Being a newspaper reporter
has been Cliff Christl's lifelong passion.
- Cliff: I've spent
close to 40 years in the newspaper business.
- Angela: Nearly all of those years
writing about just one topic.
- Most of it was spent writing about the Packers.
I think I had a reputation
for being a rather aggressive reporter.
- Angela: After decades working in news,
Cliff had one more story to tell.
- Cliff: Once the Packers were nearing their 100th season,
they wanted to write a book.
They approached me.
- Angela: The reporter who made a career
writing about the Packers
is now employed by the team.
- And one of my friends told me when I took the job,
that if Cliff Christl was still alive,
he wouldn't tolerate this.
- Angela: All joking aside,
Cliff got the assignment of a lifetime,
and a monumental task of writing a story
100 years in the making.
- Cliff: If I'm going to even come close
to writing a definitive history, it can't be done,
especially with the Packer's rich history,
in 300, 500 pages.
So, it grew into a four-volume thousand-page book.
The title of our book is "The Greatest Story in Sports"
and I don't think there's any question about that.
[upbeat music]
- Angela: Walking into Lambeau Field
as the Packers historian
comes with a certain cachet.
- I had to have one of the most coveted jobs in America.
I don't know if that's the case, but it's--
I've enjoyed it.
- Angela: What Cliff also enjoys
is debunking myths surrounding the green and gold.
- The most surprising thing
since I've worked for the Packers
is the number of people who tell me
that they have a grandfather or an uncle
or somebody
who played for the Packers who never did.
And I see it in obituaries.
- Angela: Cliff is a walking encyclopedia
of football facts.
- These are the games.
- Angela: His personal Packers archive is one for the ages.
- Seven file cabinets with about 25 drawers.
Every story written about the Packers
through their first 100 seasons.
Here's my file on Curly Lambeau,
and then I have a full file drawer
of probably 300 to 500 interviews and oral histories
done with Packers officials, coaches,
scouts, players, et cetera.
Here's my Prohibition file.
- Angela: Packers and Prohibition.
It's one of his favorite subjects to explore.
- Green Bay was known as the favorite stop
for every team in the league.
The bar scene didn't change from before Prohibition,
and there was a thriving Red-Light District
on the north side.
[bouncy jazz music]
It was Sin City.
And how much of a factor that was in the Packers survival,
that's what always has impressed me
about the spirit of Green Bay.
- Angela: Cliff's impressions with the team go way back.
- I'm a Green Bay native.
Started attending games in the '50s.
A ticket cost 75 cents per game
and a season ticket was $2.25.
- Angela: A lot has changed since those days,
in more ways than one.
- So, I was a Bears fan,
and the Packers were lousy at that point.
This was 1955,
and they continued to be lousy
until Vince Lombardi arrived.
And that's when I became a Packer fan,
when they started winning under Lombardi.
This is the exhibit of the 1961 NFL Championship Game.
It was Lombardi's first title.
First time a championship game had been played in Green Bay.
That's probably my favorite game of all time.
I just remember how excited the entire city was.
- Angela: In 2011,
it took that former Bears fan
to launch the Green Bay Packer's Heritage Trail.
- It's a walking tour
patterned after the Freedom Trail in Boston.
I conceived the idea,
putting up plaques at certain historical sites.
Plenty landmarks
where significant Packer history took place.
[whimsical marimba music]
- Angela: The fact of the matter is
Cliff uncovered a treasure trove of Packers stories
during his journalism career.
- Cliff: Give my bosses a good hard day's work.
- Angela: He may have saved his best work for last.
- And I love to research, love to be a reporter.
A little different working for the team
than it was for a newspaper.
That's why the opportunity
to work for the Packers as a historian was such a godsend.
It gave me deadlines.
Otherwise, I'd probably continue to research
until it was time to hit the grave.
[announcer on PA, crowd cheering]