Welcome to Night Light, ladies and gentlemen.
How are we doing Wisconsin?
Great to have you with me on this Monday night.
And people all over the state tuning in to have the fun we have every night here where we talk about movies and TV and music and comedy.
And tonight we're even going to talk a little bit about the Packers and one of their most famous executives and his campaign for the NFL Hall of Fame.
We'll talk to Matt Miller, our pal from Milwaukee, Milwaukee Film Critic extraordinaire.
We'll talk movies and TV.
We'll talk some Packers.
We've got a lot of a lot of stuff happened over the weekend and Joining me as always is the lovable producer Conrad.
How you doing, buddy?
you
Change my outfit
what happened
Why are they really?
That's concerning.
No question.
Very concerning.
But I'm going to say equally as concerning the fact that you are rocking Brewer's head to toe.
I'm always leery of those guys.
T-shirt, sweatshirt, sweatpants, hat.
I even had my Brewer socks on.
Brewer's box or briefs.
Yeah, but do you wear them all at the same time?
If I'm going to a game.
Oh, yeah.
Wow.
I don't think I could do that.
I could do a jersey
or a hat.
Don't know if I could do the whole the whole shebang though like that.
Yeah, well anyway, he's a fashion thing not that I don't want to show my You
rock
tell Hat and if I go to a game I have a jersey I'll put on yeah at home I wear a hat But I kind of equate it to like people who wrap who have the the American flag shirt shorts It's just a fashion thing with me.
I just and I'm not even a fashion guy
It's just,
it by myself.
That's
That I could see.
Folks, it is great to have you with us tonight.
Wherever you're joining us, if you're on the app of the stream or on the good old fashioned radio, pull the wife and kids into the room.
And let's have some radio fun tonight.
We've got a lot to talk about.
There was a lot going on in the week.
First, I want to let people know, though, just a reminder, folks, if you tune in regularly here at Civic Media, or even if you don't, you still qualify for our break into spring text-to-win statewide contest.
Your daily chance to win a Chulivis to get away.
Milwaukee Brewer's club level tickets, those might not be high on the list right now, or $100 in cash.
Plus, every entry puts you into our grand prize drawing of a brand new Queen mattress set from Verlo that includes a mattress, sheet set, mattress protector, and pillows.
The times for text to win are 7 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 4 p.m.
Get the word of the day, open up your Civic Media app.
You're probably already listening there anyway and send the word in and you are entered.
You are qualified for the daily prize as well as the grand prize.
So wait for that word, tune in, wait for that word and text in the word and you are all set.
Good luck everybody.
It's a great contest.
We've had so much fun doing these here at Civic Media and this one's a great one too.
Great prizes too, especially with summer coming up.
I would totally go Chula Vista.
If the brewers turn it around, take the seats.
Well, let's hope.
Or
if you're not a Rurer fan and your team is coming to town, maybe that's what you want to do.
But Chula Vista in the summer, you can't
go wrong with
that, 100 bucks.
Then your pocket's pretty good too.
Let's see, what are we gonna do here?
Where should we go?
Hey, if you're going to the night, I wanna get this out there.
If you're going to the Wisconsin Film Festival this weekend, folks, don't forget at Flix Brew House, there is a night light with Peach Waba inspired beer called Hazed On Radio.
So starting Thursday, I believe, check it out and let me know, beer drinkers, I'm not a huge beer drinker.
I like beer, but I don't drink it regularly.
I haven't had any.
recently, but I would love to know what you think.
It's an IPA and if you're a beer connoisseur, I would love to get some feedback on the Hazed On Radio IPA that will be available during the Wisconsin Film Festival at Flix Brew House in East Town Mall in Madison.
That should be fun.
Are you going to try one?
I'll try to get my hands on one.
Yeah.
tapper, so it'll be weird.
I'll have to carry it in the cart.
It might be a little flat, but that's how I'm
Big can of beer
tight, you
I would do that for you Thanks, man.
I'm a giver What were you gonna say I kind of cut you off there?
Yes, read that Saturday and that was
from a
Yeah, bud from Jamesville.
Let's let me let me track that text down.
Is it on the sheet or do I have to pull up the?
it's on the show.
There we go.
Hey, Pete, this is bud from Jamesville.
Why do I always think buds a trucker?
That's Tony the trucker, right?
Yeah, that is he from Jamesville, too.
I don't know why I get these guys.
Okay.
Bud says, hey, Pete, my daughter, Adrian shares a birthday with the USA July 4th.
Oh, that's good.
As a young lass, we told her the fireworks were in her honor.
There you go.
That's a blatant lie, bud.
She probably has some issues with her parents now, especially after that whole Santa Claus thing, too.
Thank you, bud.
Appreciate you listening.
Even at the ungodly hour you listen at, that's great to hear.
We got some help here at Growlers.
This is what
they're called.
We have a couple of textures jumping in.
Tyler from Columbia County and Ross from Crawford County.
canned beers
are called Growlers.
the 124 ounce bottles that a lot of the people get are called Growlers.
Okay, Growlers, yeah, there we go.
All right, that's fantastic.
And lots to cover tonight.
We had, did you watch the tournament?
What do you think about four number one seeds?
double back
it.
That was pretty
I would say after we did all this hype about the tournament, I still love it.
It can't be gold every year.
There weren't a ton of upsets and there weren't a ton of buzzer beaters.
It
Houston's my team now.
I'm going for Houston.
I like the coach.
Love how I thought those guys on Houston were like seven feet tall.
They're like six, eight, but they have that arm span.
They just play great defense.
They're fun to watch.
I don't know who else.
mean,
OK,
So you got Auburn in the pool.
Would you cheer for them anyway, even if you didn't have them?
I would have gone for Michigan State.
Yeah,
That's correct.
Hey, if you're looking for something, if you are interested in the Wisconsin Film Festival, folks, check out later tonight the Wisconsin Film Festival Directors Cut episode, which I am the host of, airs on PBS Wisconsin.
You can also check it out at pbs.org.
All kinds of information about this year's festival, just like we've been talking about on this show.
It's a great show, we've been doing it for years, and you get to meet some directors, see little clips from their films.
And it's just a fun time and a lot of fun.
It gives you some insight into this year's festival, which should be another exciting time with great movies.
I was looking at the lineup.
I'm excited to introduce some films, host some Q&As, but you'll learn more if you check that out, that airs tonight, or you can see it online anytime.
Let's get to what I like to call our question of the night.
the question.
Okay, question.
Question.
Question.
Domanda.
Question.
In honor of National Prom Day, what celebrity would you like to take to the prom?
That's our question, folks.
What celebrity would you like to take to the prom and Amanda's had a funny answer to this because I said this is our question nice She's I didn't go to the prom like okay.
Well, what it's kind of hypothetical and then I realized she's just give me a hard time Yeah, like I really heard her feelings or something, but what celebrity would you like to take to the prom 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 8 5 5 7 5 civic you can text us on the app or on the stream
Anyway, you get ahold of us just get ahold of us love when you guys are part of the show and we get to read your answers on the radio Lots going on in the world of the business we call show too.
I saw a movie last night.
I'm gonna recommend we'll talk about this with Matt Miller When he comes by a little later last breath We rented it on Fandango at home paid the 20 bucks Woody Harrelson
Leads a crew of underwater divers that fix pipelines at the bottom of the ocean floor and One of the driver one of the divers gets trapped and they do a rescue mission.
It is a true story It doesn't even say based on a true story at the beginning of the film.
It says this is a true story So I don't know how close to what they were but it was really good and it's only an hour and a half long but it's riveting and this guy
who they rescued.
I won't tell you the exact ending, but it was without oxygen for 30 minutes, almost 300 feet below the surface in the ocean in the North Sea of the Atlantic Ocean.
30 minutes without oxygen.
So I recommend it.
It's one of those films too that was interesting because it was just about a crew coming together to help this guy.
There were no real bad guys.
There was no adversary, villain.
It was just everybody.
And that was kind of refreshing, because every movie, whether it's a rom-com, a thriller, or whatever, even your basic porno film, Conrad, has a foil.
I know you wouldn't know about that
But it's really good.
Highly recommend it.
Last breath, starring Woody Harrelson.
We've got a lot of fun playing for you guys tonight, so it's great to have you with us on this Monday.
We're going to talk to our guest.
Cliff Wall is here with Sam Venese.
Sam is a local veterinarian who is hoping his brother Jack, who is a Packers phenomenal administrator who's already in the Packers Hall of Fame.
They're trying to get him in the NFL Hall of Fame.
We'll talk about that.
Our buddy Matt Miller is here tonight to talk movies and TV.
And we're going to read your texts when we come back and talk about Saturday Night Live and Teletubbies.
You can't miss that, folks.
you
Welcome back to Night Lights.
I'm Pete Schwabba, your loyal host, guiding us through this Monday night where we chase away all of our concerns of the day.
Whether it's work, we're being stuck in traffic or arguing with family, it's great to have you here.
Let's talk about
Entertainment, let's talk about some.
I would just met our guest Conrad out in the lobby.
They're here, Cliff Wall and Sam Venese.
And this is gonna be some really fun Bear Packard talk because both his brothers were like rock star executives, one with the bears and one with the Packards.
So you can imagine the turmoil in Sam's life.
But we'll talk about that with Sam and Cliff when they come in in just a few minutes.
Sherry checks in on the text line.
She's in the 9-2-0.
She says, good evening, Pete and Conrad.
Well, would you?
Oh, God.
She says, you would be fun, Pete, but Sam Elliott wins.
Yeah, I'm a pretty fun date, Sherry, I will say.
I might make you laugh, but my voice is not Sam Elliott.
I would ask Sam Elliott to the prom, just so I could be there with a cool guy.
Is that not weird?
No.
Yeah.
I mean, honestly, Sam Elliott would be a great wingman.
Oh, yeah.
I'd go up the girls.
Have you met my friend, movie star Sam Elliott?
Anna from Madison says, hi, Pete and Conrad.
I would take Don Johnson to the prom.
I would have him wear a pastel, Giorgio Armani suit and a t-shirt like he wore on Miami, on Miami Vice.
I've had a thing for him for years.
He'd be a good prom date.
Don Johnson as I understand it just based on what I've read was quite the partier back in the 80s and 90s So he would probably be a fun prom date.
I'm guessing Steve from Florida checks in from the 920 says Betty White would have been a good choice to take to the prom She definitely would have been the life of the prom with her natural and gifted humor.
Yeah, she would be great She'd have to clean up the language a little bit pretty potty mouth as she got older.
I don't know
Who I would take I used to have a big crush on Rosanna Arquette.
I Could take one of my exes Sidney Sweeney or Taylor Swift
mad.
He might be taking her off the market Julia Ormond is another one.
I would maybe ask this is let me clarify this Assuming my wife said no or couldn't go and I didn't have a wife when I went to prom anyway.
I would maybe say Julia Ormond one of the great beauties.
I love her
Tom from New Berlin says, where can I find a prom date?
Tom, I can point you in a direction, but I'm not like, I'm not the guy with all the sweet hookups.
What about you came in?
Who you taking to prom?
Oh, she's great.
I love Scarlett Johansson.
Yeah.
And look out concerned.
Listen, young Krieger, you be a gentleman.
This is a big day for, keep those texts coming folks, we'll read them.
Who, what celebrity would you ask to the prom?
It is national prom, prom day or prom date?
No, I'm getting confused here.
National prom, national prom day, yes.
Seems a little early for prom.
A little too cold.
Yeah.
It's also, it's also a national tater day.
So that was going to be my other question.
How do you like your potato?
Like, what's a better way?
I stay
from food.
Just giving us a little breather with food before we jump back into the food questions.
But that would have been a good one, too.
So, all right, Conrad says, Scarlett Johansson, I'm gonna say Julia Ormond.
That's who I would ask to the prom.
And, you know.
I would hope she'd say yes, but who knows, right?
Phone lines are open, folks, 855-752-4842-855-75 civic.
The teletubbies dropped on this day in 1997.
And I don't know if you remember this, but there was a huge controversy when the teletubbies come out that one of them was gay.
First of all, they're child toys.
Best of my knowledge, they don't really identify.
with one sexual preference or the other.
But it was, it was insane.
It was like people lost their minds over this stuff.
Did you have one?
Now this would have been like just four years or five years before you were born or three.
So they were probably kind of a thing when you were a kid still, right?
Hmm.
I remember dads everywhere.
We're like, don't play with the gay one.
That's the kind of stuff you'd see on, like before there was social media, there were sketches about that.
I think on Saturday Night Live, like people want nods.
They were very scared.
I've been watching way too much TV folks.
I don't know what you guys are watching.
Feel free to share it.
I just talked about a movie I saw last breath.
I'm excited to talk about that with Matt Miller, but...
I am watching way too much color television right now.
I just finished Reacher, season three, really liked it.
Liked it better than season two.
Eight episodes, got through it pretty quickly.
1923, I'm like five episodes into that.
Our buddy Jamie McShane, who's been on the show, is one of the cast members of that.
He plays a Marshall, Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren are the stars.
Pretty good.
a little slower than season one, but I'm digging it.
I'm only one episode into adolescence.
I thought I would jam through adolescence over the weekend and watch, you know, maybe bang out like two or three more episodes, but I didn't get to it.
I'm still watching Severance and a show called Dope Thief on Apple TV, which is about these guys that poses DEA agents and rip off drug dealers, kind of a Robin Hood type thing.
But...
Lots of good TV on right now.
Lots of good stuff to binge.
We'd love to hear what you guys are, what you guys are watching as well.
Coming up in just a few minutes, Sam Venesi will be here with Cliff Wall.
They're a package deal.
These guys are great guys.
They're coming in here.
We're going to talk about Jack Venesi and whether or not he should be in the NFL Hall of Fame.
He's already in the Packer Hall of Fame.
And Sam has a brother, Jerry Venesi, who helped build the 85 Bears.
So I believe Sam is a tried-and-true Packer fan, but we will talk to him about that.
We'll have some good Bear Packer talk there.
Then Matt Miller joins us at 720.
What celebrity would you ask to the prom?
That's tonight's question, 855-752-4842, 855-75 Civic.
We're going to do the news, folks.
Civic media reporters are waiting to tell you what's up, and then we're going to come back, talk a little Bears Packers, and a really cool, you know,
Sam is a veterinarian and he like revolutionized eye surgery for pets So he's got that going too.
I've done none of this stuff But we're gonna learn all about it coming up next on nightlight with peach wava on the civic media radio network
Welcome back.
I'm Pete Schwab.
This is Night Light.
Great to have you with me on this Monday night.
Our question tonight is, what celebrity would you take to prom?
It is National Prom Day.
Tom said earlier, where can I find a prom date?
And he says, do I need social media?
I probably wouldn't hurt Tom.
You ever made a date off social media, Conrad?
No.
No?
No.
Okay.
Me either.
But I've been married since before social media,
so.
Yeah, that makes sense
then, yeah.
Tyler from Wisconsin Rapids says, Sissy Spacek might be fun.
Which is funny because Mike Dessertel, when we asked a question on Facebook, Mike said, anyone but Carrie.
One guy wants nothing to do with Carrie, the other guy wants to take her to prom.
I don't know what that says about you guys, but Monica from Mount Horrib says, Andy Garcia, he's got a sexy voice, has aged well, and I'm stereotyping here, but I'm assuming he can dance well.
Okay.
That's a good answer.
I personally am not attracted to Andy Garcia, but he's a fine actor.
Thank you, Monica.
Gordy from Oregon, Wisconsin says, it's been 54 years since my last prom.
If my 18-year-old self could take an 18-year-old Demi Moore.
Oh my God, heaven.
Well, you can wish, Gordy, that's what we're doing here.
We're just having fun.
Conrad's mom checks in and says, Hugh Jackman, not only handsome, but he can dance and sing.
Paul, you would be the envy of the prom, but I'm not sure how Conrad's dad would feel about that.
But keep those answers coming, folks.
Also, Christy Barlamint said on our Facebook, you can always weigh in on social media too.
She says, Ed the Diver, for sure.
Well, that wasn't a stretch.
We knew she'd pick it, right?
Kathleen on Facebook says, Pee Wee.
He would be a blast.
Pee Wee.
Herman?
Yeah.
Unless there's another Pee Wee.
I'm kind of a weird nickname.
Eric Rathsack from Ask Your Mother says, Pete, he's fun.
Thank you, Eric.
I'd be honored to go to prom with you.
You'd be the tallest guy there.
And I would totally make you my wingman, buddy.
I would love to go to prom with you.
Sherry says Sam Elliott, of course.
Sherry has said that twice, so we obviously know she has a crush on Sam Elliott.
All right, we are going to turn our attention now to some fun.
Packer talk?
Packer bear talk?
We'll even work in a car, some new cars somehow.
It's going to be a fun segment, folks.
It's my pleasure now to welcome to Nightlight for the first time ever in the studio.
Sam Venesey and Cliff Wall are here.
And Sam, I'll give background on you guys.
Sam is the brother of Jack Venesey, who is the Packers, well, see the VP of, what was your brother's title there, Sam?
Well, he started as a scout and then he ended up being the personal director.
Personal director.
Right.
Okay.
And business manager also in a sense when Venesey was there.
When Vince Lombardi was there, and Paul Horning had great things to say about your brother, it was really fun to read about him.
He's in the Packer Hall of Fame, but you guys are hoping to get him into the NFL Hall of Fame.
Correct.
All right, so Cliff Wall is here too.
Speaking of wingmen, he's being a good friend here
with
Sam.
Great to have you guys here.
And you were a car dealer owner, Cliff, right?
Family-owned dealership since 1929.
Wow.
Got out in 2020, March of 2020, which is...
You know that history of COVID.
Yeah.
Good time
to sell.
Good for you.
Did you ever sell a pack or a car?
Oh, yeah, sure.
Well, I have a nice photo of my father delivering a car to Bart Starr.
Oh, no kidding.
And also one with Bob Skaronsky.
And of course, when I merged with the Cadillac dealer, Dave DeNeal, we sold a lot of packers.
Al Harris.
And I using selling to a pack was a little different was you were selling to an agent and then the okay player came and picked it up But I mean yeah, what kind of card at Bart star by he bought a Would have been a 67 Oldsville 98, okay, and This is I can tell you a little story.
I don't want to get too far off Jack when he sees no, that's okay anyway, so the old the Oldsville rep at the time found out about it and he said
Well, we got to get a picture in the, at least in the Oldsmobile publication.
I'd like to get it in the General Motors publication for the employees.
So Bart, if you knew Bart, he was very kind, very nice person.
Yeah.
And Bart said, sure, well, sure, I'll pose for a picture and no problem.
You can put it in the thing, into the GM Oldsmobile publications for the employees.
And about two months later, he called up my father and said,
Cliff I'm sorry, but I just took I just became a partner in a Lincoln Mercury dealership Down in Birmingham, Alabama, and it probably is not a good idea to have a picture of in the GM publication So we did give morning, I don't think it ever got in the publication.
I think they Nixed it.
It sounds like he did okay, but yeah, right, but I did get anyway do have a nice photo with my father, you know LeRan Carter.
Yeah, and I think he also kind of
He was a good friend, of course, with Bob Skaransky.
And I think he kind of pushed Bob to say, you better go buy a car
from Cliff Wall.
So we appreciate that.
That's a pretty modest car, though, right?
For Bart Starr.
I mean, an Oldsmobile?
That's not like he's driving around in a big Cadillac or anything.
Well, yeah.
But remember, when you sell Oldsmobiles, that was the smart man's Cadillac.
OK.
That's
a great sales pitch.
Bart was that type of a guy.
It seems like.
He didn't want to
show off.
That's great.
All right, so it's great to have you guys here Sam.
Let's let's jump into so so Jack is part of the Packer Hall of Fame and You guys are making a push to try to get him into the NFL Hall of Fame
As a contributor
as a contributor.
Okay, so what does that entail?
How difficult is that?
Extremely difficult Especially since you have so many owners that are being admitted into the hall now as they contributors
And they usually pick, I think, about 50 that are considered to be picked by the sports writers, and so they pick three out of those 50, and that's not easy.
Wow.
So we're hopeful that Jack's been nominated.
Pete already nominated Jack about 10, 12 years ago.
And not this past year, but the year before Jack was selected in that group of 50 to be considered, and he didn't make the cut.
This year he didn't make it in the fifth day.
I'm hoping next year he does get it in the fifth day.
Is it like, I think, what do they take five players a year that are eligible after five years?
When someone is trying to get in posthumously, is it, is that more of an uphill climb?
Because you're picking from all the people who haven't gotten in, right?
I mean, it seems like it's a real uphill climb.
Extremely difficult.
Extremely
difficult.
Do you need people, like, does it help if you get more sportswriters to go to bat for him or former players?
Absolutely.
And we're hoping that, you know, all these sports writers are going to be at this raft.
And with Clip's support, with her digital, we're going to have a program.
And I'm going to be sitting next to Jack's monument there in a little tent showing his wall of fame that I have in my clinic.
And hopefully we'll get enough signatures that it'll make an impression.
Yeah, I hope so.
So look for those petitions around.
Town
come coming up to
the draft because we figure if we get 250,000 for the draft Maybe more.
Yeah We get them all to sign that petition.
I mean that that's our goal is get get as many signatures as you can right?
That's so they can't say no They can't say no Jerry Kramer.
That's how they got Jerry Kramer and they got petitions and in support form So that's really the that's the goal and and look look for Jack on the corner of
of Ridge Road and Lombardi look for his little tent and find out more about it.
And he'll definitely tell you a lot tonight, I hope so.
Yeah, that's so cool.
And you can't go wrong when players are saying stuff like this is a quote from Paul Horning.
I loved Jack Venesi.
All the players did.
He was a football man.
That's what he was pure and simple.
He brought so much talent to Green Bay, but it took Lombardi to make us champions.
Like that doesn't happen without great moves and bringing the players.
You get the coach, you get the players.
Sam, let's say, okay, let's say you're the NFL Hall of Fame and I want to hear why Jack should be on, say some nice things about your brother.
What did he do other than what I just read?
Well, think of Titletown and think of the reason we call it Titletown.
You have to think Vince Lombardi.
Who brought Vince Lombardi to Green Bay?
It was Jack.
There you go.
They were personal friends.
If you remember, they really tried hard to get Forrest Foschewski.
That was Dominic Olnichek, who was the president at that time.
That was his choice, and they tried very hard.
I always tell people, they offered him the City of Green Bay, the key of the city.
and they even included an orphan hotel on the offer.
I'm just joking, of course, but they really tried hard to get him.
And Jack was so relieved when they didn't get him because they needed a disciplinarian.
If you remember that last year where they have one in 10, the record, and Scooter was a wonderful guy, but he was part of the team, you might say.
They just needed somebody, a good disciplinarian.
Jack knew.
Vince Lombardi.
He knew he was a disciplinarian.
The coach environment, I'm trying to think of his name right now, Blake, Colonel Blake.
Vince worked with him and then of course went with the Giants and had a very good reputation there.
But Jack had just known him personally and he felt this is the guy that can turn things around.
But he had to convince...
the president and the board, that this is the man.
And finally, when they turned down Vince Lombardi, Jack called George Hallis, who was a personal friend.
We grew up together.
And Paul Brown, who loved Jack, and tried a couple of times to woo Jack the Cleveland from Green Bay.
And the commissioner, the name escapes me for a second and he'll think of it.
Bert Bell.
Nice.
So Jack talked to all three of them, and they all called and talked to the Olenichek.
And they said, if you can get Vince Lombardi, grab him.
And so he was willing to talk to Vince Lombardi.
Vince came up, and that was history.
My guests are Dr. Sam Vinisee, who is Jack Vinisee's brother, who is in the Packer Hall of Fame, and Cliff Wall, former auto dealer to the stars, I would say, here in Northeast Wisconsin, right?
Fairly
accurate.
Fairly accurate, yeah.
Big evidences unfairly.
To your modest, just like your clients and Bart Starder.
So, okay, and I would think like bringing Lombardi here, you know, as an administrator, as an executive, that's a huge get too.
He had no ties to Green Bay, right?
When they hired him, he lived on the East Coast, right?
Absolutely.
His wife said, where is Green Bay?
I never heard of the place.
So to get him to come here, too, might have taken some convincing.
Well, I think he was ready.
And I think he was looking for, you know, a coaching head coaching job.
And this was an opportunity.
And he knew that Jack had some good players.
And that was one of the decisions I think that helped him was he knew that there were a lot of good ball players that were just sitting idle.
So just as a side light.
Sam was a little modest here about his brother, but he has Jack has 14 people in the pro football Hall of Fame 13 13 people excuse me 13
appreciate your honesty
Sam 13 people that he's associated with there in the pro football Hall of Fame more than anybody else way more kidding and I think if Vince Lombardi was would not have been in Green Bay
Green Bay would not have a big stadium named Lombardi right now.
I really believe that.
Is there a special section in the Hall of Fame for executives or a different label or are they just lumped in with players and coaches and everybody?
I think they're a lumped in.
This past year they had three sports announcers that were in the Hall of Fame.
Normally it would think sports announcers would be in the Sports Hall of Fame rather than the NFL Hall of Fame.
So it's pretty broad.
Okay.
That's interesting.
So you kind of, we'll get into this next, but let me, actually, let me, before we move on, Cliff, how are you, like, you're not related to Jack.
How do you play in here?
I know you're involved and you want this to happen, but what do you do as Sam's friend and Jack's friend, and what's your role in this?
Well, I got
introduced to Sam by his son, Sam.
Okay.
I said, well, that sounds like a project.
That sounds like someone that should be in there.
Let's
pick up there.
We're going to do a very quick break, and then we'll jump into more of this.
And then Sam has a great history.
His brother was an executive.
also a hotshot executive for the Chicago Bears.
So I can't even imagine the conflict and turmoil that went on in your house.
But it sounds like you've figured out where your alliances are.
We'll get into all this and more.
Matt Miller is here at 720 to talk movies.
Right now, after this very short break, we'll have more with Sam Vinici and Cliff Wall.
This is Peach Waba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Welcome
back.
This is Nightlight.
I am Pete Schwab.
It's great to have you with me on this Monday night.
It's a little early for NFL talk, but not really, because the draft is here in Green Bay in just a few weeks.
Joining me here in the studio right now are Sam Venesey and Cliff Wall.
Sam, I know we're here talking about your your star studded executive family But I do want to touch on some of the work you did too because you did some pretty cool stuff in your field Which what you were a veterinarian very well known you're actually Dr. Sam Vinisee, but you're here as a fan.
So I hope Sam is okay All right, so so Sam's brother Jack is there Cliff
and Sam and many others are trying to get him into the NFL Hall of Fame.
He's already a member of the Packer Hall of Fame.
He was a rock star executive for the organization, brought Vince Lombardi to Green Bay.
very exciting background, but you have the reason I say you might be a little conflicted is because you kind of grew up.
We grew up very close in the same neighborhood, not the same neighborhood, but you weren't too far away.
I grew up in the Jefferson Park area of Chicago and you were at California in Peterson, you said?
Peterson Woods is right.
Wow.
Okay, so we were practically neighbors.
You were probably gone by the time I was born, but you and your brothers grew up in that area and you have a great story about how your brother Jack got so interested in the NFL.
Please share that story.
Well, my father had a grocery store, actually a grocery store, a delicatessen.
Wilson Avenue and that was very close to Wrigley Field and right across the street from the store was a shared Plaza Hotel and that's where the majority of players that didn't have their home bases in the area would stay and so after the Bears had to have their practice the number of them would come down into my dad's store, which was just usually about eight o'clock at night and
They would, dad would make them a sub.
Well, a sub in those days was a big loaf of Vienna bread, piled with ham and salami and cheese and tomatoes and lettuce.
Probably cost a buck and a half at that time.
But each player would order one of those and have it cooked.
We didn't, dad didn't sell beverages that were any more than sodas.
And so we got to know quite a few of them.
And of course my mother,
got to know them all.
And being that she had a son that was very interested in football, she would invite dad and both of them.
They would actually invite several players to come over for Thanksgiving if they had no place to go.
They'd
share a Thanksgiving dinner with us.
And then my dad decided to have an Italian night dinner so he could invite six or seven.
And he'd invite them over.
And of course, Jack was just late.
late high school, I mean late grammar school, maybe early high school, and I would just, and of course I was four years younger, so I was really small and young, and I would sit on their laps, and Jack would sit on the floor, and the football players, and they were giants, I mean, you go back to Bronco Nagorski, Bulldog Journal, Jordan Musso, Danny Fortman, Joe Steinhardt, they would all be there, and...
and they would tell stories.
And I would, of course, just sit on their lap and they'd be jiggling me around on their knee, but they'd be telling Jack stories.
And he was just mesmerized.
And he just fell in love with football.
And that had a big, big part of what he wanted
to do.
Wow, obvious.
And he turned it into a phenomenal career.
as an executive.
All right, now, you have another brother, Jerry, who went on to do very similar work for the Bears and helped build the 85 Bears.
So what was that like?
I mean, where does he fall in line in that order?
Well, Jerry, of course, was quite a bit younger.
He was actually 10 years younger than me, so he'd be 14 years younger than Jack.
And Jerry was an accountant.
He had worked for Arthur.
Arthur Anderson.
And then he decided to finish up.
He wanted to be a lawyer also, so he went to law school, got his degree in that, passed the bar.
And then he was still close friends with Muggsy, who was a boy.
Muggsy Hallis.
Muggsy Hallis, because
we were up together and played together.
Wow.
And then they asked Jack, you know, they asked Jerry,
if he would have considered coming in to be in their control or in their attorney for the Bears.
And which, of course, Jerry jumped at.
He just loved it because he just got a football.
Jerry couldn't play football.
He had asthma.
And so sports were a difficult endurance for him.
But he came in.
And then when Mugsy Hell has passed away, unfortunately, a number of years,
I'm trying to think exactly what I'm
not sure.
It's like 83 maybe or something.
Right in that range.
I
know it was right after a game here in Green
Bay.
I sat with Muggsy and Jerry in the box at the back as we're beating the Bears.
And Muggsy said, Sam, aren't we ever going to make you a bear fan again?
And I said, I'm sorry.
And then poor Muggs died that next day.
Wow.
And so then Jack...
Our jury kind of became a surrogate son for George Ellis.
Oh, no kidding
cuz he didn't that was the only son that he had and so they were very close and then come in the early 80s George asked Jerry said I'm gonna make you general manager I'm bringing in my ticket and I want you guys to win a championship and They did they did in a couple of years.
They made a few they have already had a good team, but they made a huge a few couple of changes
And, of course, they won that Super Bowl.
And I was a kid.
I said, Jerry's my younger brother's the only general manager with a Super Bowl ring.
All right, this is great, and I want to add I've got a few more questions about that So we'll do that after the news Civic media's reporters are waiting to tell you what's up.
Sam Venese is here brother of Jack Venese who is a candidate for the pro football Hall of Fame already in the Packers Hall of Fame Cliff Wall is here riding shotgun also part of that mission and We'll talk more about this after the news.
It's peach wabba and nightlight on the Civic media radio network
