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Years ago, Wisconsin was truly the 'Big Cheese'

State was summer home of several pro football teams in '30s and '40s'

By Cliff Christl
of the Journal Sentinel staff
Last Updated: July 29, 2000

It was the first "Cheese League," although nobody called it that.

Today, the three National Football League teams that train in Wisconsin are party to a promotional blitz by the tourism industry intended to bring people and money into the state.

Wisconsin Cheese League

Wisconsin Cheese League


Green Bay

 Green Bay Packers, since 1957


 Chicago Bears, since 1984

River Falls

 Kansas City Chiefs, since 1991

(NOTE: The New Orleans Saints trained at La Crosse from 1988 - '99. The Jacksonville Jaguars trained at Stevens Point in 1995.)


Beaver Dam

Chicago Cardinals, 1949 - '50


 Chicago Bears, 
1935 - '43

Green Bay

 Green Bay Packers, 1936 - '50 (from 1947 - '49, the Packers practiced at Rockwood Lodge near Dyckesville)


 Green Bay Packers, 1935


 New York Giants, 1939, '41-'42, '46

Two Rivers

 Pittsburgh Pirates, 1939; Columbus Bullies (AFL), 1940Philadelphia Eagles, 1941 - '42; Chicago Rockets (AAFC), 1947


 Chicago Cardinals, 1942 - '48

West Bend

 Milwaukee Chiefs (AFL), 1941


 Milwaukee Chiefs (AFL), 1940

One of Curly Lambeau's best backfields included (left to right) Eddie Jankowski, Joe Laws, Cecil Isbell and Larry Craig. File Photo/Journal Sentinel
File Photo/Journal Sentinel


Here's a brief look at other cities - besides Green Bay - that served as hosts to pro football teams in the original "Cheese League."

Rhinelander - The Packers trained in Rhinelander in 1935, the first year they left Green Bay for their pre-season practices. The players stayed at Pinewood Lodge, a popular resort, and practiced at the old Rhinelander High School bowl, located in front of the school.

After breaking camp, the Packers toured the state and played four exhibition games in nine days against the Merrill Fromm Foxes, Chippewa Falls Marines, Stevens Point All-Stars and La Crosse Old Style Lagers.

Weyauwega - The Milwaukee Chiefs of one of the old American Football Leagues trained in Weyauwega in their first season in 1940.

The Chiefs stayed at the Hotel Dobbins and practiced at the local fair grounds. George Harris, president of the team, and George Dobbins, owner of the hotel, were longtime friends.

West Bend -In 1941, their second and final season, the Chiefs chose to train in West Bend, rather than Weyauwega, because it was closer to home.

The Chiefs held their day-time practices at Bruhy Memorial Field, where West Bend High School played, and their night workouts at City Park on the northwest side of the city.

Beaver Dam - After seven years at Carroll College, the Cardinals trained in Beaver Dam in 1949 and '50 at Wayland Academy.

The coach of the Cardinals in their second year at Wayland was Curly Lambeau, who had resigned as coach of the Packers following the previous season.

(NOTE: In between the first "Cheese League" and the latest one, the Packers trained at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point from 1954-'57.)

- Cliff Christl

Back in the day when professional football teams first began setting up their training camps in this state, barely anyone paid attention.

It didn't matter because the old "Cheese League" was every bit as formidable as the one today.

This summer, the Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears and Kansas City Chiefs are in Wisconsin.

In the original "Cheese League," a total of nine different pro teams, including the Packers and three from other leagues, held their camps in eight different Wisconsin cities from 1935-'50.

The first outsiders to train in Wisconsin were the Chicago Bears in 1935. By 1942, half the teams in the then 10-team NFL were holding training camp in Wisconsin. The number dwindled during World War II, but there were still three teams here in 1947, including the Chicago Rockets of the old All-America Football Conference.

The original "Cheese League" died in 1951 when even the Packers abandoned the state to hold camp in Grand Rapids, Minn.

Still, it left a rich and colorful lore.

Not only was that the case in Green Bay, but also in the four other principal cities that served as summer hosts.

The following is a tour of those four cities.


Wellington Mara, 83-year-old president of the New York Giants, has two distinct memories of Superior.

"I always remember the two after dinner sports," said Mara, whose father purchased the Giants in 1925. "One was going over and watching a Northern League baseball game. The other was walking down the street to Bridgeman's for a chocolate milk shake. Those were delicious. I can still taste it."

The Giants trained in Superior in 1939, 1941 and '42, and again in 1946, after Mara had gone to work for his dad and before coaches held endless evening meetings.

Steve Owen, the coach of the Giants, was a rigid disciplinarian who won eight divisional titles and later gained induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The players still found enough free time to go watch the Superior Blues or Duluth Dukes minor-league baseball teams, hang around the local ice cream parlors or treat themselves to some other pleasure.

One of the Giants even launched a career in baseball while he was there, according to Mara. An experienced amateur umpire, halfback Hank Soar was summoned one night to work a Northern League game. After spending nine years with the Giants, Soar became a full-time umpire and served in the American League from 1950-'73.

While Bridgeman Creameries was a popular spot, it wasn't the only one within walking distance of camp. Another hangout just down Belknap St. was People's Drug Store. And the attraction there wasn't just the ice cream.

"The young ladies would walk around and were kind of visible," said Robert Murphy, a 69-year old native of Superior. "They didn't hang around practice. But they'd be at People's Drug Store."

Ward Cuff pursued another passion. A product of Marquette University, he lived in Shorewood and drove to Superior. Unlike the vast majority of players who arrived by train, he could pretty much come and go as he pleased.

"Every minute of spare time I had, I went fishing with some of the guys on the ballclub," said Cuff, who played for the Giants from 1937-'45. "It was only about 40 minutes down to the Brule River from our training camp. We caught a lot of nice trout."

The Giants were headquartered at what was then Superior State Teachers College. They lived on campus and practiced there as well. The only dorm at the time was built for women, but that was a small inconvenience for players who were elated to escape the sort of stifling heat and humidity found at most training sites.

"I loved it there," said Emmett Barrett, a center with the Giants in 1942. "The weather was great because you got the breeze off the lake. I had no hay fever and I used to get hay fever quite badly."

The Giants, in turn, were popular with the people. Tuffy Leemans, the team's star halfback from 1936-'43 and another Hall of Famer, was a native of Superior and a local favorite. In 1941, when the Giants broke camp to play an exhibition game in Green Bay, more than 300 fans accompanied them on the train.

The Giants chose to train in Superior after winning the NFL title in 1938. As league champions, they were scheduled to play the College All-Star Game at Soldier Field.

"This was in the days before you traveled much by airplane, so we were looking for a place close to Chicago," said Mara. "I remember Steve Owen went up to inspect the place and I think the snow was about a foot deep when he got off the train. But he said, 'It looks great to me.' "

After their last visit to Superior, the Giants decided they would be better served by holding training camp closer to home, according to Mara. And for most of the past 54 years, they've continued to train in New York or its neighboring states.


In the years that Jimmy Conzelman coached the Chicago Cardinals, he not only drove his players on the practice field, he entertained them in their Carroll College dorm at night.

"He'd play the piano and we'd all gather around him and sing," said Charley Trippi, a halfback from 1947-'55 and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. "Then he'd say, 'All right fellas, it's time to go to bed.' He was a wonderful person to play for. He had a kind of a fatherly instinct about him."

Beside being a musician, Conzelman was a poet, a songwriter and a compelling storyteller.

The first year the Cardinals trained in Waukesha, they were feted at a dinner, held at Merrill Hills Country Club, and Conzelman entertained the crowd for more than an hour.

Conzelman also was a master psychologist.

One of the constant complaints of the players at Carroll was the heat. They claimed the sun would reflect off the limestone around the field and nearly bake them.

Conzelman, a Hall of Fame coach who led the Cardinals to their last NFL title in 1947, would listen to their gripes and seek remedies.

"One of the things I always remembered was a day he called a meeting at the morning practice," said Red Cochran, who played with the Cardinals from 1947-'49 and later served as a longtime coach and scout with the Packers. "He said we were going to meet on the front porch of the dorm at 1 o'clock.

"Everybody was po'd because it was so hot and they wanted to use that extra time to rest. But right at 1 o'clock, two Greyhound buses drove into the yard and Conzelman said, 'Everybody down to the equipment room, get a pair of shorts and a jock, we're going swimming.' And we went over to Lake Oconomowoc swimming."

The Cardinals trained at Carroll from 1942-'48, but also established some lasting connections to the school.

John Breen, Carroll's athletic director and football coach, became the Cardinals' director of player personnel in 1957. Wally Lemm, who had played at Carroll before joining Breen's staff as an assistant in '42, served as head coach of the Cardinals from 1962-'65.

In fact, Bill Bidwill, the team's current owner, said that the first year the Cardinals were at Carroll, Lemm waited on tables. Bidwill, whose father purchased the team in 1932, was 11 years old at the time.

Another favorite of the Cardinals was Martha Gudeyon, the cook in their mess hall. However many players there were in camp, she always doubled the portions compared to what she prepared when school was in session.

"The first night we were there, she made a wonderful fried chicken and they sent the platters back for more," said Bidwill. "At the end of the night, she came out of the kitchen and thanked the players for liking her food."

Along with being famished after two-a-day workouts, some of the players stuffed themselves for another reason. On the devilish advice of teammate Plato Andros, a slow-talking, 6-foot, 240-pound Oklahoman with a dry wit, they wanted to make sure they had a good base if they planned to sneak out at night.

"Plato had a philosophy, 'Make sure you get plenty of bread to soak up that whis',' " said Cochran. "Whis'," in Plato's vocabulary, was whiskey.

Two Rivers

It wasn't a player, it was the head coach who was a no-show the first year that Two Rivers served as a host to a pro football team.

Of course, when you consider the coach was Johnny "Blood" McNally, known as "The Vagabond Halfback" and an habitual curfew violator when he played for the Packers, that didn't come as any surprise.

The Pittsburgh Pirates, as the Steelers were then nicknamed, started arriving in Two Rivers on Aug. 3, 1939. Blood showed up three days later. In between, Herm Schneidman and some other Packers who had played with Blood and his assistant coach, Walt Kiesling, drove to Two Rivers to visit them.

"We went over and Kiesling says, 'Blood sent me a telegraph that he was coming in late.' It said, 'LOOK UP COOK AND START PRACTICE,' " said Schneidman, who is 87. "Kiesling said I looked all over and there was nobody by the name of Cook in the whole damn town.

"The next night, Kiesling said, 'I found out who Cook is. We were supposed to eat in the basement of a church and I was supposed to find somebody to do the cooking.' But Blood had disappeared. They didn't know where he was."

As might be expected, Blood didn't last the season. He was fired after three games.

"He did as he pleased. He wasn't a settled down coach," said former fullback Sam Francis, who went to camp with the Pirates that year. "He was so damn different, you never knew what was going to happen from practice to practice. But he was a character and likeable."

Four different teams trained in Two Rivers over a nine-year span: the Pirates in '39; the Columbus Bullies of an early, short-lived American Football League in '40, the Philadelphia Eagles in '41 and '42; and the Rockets in '47.

The lure was Two Rivers' normally cool, summer temperatures and the hospitality of its people.

The teams stayed at the Hotel Hamilton, ate and held meetings at the nearby Hamilton Community Center and practiced at the high school or Walsh Field, the local baseball park.

"We loved it," said former tackle Vic Sears, a rookie in 1941 who spent 11 years with the Eagles. "The people were wonderful. The weather was great. I loved Two Rivers. I thought it was an ideal training camp."

Unlike the Pirates, the Eagles were coached by one of the legends of the game, Hall of Famer Earle "Greasy" Neale. He trusted his players and treated them as men, and they responded in kind.

"When we had a day off and wanted a few beers, we'd go buy a gallon jug of tap beer for 75 cents," said Sears, who is 82. "We'd go right out on the beach and pass the jug back and forth. There wasn't a lot of drinking. Nobody could afford it. But for 75 cents for two people, we just felt good."

At other times, the players mingled with the townspeople.

"They walked the street with us," said Reuben Plantico, who owned a local pharmacy. "Band concert night, Thursday night, they were with us. They stayed right downtown, right in the loop."

When the Rockets came to town, the arrangements didn't go over as well with their coach, Jim Crowley.

A native of Green Bay and one of the "Four Horsemen" of Notre Dame, Crowley had been Vince Lombardi's coach at Fordham. Inclined to keep a tight rein on his players, he didn't like it that they were constantly in the public eye.

At least that was the story Plantico heard from one of the players.

"The biggest trouble was the girls walking up and down in front of the hotel," said Plantico, who is 82. "There were more women in that block. I had the drug store on the corner. It was like a traffic zone."

In 1951, the Eagles returned to Two Rivers for a week before playing an exhibition game against the Packers in Milwaukee. The Rockets never returned, although the franchise survived just two more seasons.


There was no such thing as a pampered athlete when the Bears trained at St. John's Military Academy in Delafield. The players paid for their own transportation and then were in for another surprise when they arrived.

"We had to buy our own shoes," said Ken Kavanaugh, an end with the Bears for eight years. "After we got up there, we bought 'em from George Halas. He owned a sporting goods store. He sold us shoes from his store."

There also was no such thing as laundry service in those days. The players would be issued their equipment the first day and they were to wash it themselves, as best they could.

"The locker room boy would give everyone a jockstrap, a pair of sweat socks and a T-shirt," said Bob Snyder, an 87-year old ex-quarterback who played four years with the Bears. "That was all you got. After practice, you'd go in the shower with everything on and wash it all out. Then, you'd go out and hang it on the bushes and hoped it got dry."

The Bears trained at St. John's from 1935-'43, a stretch when they won two NFL titles under Halas and featured eight Hall of Fame players, including Bronko Nagurski, Sid Luckman and Bulldog Turner. But they never attracted much of a crowd. Anyone who attended practice had pretty much free access to the players.

Joe Sullivan, who later became general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals football team, was a teenager at the time growing up in Milwaukee. He frequently visited the camp, along with his father and older brother, and received all the autographs he wanted.

"It was a pleasure for them," said Sullivan. "They were really stuck out in nowhere. There was nothing for them to do. They thought, 'Gee, at least somebody is paying attention to us.' "

One of the reasons Halas supposedly chose Delafield as a training site was because it was an isolated setting in the days before interstates and urban sprawl. Other than a few bars located around the nearby lakes, there was little amusement to be found.

"I know they used to have a fox hunt," said Kavanaugh, trying to remember the most fun. "I remember seeing that one Sunday morning. I had never seen one coming from the South."

Unlike most training camps, the most feared person at Delafield was not "The Turk," the person assigned to deliver the bad news when a player was cut. It was someone the players called "Ronnie The Rat," a locker room attendant Halas brought with him every year from Chicago.

"He was Halas' stooge," said Snyder. "Anything that went wrong, if he saw somebody coming in late, he'd tell Halas. He was the type of guy who would take you out and buy you a beer, then tell Halas.

"Hell, we threw him in the lake two or three times and the fish threw him back."

Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on July 30, 2000.




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