History lesson Green Bay-style

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WGBW) – Their school is named after him, but how much do students at Green Bay’s Lombardi Middle School really know about the iconic football coach whose name they walk past every day?

“We did a few presentations in advisory about him, so I learned about him through there,” said 13-year-old Madelinn, “but I definitely learned more about him today.”

Legacy of greatness

Madelinn and her 7th and 8th grade classmates at Lombardi Middle School got a Green Bay-style history lesson this week when Packers Hall of Fame curator, Brent Hensel, stopped by for visit.

“How football has evolved over time,” explained Hensel. “Football was very violent in the early days and almost was outlawed. So, we almost didn’t have football.” 

The power of perseverence

It’s a lesson that scores big with students like 12-year-old Archer.

“I think it’s just really cool to see how they came to be and like, the struggles and stuff,” Archer said.

Hensel says making history a hands-on experience shows students how history can be fun.

“I always try to bring in even some artifacts, so they can experience them hands on,” Hensel shared. “I’ll bring in a replica football from the 1920s, and a current football to see how the shape of the football has changed. It’s become narrower and not as round.”

Hensel also illustrates how the lessons they’re learning in the classroom today are the same tools he uses to do his job with the Packers.

“They had a history class in here and they were actually talking about primary and secondary sources,” Hensel explained. “So, I talked about how I used primary and secondary sources in my job; how there’s a lot of Packers legends and myths, and how we’ve learned to try to make it more fact and substantiated {stories} with those sources.

Students we talked to after Hensel’s presentation told us they’re proud to go to a school named after a coach who inspired his players to greatness.

“About Vincent Lombardi not letting the teams fail,” said Madelinn, adding that learning more about Lombardi and the Packers also taught her about perseverence. “About the early parts in the Packers when they struggled with financial problems, and they still got past it,” she explained.

Lombardi Middle Schoolers say the story of how the Packers started and stayed in a city the size of Green Bay taught them about overcoming obstacles to achieve your dreams.

More than one student raised their hand when asked if their parents owned a share of Packers stock. Then beamed with pride when Hensel told them their parents were the owners of the Green Bay Packers.

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