2007 Tailgaters of the Year
Congratulations to the The Packers "Green and Gold Gang"
01/08
Tailgating has long been touted as a uniquely American pastime. This great American thing we call tailgating is comprised of sports fans gathering from a few days to a few hours prior to and after sporting events for a celebration of their team, driver, favorite band or activity. Research suggests as much as a 15% increase in overall tailgating during the 2008 sports season. The same research also suggests that close to 50 million people will take part in this thing called tailgating. Yes, tailgating is rapidly becoming an industry, with big-time marketers eager to tap into this passionate- and relatively affluent demographic. It even has its own magazine.
When we decided to give an annual award for Tailgater of the year here at our little magazine, we wanted the award to embody all the wonderful things that make tailgating America's leading pastime.
It's not just about the game- or race- sure that's the catalyst for the gathering, nor is it just about the food and the beverages. It is about the spirit of the entire event, the camaraderie, the sharing of friends and foe. The celebration of forgetting the day-to-day grind we all go through- the feeling you get in the pit of your stomach on a Wednesday knowing that the game is just a few more days away. When you hit the parking lot, bar or backyard and turn on the fun, the daily challenges we face, fade far into the background- our spirits are lifted and our pulse quickens. It's game-time.
As we looked around, talked to folks in the know and generally researched what and who could and would fit into what we envision as a celebration of all things tailgating, we begin to see that this would not be an easy task. There were tailgaters down in Baton Rouge that were setting a pretty strong pace, a bunch over in Houston that would be hard to deny, plenty of fans in the Carolina area that would have been more than deserving. But there was one city and one group that kept coming up, one group that did more good for more people and did it for all the right reasons than any other. ESPN came up with a rating on the top NFL fan experiences in a recent magazine, and others have done similar type things. All had one thing in common; Number one is Green Bay, WI or Titletown.
If you've never been to a game at Lambeau Field, and you're an NFL fan, just once before you leave this earth, you gotta make the trip. I flew into Chicago on a cold, windy Saturday and headed north through the Illinois concrete jungle towards Milwaukee.
An hour and a half later the voice crackled over the phone, "Yah-Dere-Hey -Welcome to Wisconsin"! It was one of America's most well known and truly dedicated fans, Lewie Limberger. Lewie is the kind of guy that after talking with him a few minutes, you felt like you've known him your entire life. Lewie earns his living as a financial planner, but he earns his fun as what is arguably the Green Bay Packers number one Fan.
A few hours later after a shower and a quick nap, Lewie is at the hotel entrance and we're headed to a small picture postcard city called Cedarburg, WI. Cedarburg is about 100 miles south of Green Bay and the kind of village where you're pretty sure things haven't changed in at least fifty years. We find a perfect little tavern and sit down for a dinner of cold Wisconsin ale, world class burgers and fries along with some great conversation. I learn quickly that Lewie is a monster Packer fan that knows the Packer history as well as anyone. I also learn that Bob Lidtke, AKA Lewie Limberger, is a man among men.
Sure he loves the game of football; yes- he can tell you there are only five Packers in the long and storied history of the Team that have the honor of having their number retired. But when I ask him what this Green and Gold "thing"? is all about, he begins to light up. I learn that the "Gang" has over 8,400 members worldwide, is about helping people, the money they raise goes almost 100% to charity and the main focus is about being a shining light in the lives of those less fortunate, all the while shunning the recognition likely to follow.
After dinner, we take a quick ride over to Bob's home. I meet his beautiful wife, Mary and we go down to his Packer room in the basement. Lewie's sidekick Joe Lunch Bucket is on the way over, but in the interim we look over what are undoubtedly among his most prized possessions. We see numerous photos of the great Vince Lombardi, Bart Starr, Jerry Kramer, Boyd Dowler and of course King of the mountain, Brett Favre. $100,000 cash wouldn't pry these precious items from Lewie's home and after talking a while you see why. He loves the Pack dearly, but he loves the process more. He loves the lives he touches, the smiles he brings to young children's faces and the many things he and his "Gang" have done over the years to brighten the quality of life for so many. The Gang bears a strong resemblance to an 8,000 plus Santa Claus experience.
Lunch Bucket arrives shortly and we sit down for some conversation, "Bucket" is a native of Jackson, Mississippi that made the move to Wisconsin some 20 plus years ago.
He says he is going to move back "down south" but somehow you just don't quite buy it. Bucket is a big man, (well over 6 feet, three and well over 240 lbs.) He is a gentle man but speaks with a purpose and handles himself with a dignity not known by many. We "chew the fat" about a number of things and plan the agenda for the next day (we'll head out early) and split up in about an hour.
The next morning when I step out of my hotel at 5:45 for the trip to Titletown, it's 16 degrees with a dry snow falling gently through the Wisconsin air. I can tell the second I hop in Lewie's van that something is different. He has his game face on and it's almost like he plans to take the field himself.
If I had not met Bob the day before I absolutely would not have known who he was. It's at that moment that I start to "really get it". Lewie has been seen in the pages of Sports Illustrated, ESPN, The Magazine and ESPN's Sports Center. He is without question one of America's most recognizable fans. Yet - he looks nothing like the gentleman I met and enjoyed such a nice dinner with the previous evening.
We pick up Bucket a few minutes later and are off. The ride to Green Bay and Lambeau is a short one, taking maybe 75-90 minutes tops.
We arrive about 7:30 am, at Champions Sports Bar. This will be our home for the tailgate party for today's game with the Oakland Raiders. We open up the joint and it's humming in less than a half hour. The backbone of the tailgate party is the Happy Schnapps Combo, made up of Wenzel on the drums, Steve Kline (Field Marshall Guenter) Guitar, Eric Werner (Klaus) Guitar, Dyorak (Stoch) on Harmonica and Accordion) and Rob Marts (Fynkylmyr) on the Bass. The Combo creates and maintains a rollicking, toe-tappin' and flat out butt kicking polka - flavored music that seems to fit the Packers like the Green and Gold.
I run into Greg Jens, The Titletown Clown, his wife and his son, who is no doubt clown number two in the making. The atmosphere is electric, the music loud and the joy spills out of Champions like a waterfall. Greg wants me to take a short walk up the midway of tailgating to meet Raider Ron, who has not missed a Raiders game in forever. We head down that way, but every twenty feet or so The Clown is stopped for photos and interviews-I can tell pretty quickly that Raider Ron will have to be another day.
I hurry back to Champions just in time to catch Lewie and Bucket loading up to go to Lambeau. Game day at Lambeau when the team is doing well is pure ecstasy. The Packers are 11-2 and are truly a team that binds a community like no other.
In Titletown, quarterback, Brent Favre was just named Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated. Times are good.
50-year-old Lambeau field remains sold out since 1960 with season tickets passed down through the generations. More than 70,000 names are on season ticket waiting lists.
If you are blessed to have gained entrance, you savor the experience.
There are no dancing girls, no fireworks or smoke filled tunnels that players emerge from.
Just good old-fashioned 17 degree weather and an atmosphere that screams "Football at it's Finest". As the Pack run onto the field you truly see what all the fuss is about. You have a feeling that it really doesn't get any better than this. Fans still sit on old-fashioned aluminum benches. By the time the National Anthem was sung you could have fired a shotgun down the concession concourse and not hit a soul. Everyone was in the stands. And they remained there even until the final minute with their beloved Pack comfortably ahead.
It's been a really special day in Titletown, seeing the ones that give, expecting nothing in return, Wenzel and The Happy Schnapps Combo, Titletown Clown, Bucket and Lewie. I had my first Brat. I must admit it was dynamite. I had my first taste of Titletown and it is a city with an aura, a city and a team that truly binds like no other. As we head down I-43 towards Cedarburgh, I look in the backseat of our van. Lewie Limberger is asleep, totally exhausted for he has given his all. Yep- these boys are our Tailgaters of the year - Why? Because they do it and they do it like no other- but - they do it not for themselves - but for those that it might just be out of reach for - and they seek no credit - just the quiet satisfaction of knowing that the Good Lord blesses those that give and give freely.
If you're an NFL fan and you've watched even a modest amount of football on TV, you'd recognize Lewie Limberger, he's the one on our Cover with the old-time leather football helmet and the eye-black- but you'd never know who he is. And that is the whole point. It's not about Lewie, or Bucket or Wenzel or the Clown. It's about how much they do for how many - and the fact that they do it behind a dough face. That my friends is why the Green and Gold Gang are our Tailgaters of the year.
Yep - these are our boys.
Watch Milwaukee's Fox News story about the Green and Gold gang.
