Lumberjack Band: Sidelined

Continued from last week

“Before the 1963 season, the Packers’ famous Lumberjack Band changed its name to the Green Bay Packer Band and members abandoned their old outfits for green blazers and gray trousers with gold stripes. Word was Vince Lombardi wanted the band to have a more sophisticated look,” Packers Historian Cliff Christl wrote in The Greatest Story in Sports.

By 1969, 120 different musicians had played with the band and that year’s group boasted 11 area band directors.

“At the height of its popularity, the band also played for special Packers events and rallies, and marched in parades and played for stage shows throughout Wisconsin,” Christl said.

Heading up the band through it all was Wilner Burke, who served as director for over four decades until resigning prior to the 1982 season.

That summer, the Packers corporation was looking to make some changes.

“The Packers band, upon recommendation of the entertainment committee of the team’s board of directors, will play predominantly swing music next season and forego the usual marches that have been the trademark of the band and its predecessor, the Lumberjack Band,” Tony Walter wrote in the Press Gazette.

“It is all part of the Packers corporation’s attempt to build upon the atmosphere of fan enthusiasm that highlighted the second half of the 1981 season.”

Lovell Ives took over as band director in 1982.

“When Ives took over in 1982, he brought changes to the band, formerly called the Lumberjack Swing Band,” Patty Hoeft wrote in the Press Gazette.

Ives’ iteration of the band, included representation from some of the Green Bay area’s top bands at the time — River City Six, Street Life, Charisma, The Diplomats, Deans of Dixieland and Woody & Friends.

“Positioned on the sidelines near the 15-yard line on the southwest corner, Ives calls the plays, matching melodies with football action on the field,” Hoeft stated.

“If we’re behind 20 points, the band can’t play ‘Mission Impossible’ or ‘Wipeout.’ It’s important tunes are played at the right time,” Ives said.

In 1999, the Packer Band was “sidelined from the sidelines,” Susan Campbell wrote in the Press-Gazette.

“The band, a Green Bay Packers institution since 1921, will take its act to the tailgaters outside Lambeau Field for the 2-1/2 hour strolling concert before each game.”

By that time, they were asked to perform for tailgaters, the band had been formally performing at Packers games for six decades.