Packers History, Cheesehead TV Style
Our new illustrated book about Green Bay Packers history is due out this fall.
By Kevin Gibson
I remember my father taking a phone call back in 1975, just days after he had signed me up for tackle football for the first time. I was 9. When the call ended, he hung up and said, “You’re going to play for the Packers.”
More than a half century later, I have teamed up with Cheesehead TV to write a book about Green Bay Packers history. It all stems from that phone call, and my green and gold obsession which followed.
Even at such a young age, I began to obsess, reading about the Packers of the 1960s, including Jerry Kramer’s seminal book, Instant Replay. I read about Bart Starr in a book I got from the Scholastic Book Club at my school, and he immediately became my favorite Packer. My young mind couldn’t comprehend how he could have been the quarterback so recently and now was the head coach, and my mind found it intoxicating. The obsession only grew.
Enter our forthcoming book release, The Green Bay Packers: An Illustrated Timeline.
Here’s how it happened: When Josh Stevens, the publisher at Reedy Press, with which I have published several books previously, called me in early 2024 and asked if I was up for a book project, I of course said yes. Then he asked me, “You’re a Packers fan, right?” I said something like, “Josh, if you’re suggesting I write a book about the Green Bay Packers, just send me the contract. I don’t need to hear anything else.”
But there was one request – since I am based in Louisville, Ky., he wanted me to have a partner with closer ties to Green Bay and/or the team. It was pretty much a no-brainer to reach out to Aaron Nagler to gauge Cheesehead TV’s interest in getting on board, given I had been a long-time fan/patron and had also just started writing a weekly column for the platform.
Aaron and Cheesehead TV co-founder Corey Behnke weighed my offer and agreed to partner with me. And then the work began. Luckily, I had a head start thanks to reading Packers historian Cliff Christl’s amazing four-volume book, The Greatest Story in Sports. It also didn’t hurt that I had been consuming Packers content and history for years and years.
In other words, immersing myself in doing Green Bay Packers research was more like a vacation than doing actual work. I visited Green Bay three times last year as part of the process, interviewed Christl himself and met with Josh Gordon, son of John Gordon, who designed the now internationally recognized ‘G’ logo for Vince Lombardi.
I spent an afternoon at the Brown County Library in downtown Green Bay and met with historian Mary Joe Herber, who provided me with access to a ridiculous amount of Packers books and clippings.
And I spent three afternoons writing the first 20 or 25 chapters of the book at Lambeau Field, upstairs at the bar in 1919 Kitchen & Tap. (Cheese curds and Spotted Cow may or may not have been consumed during this process.)
The result is about 45,000 words on Packers history, from 1919 to the present, including player profiles, how the team was founded, how it progressed, and plenty of quotes and stories you may not know.
The book is now up for pre-sale on Amazon, and books should be printed and in stores – and landing on your porch if you order now – by early September. It will also be available on my website when books are printed and ready to go. We at Cheesehead TV can’t wait to hold copies in our hands, and we hope you will enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed producing it.
And as always, Go Pack Go.
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Kevin Gibson is a professional writer and author based in Louisville, Ky. He's also a former sports writer who covered high school, college and professional sports, a Packers shareholder and a fan since 1975. Even John Hadl couldn't break him. Follow him on Twitter: @kgramone
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Comments (6)
RedRight49
June 19, 2026 at 07:31 am
What an intriguing and interesting book, I plan to order a pre-release copy and look forward to its' September arrival!
Bragging but,I knew the incredible MAN on the left of the cover photo a little bit.
He bought me beers on 2 occasions in an Oshkosh, WI bar and we sat and talked for about an hour each time.
The beers were Chief Oshkosh beers, for minutia.
Sharing beers with Vince Lombardi was like drinking liquid gold!
We talked life and football, his principles for a good life and for good football were intertwined.
I have no doubt the forthcoming book will be a well written and well researched title worthy of purchase and reading.
GPG
Since'61
June 19, 2026 at 08:31 am
I will be happy to pre-order and read your upcoming book. I have a pretty complete collection of books written about the Packers and their players going back to the Lombardi years. It started with Run to Daylight and I've been collecting Packer related literature ever since. In any case I'm happy to learn about this new offering and I look forward to reading it and adding it to my collection. Thanks, Since '61
HarryHodag
June 19, 2026 at 09:02 am
Bravo!
I will be gladly purchasing your book. It will be great to see stories of the OG Packers. For example, if you ask some fans about Don Hutson they might not know his role in shaping the modern NFL passing attack. I can think of Johnny Blood, Clarke Hinkle, Mike Michalske and many others. The full story of Curly Lambeau is also incredibly interesting.
The story of the 1950's and 70's and 80's Packers also brings perspective. Many fans are well versed in the history but a collection like this is really remarkable for those not as aware of the team's history.
Thanks for the effort.
LeotisHarris
June 19, 2026 at 02:28 pm
Congratulations, Kevin and team! I'll gladly order this as well, and am pleased to see it will be available via your website. I try to support the authors and local bookstores whenever possible.
Starrbrite
June 21, 2026 at 12:14 am
I’m quite sure I’ve read every book written on the Packers. I’ll add yours to the list; thank you!
My Favorites:
1. Instant Replay
2. When Pride Still Mattered
3. Packer Dynasty
4. Bart Starr: America’s Quarterback
5. Distant Replay
Go Packers!!!
Swisch
June 21, 2026 at 05:58 am
When I played youth football as a sixth grader in Wheaton, Illinois, fall of 1973, we played two teams from the town next door, Glen Ellyn, both of which wore Packers jerseys as their uniforms.
I had a frustrating game against one of those teams in what was otherwise an upbeat season, and afterward my dad asked me if maybe I had played worse because it was difficult for me to play against guys in Packers uniforms.
I hadn't thought of that, and don't think it was the case. However, it's an indication of just how much I loved the Packers -- even though I had only lived the first three years or so of my life in the state of Wisconsin. We did go back to visit relatives, though.
While I was too young to appreciate the Lombardi Era in real time, it was probably through documentaries and books about the Packers that I was caught up in the true-life legend of those teams.
***
It's a bit of a mystery, my devotion to the Packers. I'm glad, though, that it turns out to be perhaps the greatest sports organization in all of American history, with so much to root for over the decades, because of so much to admire in the players and coaches and fans. It's some of the best of America.
The apex, in my opinion, was that Lombardi team of the Sixties and its individual players. As the sportswriter Dick Schaap wrote in the 1980s -- and I think it still holds true -- it was the greatest team in pro sports of all time. As I understand his meaning, it was not necessarily the most talented or most successful team, but the one that integrated and cooperated the best, that worked together as a group to get the most out of its various pieces.
The players of Lombardi are wonderful in their uniqueness, yet achieved glory in their solidarity; it was this solidarity, though, that helped to bring out the best in each one of them. It's a fascinating phenomenon, this interplay of individuality and unity.
It seems a great model for our current Packers to get over the top in a highly competitive NFL, to set themselves apart from other excellent teams.
It seems also a great inspiration for the restoration of America -- at its 250th birthday -- to the best of its past and the fullness of its potential.
Somehow, sacrificing for others brings out the best in ourselves. We all win.