Packer wives and racial pioneers

Not all heroes of the Lombardi era Packers wore helmets, some wore heels and housecoats, another his signature fedora.

Even as those vaunted teams made their historic romp through NFL record books, they also set precedent off the field.

Vince and Marie Lombardi packed their principles along with their parkas when they came to Green Bay in 1959. They came with intention and set a tone of inclusivity.

A year before four young Black men staged a sit-in at the Woolworth lunch counter in North Carolina that led to the de-segregation of public facilities across the country, Coach Lombardi took his own stand in Green Bay.

He told his players they were a family and that, as a family, they would eat and travel together. He sent a letter to Green Bay restaurants and bars warning them that Packers would only be frequenting establishments that were open to the whole team. He teamed up with local apartment managers like Flo Bettis to make sure all his players and their families felt comfortable in their Green Bay apartments and homes.

In 1965, he wrote a letter to the Wisconsin Senate Judiciary Committee in favor of its Fair Housing Act, which passed later that year, three years before the U.S. passed its version of the bill.

And, he took a stand in defense of Lionel and Vicky Aldridge’s interracial relationship. With Coach Lombardi’s blessing, Lionel and Vicky married in January of 1967, six months before the Loving v. Virginia unanimous ruling that invalidated laws against such unions.

The Packers wives also navigated a politically charged landscape during their years in Green Bay. Some of them initially had trouble figuring out how to respond to Vicky and Lionel’s relationship. Dana Caffey said her mouth dropped open and she couldn’t muster any words when Vicky told her Lionel was her boyfriend.

“We laughed about it through the years because we became very good friends, but when she first told me I didn’t know what to say,” Dana said.

Barbara Adderley became a racial pioneer just by continuing in a career she loved. One of the first Black teachers in the Green Bay school district, she negotiated parental curiosity with grace and taught her little charges with contagious enthusiasm. Though a crowd sometimes gathered to gawk at her classroom window, she said the only one who questioned her decision to teach in Green Bay, was Herb.

Barbara went on to have a stellar career in education with a reputation for turning troubled schools around. Eventually she retired as an Instructional Superintendent.

We write about these stories of racial heroism in our book, Lambeau Ladies: The Boundary-Breaking Women Behind Lombardi’s Packers.

You can also hear about them on our six episode podcast. The latest episode, Unintentional Pioneers, dropped yesterday. In it, you’ll hear the voices of Ruth Pitts, Barbara Adderley and lots of other Packer wives as they talk about that pivotal time in their lives.

You can find the podcast links, and links to purchase the book, on our website: https://www.lambeauladies.com/

I’ll include our third and most recent episode here as well:

If you like what you read in our book, or hear on our podcast, please like, share, follow and/or leave a review.

We’d also love to hear your stories.

Thanks and Go Pack Go!