St. Willebrord Catholic Church

Last updated
St. Willebrord Catholic Church
St. Willebrord Catholic Church.jpg
Basic information
Location 209 S. Adams St
Affiliation Catholic
Municipality Green Bay
State Wisconsin
Leadership Norbertine Order
Website www.stwillys.org
Architectural description
Architectural style Gothic
Groundbreaking 1889 work started, cornerstone laid June 14, 1891
Materials Brick, wood, painted plaster, terrazzo.

St. Willebrord Catholic Church is located in downtown Green Bay, Wisconsin. It was built by Dutch immigrants, beginning in 1889. The church was dedicated to St. Willibrord. The church is spelled Willebrord (with an "e" in the middle) because stonemasons made a mistake when carving the name. St. Willebrord Catholic Church was a regular place of worship for Vince Lombardi [1] and is one of the stops on the Packers Heritage Trail. [2] [3] [4]

Green Bay, Wisconsin City in Wisconsin, United States

Green Bay is a city in and the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, at the head of Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is 581 feet (177 m) above sea level and 112 miles (180 km) north of Milwaukee. The population was 104,057 at the 2010 census. Green Bay is the third-largest city in the state of Wisconsin, after Milwaukee and Madison, and the third-largest city on Lake Michigan's west shore, after Chicago and Milwaukee. Green Bay is home to the National Football League's Green Bay Packers.

Vince Lombardi American football player, coach, and executive

Vincent Thomas Lombardi was an American football player, coach, and executive in the National Football League (NFL). He is best known as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers during the 1960s, where he led the team to three straight and five total NFL Championships in seven years, in addition to winning the first two Super Bowls at the conclusion of the 1966 and 1967 NFL seasons. Following his sudden death from cancer in 1970, the NFL Super Bowl trophy was named in his honor. He was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971, the year after his death. Lombardi is considered by many to be the greatest coach in football history, and he is more significantly recognized as one of the greatest coaches and leaders in the history of any American sport.

Packers Heritage Trail

The Packers Heritage Trail is a self-guided walking tour that traverses locations relating to the history of the Green Bay Packers. 22 of the sites have bronze commemorative plaques. 21 sites are located within a two-mile radius of downtown Green Bay.

Related Research Articles

Lambeau Field Outdoor football stadium located in Green Bay, Wisconsin

Lambeau Field is an outdoor athletic stadium in the north central United States, located in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The home field of the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL), it opened in 1957 as City Stadium, replacing the original City Stadium at East High School as the Packers' home field. Informally known as New City Stadium for its first eight seasons, it was renamed in August 1965 in memory of Packers founder, player, and long-time head coach, Curly Lambeau, who had died two months earlier.

The Vince Lombardi Trophy is the trophy awarded each year to the winning team of the National Football League's championship game, the Super Bowl. The trophy is named in honor of NFL coach Vince Lombardi, who led the Green Bay Packers to victories in the first two Super Bowl games.

1967 NFL Championship Game

The 1967 National Football League Championship Game was the 35th NFL championship, played on December 31 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Robert Andrew "Bob" Long is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League who played in the 1960s and 1970s and earned two Super Bowl rings. He attended suburban Pittsburgh's Washington Township High School, and Wichita State University. His seven-year pro-career was spent with both the Green Bay Packers and the Washington Redskins. He was an instrumental part of Vince Lombardi's wins at Super Bowl I and Super Bowl II. Long was inducted into the State of Kansas Hall of Fame in 1965 and the Wichita State Hall of Fame in 1972. Recently, in 2008 he was added to the Western Chapter of Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.

Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame honoring American football players in Green Bay, Wisconsin

The Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame was the first hall of fame built to honor a single professional American football team. William L. Brault, a Green Bay restaurateur and Packers fan, founded the Hall of Fame in 1966. According to Brault, he got the idea after visitors to Green Bay would repeatedly ask about the Packers' storied history. Sensing opportunity, Brault went to Packers head coach Vince Lombardi, suggesting a "Hall of Fame" should be made to educate tourists about the Packers and their history. Lombardi gave Brault his approval, and according to Brault, as he left, Lombardi called out to him, "Don't screw it up!"

Dave Robinson (American football) American football player

Richard David Robinson is a former American football player. He played college football at Pennsylvania State University and professionally in the National Football League for the Green Bay Packers and the Washington Redskins. Robinson was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2013.

The 1967 Green Bay Packers season was their 49th season overall and their 47th season in the National Football League and resulted in a 9–4–1 record and a victory in Super Bowl II. The team beat the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL Championship Game, a game commonly known as the "Ice Bowl," which marked the second time the Packers had won an NFL-record third consecutive NFL championship, having also done so in 1931 under team founder Curly Lambeau. In the playoff era, it remains the only time a team has won three consecutive NFL titles.

Lew Carpenter American football player and coach

Lewis Glen Carpenter was an American football player and coach. He played college football for the University of Arkansas and professionally for ten seasons in the National Football League (NFL) as a halfback and fullback with the Detroit Lions, Cleveland Browns, and Green Bay Packers. He played on three NFL Championship teams, with Detroit in 1953 and with Green Bay in 1961 and 1962. After his playing career ended, Carpenter spent 31 years as an assistant coach in the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings (1964–1966), Atlanta Falcons (1967–1968), Washington Redskins (1969), St. Louis Cardinals (1970–1972), Houston Oilers (1970–1974), Green Bay Packers (1975–1985), Detroit Lions (1987–1988), and Philadelphia Eagles (1990–1994). Carpenter also coached the Frankfurt Galaxy of the World League of American Football in 1996 and at Southwest Texas State University. He concluded his 47 years of playing and coaching football at the end of the 1996 season. Scientific tests on his brain diagnosed post-mortem that he had an advanced case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

The 1970 Green Bay Packers season was their 52nd season overall and their 50th season in the National Football League. The club posted a 6–8 record earning them a third consecutive third-place finish in the four-team NFC Central division. It was the third and final season for Phil Bengtson as head coach; he resigned shortly after the season ended.

The 1969 Green Bay Packers season was their 51st season overall and their 49th season in the National Football League. The club posted an 8–6 record under coach Phil Bengtson, earning them a 3rd-place finish in the Central division.

The 1958 Green Bay Packers season was their 40th season overall and their 38th season in the National Football League. The club posted a 1–10–1 record under first-year head coach Ray McLean for a last-place finish in the league in 1958 and the worst record ever posted by a Packers team.

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

Dominic Olejniczak American politician, sports executive

Dominic Olejniczak was the mayor of Green Bay, Wisconsin and the president and chairman of the Board of the Green Bay Packers.

St. Cecilia High School was a Catholic high school in Englewood, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, that operated under the supervision of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark until it closed in 1986.

The Packers sweep, also known as the Lombardi sweep, is an American football play popularized by Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi. The Packers sweep is based on the sweep, a football play that involves a back taking a handoff and running parallel to the line of scrimmage before turning upfield behind lead blockers. The play became noteworthy due to its extensive use by the Packers in the 1960s, when the team won five National Football League (NFL) Championships, as well as the first two Super Bowls. Lombardi used the play as the foundation on which the rest of the team's offensive game plan was built. The dominance of the play, as well as the sustained success of Lombardi's teams in the 1960s, solidified the Packers sweep's reputation as one of the most famous football plays in history.

Jack Vainisi

Jack Vainisi was a scout and personnel director for the Green Bay Packers from 1950 to 1960. At the age of 23, he was hired by Packers head coach Gene Ronzani to lead the team's player personnel department. In a time when most professional football teams relied on the media for information on college players, Vainisi would enlist college coaches to provide scouting reports on not only their own players, but also opposition players. During his time in charge of player personnel, the Packers drafted or acquired eight future Pro Football Hall of Fame players. Vainisi also was instrumental in attracting Vince Lombardi to the vacant head coaching job in Green Bay in 1959. Vainisi would not live to see the success of the teams he helped assemble though, as he died from a heart attack in 1960 at the age of 33.

References

  1. Lester Munson, "A Reverential Biography Of The Patron Saint Of Green Bay Football, Vince Lombardi", Chicago Tribune , October 24, 1999.
  2. Gerds, Warren "St. Willebrord was built for soaring splendor"
  3. Packers Heritage Trail-St. Willebroad Catholic Church
  4. Packers Walking Tour connects faith and football