Arnie Herber: A lasting legacy

Continued from last week

Dear Arnie,

I think you were a great football player. Your playing was always superb for Wisconsin, St. Regis and the Green Bay Packers.
You were a great quarterback and passer. I am very much

interested in football and hope to make end at UCLA. My dad was first string center for UCLA in 1926-29. My favorite pro team is the Packers. Maybe next year they’ll have a better season.

I would appreciate very much an autographed picture of yourself.
Thanks, Arnie, and the best of luck to you.

Elliot Epstein

Los Angeles, Calif.

This is one of the fan letters that Herber received in 1948, which came from the son of UCLA football standout Herman Epstein — who became a doctor and a pioneer specialist in the sports medicine field.

Though many seasons past his playing days, Herber continued to receive fan may from the young and old while working as the sales manager for De Pere Beverage Company.

A fan favorite and one of about 40 former Packers remaining in the Green Bay area in 1949, according to a Press-Gazette article, Herber was part of about 20 former players that met in February of that year to organize an alumni club.

Organized as the Green Bay Packer Alumni Club, its objectives were to bring the current team and the public closer together and begin a relationship between the alumni and the current players.

“The group advanced a number of ideas for activities during the season. The suggestions included picking a player of the week, a player of the year and holding a homecoming for ex-players at the last home game. Possibly, they said, the former players could attend games in a body and sit in a special section,” a Press-Gazette article stated.

For the first meeting of the alumni group in March 1949, 40 former players were in attendance.

According to Green Bay Sportswriter Art Daley, the organization’s purpose was further defined to assist players who desire “to locate permanently in Green Bay, This would include helping players to find part- or full-time jobs.”

“Another purpose is to offer the Packers assistance in recruiting players. This would be done through the Packers vast alumni throughout the country,” Daley wrote.

Another purpose included “the holding of quarterback meetings during the Packer season.”

During theMarch meeting, the Packers organization showed their support of the club, with Packers Publicity Director George Strickler in attendance sharing a letter of support from Packers Head Coach Curly Lambeau.

To be continued