Two gems in the crown jewel of football franchises

Because we are season tickets holders for the greatest franchise in the NFL, my sister and I got to hang out with two gems Saturday afternoon.

It all started with an email inviting 2025 season ticket holders to apply to a lottery to attend a new event called Apps with Alumni.

Intrigued, I applied and, to my delight, I received an email a few weeks later inviting me and a guest to a cocktail reception featuring former Packer greats Earl Dotson and Cullen Jenkins.

I invited the person with whom I’ve been going to Packer games for the last 40 years — my sister Kathy.

Instructed to wear our Packer gear, we decided to sport our Ron Kostelnik jerseys, both to honor our dad and because Cullen Jenkins wore that number well too.

We arrived on Lombardi time, naturally, but no one else did, so we briefly had the whole place to ourselves.

We chose seats near the front and ended up sharing a table with some really nice, very entertaining Packer fans. Our brand new friend Kathy Meyer, for instance, brought a scrapbook — the fifth in a series documenting the season tickets her family has had since 1919!

Longtime Packer play-by-play announcer Wayne Larrivee moderated a lively Q&A with the two former players in which we learned how close each player remains to their former teammates.

Dotson, who spent his entire nine-year NFL career with the Packers and won Super Bowl XXXI with the team, said he gets together with those teammates five or six times a year.

Cullen Jenkins also talked about the rapport he shares with his Packer teammates. The Packers cut him his rookie season, so he honed his skills in NFL Europe. The next year, he made the team and spent the next seven years playing for the Packers, including Super Bowl XLV.

Traded to Philadelphia in 2011, Jenkins also played for New York and Washington in an NFL career that spanned 14 seasons. He said he had so many friends on the team when he played for the Packers, he was surprised to find that not all teams have that kind of camaraderie once he left Green Bay.

Jenkins went back and earned his college degree during the pandemic and is working as a substitute teacher, which he said he really enjoys. He plans to get his teaching certification and become a full time teacher, just like his Dad.

Cullen’s nephew, Kris Jenkins jr., currently plays for the Bengals.

Dotson said his good friend Andre Rison, who played for the Packers in 1996 and scored the first touchdown in Super Bowl XXXI, was so disappointed the Packers cut him after that season that he threw his Super Bowl ring in the river.

“He regrets it now,” Dotson said. “But he was really hurt then.”

After the formal Q&A, Dotson ended up sitting at our table. He spoke about how he’d lost his oldest son Jared to suicide in 2022.

He started a charity with another family who’d lost a son to suicide, and they call it A Tale of Two Sons.

Dotson said he’d gotten therapy in the wake of the tragedy, something he thinks more athletes should consider.

Then, he whipped out his cellphone to show us pictures of a joyful addition to the Dotson family — his baby grandson (the first child of Dotson’s younger son, Austin).

Kathy and I really enjoyed our time with our fellow season ticket holders and with our new friends, Earl and Cullen.

The next day, Kathy and my mom Peggy ran into Earl inside Lambeau and the three pals posed for more pictures.

I’m proud to be a Packer fan and to represent a team with such a rich history and a franchise that treats its alumni and its fans so well.

Go Pack Go!