  • Vince Lombardi, Coach of the Year [7]

Milestones

References

  1. ^ Johnson, Chuck (January 29, 1959). "Packers name Vince Lombardi head coach, general manager". Milwaukee Journal. p. 11, part 2.
  2. ^ Johnson, Chuck (February 3, 1959). "Lombardi reception warm, despite cold". Milwaukee Journal. p. 14, part 2.
  3. ^ "National football League draft". Milwaukee Journal. January 22, 1959. p. 14, part 2.
  4. ^ Johnson, Chuck (September 15, 1959). "Babe Parilli is dropped by Packers". Milwaukee Journal. p. 14, part 2. Archived from the original on May 5, 2020. Retrieved July 21, 2018.
  5. ISBN 978-0-684-84418-3
  6. ISBN 978-0-684-84418-3
  7. ISBN 978-0-684-84418-3
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