100 Years Ago Today, the Green Bay Packers’ Perfect Inaugural Season was Spoiled by Fairies
A look back at the beginnings of one of the NFL’s most historic franchises.
On November 23, 2019, the Green Bay Packers made the journey down to Beloit “to decide the professional football championship of the state” of Wisconsin. The match included controversial officiating, a near-riot, and one of the first instances of home team fans storming the field after a game.
It was a David vs. Goliath matchup, one where David came out on top. The Packers had been defeated — defeated by the Fairies. But before we get there, let’s take a trip back to the founding of the Packers, a legendary franchise which has won 13 championships and has stayed in the same town longer than any other professional football team.
While semi-professional football teams had existed in Green Bay since 1896, the history of the Packers begins in 1919 with one man, Earl “Curly” Lambeau.
Lambeau, a Green Bay native, was a star athlete at Green Bay East High School and the captain of the football team during his senior year. Following his graduation, Lambeau went to Notre Dame to play football for Knute Rockne, but he was forced to return home after one year following a severe case of tonsillitis.
Back in Green Bay, Lambeau got a job for the Indian Packing Company and became friends with George Calhoun, the sports editor of the local Press-Gazette. Still wanting to play football, Lambeau partnered with Calhoun to start a team.
Needing players, equipment, and a place to play, the pair got to work. Calhoun ran advertisements in his newspaper while Lambeau convinced his employer to provide $500 to fund the team and a vacant lot for the team to practice in exchange for naming rights to the team. Just like that, the Green Bay Indians were born. By the middle of their first season, people would start calling them the Packers, the name that would stick.
The original Packers, led by their player-coach Lambeau, were billed as “the strongest aggregation of pigskin chasers that has ever been gathered” in Green Bay. Center John Des Jardins, despite only standing five-foot-eight and weighing just 160 pounds, was strong as an ox and earned $16.75 for the season.
They played their home games at Hagermeister Park, the aforementioned lot which was next to Lambeau’s old Green Bay East High, where he now coached as well. The “park” had no bleachers and attendance was free, although a hat was passed around for donations. Since there were no locker rooms or chalkboards, teams met at each end zone during half time to gameplan in the dirt.
Despite these humble beginnings, the 1919 Packers dominated. Playing other local town teams such as the Menominee North End Athletic Club, a group of World War I veterans called the Sheboygan Company C team, and the Oshkosh Professionals, the Packers won their first 10 games of the season by a total score of 565–6. The lone team to score on Green Bay was the Racine Iroquois, who fell 76–6.
Following their dominant 10–0 start, the Packers were invited to Beloit to face the team sponsored by Fairbanks Morse & Company, nicknamed the Fairies. Beloit entered the contest 5–1–1 and considered the toughest competition in the state.
The Fairies took the lead in the fourth quarter and led the Packers 6–0 entering the game’s final seconds when Curly Lambeau crossed the goal line for a touchdown. Referee George Zabel called the Packers offsides. On the next play, Lambeau scored again, but Zabel called another offsides penalty on the visiting team. The Fairies would finally complete their goalline stand and win the game, 6–0.
Thousands of Beloit fans rushed the stands as angry Packers fans — possibly with money on the line — nearly rioted. Allegedly, Zabel was a home-town ref who was using an outdated version of the rulebook.
Packers players said they were against 12 men that day — the Fairies and Zabel. The Packers attempted to schedule a December rematch, but the Beloit manager canceled the game due to cold weather.
Today marks 100 years since that game in Beloit. The teams would play three more times over the next two seasons. In 1920, the Packers got their revenge with a 7–0 win on Halloween but fell 14–3 when they returned to Beloit two weeks later. It was once again the Packers’ only loss of the year.
The final meeting between the two sides came in 1921, with the Packers taking another 7–0 victory. By that point, the Indian Packing Company had been bought by the Acme Packing Company, and the Acme Packers played in the American Professional Football Association, the precursor to the NFL.
They turned into a powerhouse still dominating a century later while the Fairies played their last game in 1922. Despite their quick demise, the Beloit Fairies still have their claim to fame — whether it was completely fair or not, they were the first team to beat the Green Bay Packers.
Connor Groel is a writer who studies sport management at the University of Texas at Austin. He also serves as editor of the Top Level Sports publication on Medium, and the host of the Connor Groel Sports podcast. You can follow Connor on Medium, Facebook, and Twitter, and view his archives at toplevelsports.net.
