Polzin: Pat Richter on birthday pranks and Bob Harlan’s legacy

The humble Thompson, who battled health issues brought on by an autonomic disorder late in his tenure as general manager, likely will never get the plaudits he deserves for the talented rosters he assembled during his 13 years in charge of the football operation. He can’t take credit for resurrecting the woebegone franchise, as his mentor Ron Wolf did, but he certainly righted the operation after head coach Mike Sherman struggled with the dual role of coach/GM in the early 2000s.

Thompson’s tenure was largely defined by three events: Using his very first draft selection as GM on University of California quarterback Aaron Rodgers during the 2005 NFL Draft, even though the team still had future Pro Football Hall of Famer Brett Favre as its starter; trading Favre to the New York Jets in August 2008, after Favre decided to unretire and the Packers had moved on with Rodgers as their starter; and Rodgers leading the 2010 team to the Super Bowl XLV title in his third season as the starter.

When the Packers dedicated their redeveloped Lambeau Field in 2003, they placed enormous statues of the two most important men in the franchise’s history out front of their glistening atrium — Curly Lambeau, who co-founded the team and was one of its greatest coaches and players, and Vince Lombardi, who coached his 1960s teams to the club’s greatest on-field era.

But those two monuments are situated on Bob Harlan Plaza, an area dedicated to the former president/CEO who helped restore the franchise to its Lombardi-era glory by changing how the team did business and hiring the right man — Pro Football Hall of Fame general manager Ron Wolf — in 1991 after so many years of disappointment. Harlan’s wife, Madeline, said that at the time, her husband wasn’t sure he deserved such an honor.

When the Packers celebrated the 100th anniversary of their founding on Aug. 11, Calhoun’s place in franchise history was discussed frequently. Calhoun, of course, co-founded the Packers that day in 1919, along with Earl “Curly” Lambeau. At the time, Calhoun was the Green Bay Press-Gazette’s city editor, and while Lambeau was elected captain, Calhoun was named manager.

Calhoun was just 28 years old at the time, and was the great-grandson of Daniel Whitney, the founder of the city of Green Bay. He not only served as manager, but also covered the team for the newspaper and was the team’s publicity director.

Without Vainisi (above, second from right), would Vince Lombardi have won five championships? Perhaps, but there’s no question that Vainisi’s scouting acumen helped those legendary teams by plying Lombardi with a host of future Pro Football Hall of Famers.

In 1950, then-Packers head coach Gene Ronzani hired the then-23-year-old Vainisi to organize the team’s personnel department. Vainisi, doing something most teams didn’t, sought the opinions of college coaches in his scouting, and was essentially a one-man band in the scouting department in Green Bay.