The Story Of: "I Love My Green Bay Packers!" (The Famous Packer Polka!) It was September 1993 when three of my Green Bay Packer fan friends and I traveled to Minnesota to see our Packers play the dreaded Vikings. The day before the game we attended an October fest celebration in downtown St. Paul, MN. Of course we donned our Packers attire and thus attracted many Viking fans. And these fans were happy to explain to us the many shortcomings of the Green and Gold. Well… about that same time a strolling accordion player walked by and played a polka tune and we felt pride inside to be from a state where the polka and the Packers can walk hand in hand with the brat and the beer and the cow and the deer… and the idea to write a Green Bay Packer song was delivered to me… and I began to write “I Love My Green Bay Packers!” (The Packer Polka!). When I got back to Milwaukee I put the finishing touches on the song, made a simple recording of it, sent it to several radio and TV stations in Milwaukee and Green Bay and low and behold got a call from WITI TV 6 in Milwaukee, WI and my Green Bay Packer song made its official broadcast debut in late September 1993 on the Sunday night Milwaukee, WI CBS affiliate TV show “Talking Packers”. Within a week I was interviewed on the WTMJ AM 620 Milwaukee morning radio show and people started calling the station and asking if they could purchase a copy of the "Packer Polka" "I Love My Green Bay Packers!" as people affectionately dubbed it. Well… I didn’t know if I could sell a Packer song so I called their business office and spoke to their representative and he told me how to do it, and wished me luck and I felt the pride and glory of the Green and Gold as I entered the mysterious and unknown world of Green Bay Packer Songs. By now my brain was prodigiously packed with positivistic enthusiasm for this new project as I ventured into a journey of the heart, into a metamorphosis of the mind that might delectably be called: “Have ‘I Love My Green Bay Packers!’ will travel”. (Anyone interested in dancing the Packer Polka?!) The Story of "I Love My Green Bay Packers!" continued... 
Eddy J & Radio Personality Rich Allen. Packer Fan Tours Tailgate Party Across From Lambeau Field. Green Bay, Wisconsin, September 1998 In mid October 1993 I sent a copy of my tape of “I Love My Green Bay Packers!” to a friend of mine in the Twin Cities, MN - Bill Bundy. Bill and I produced a bunch of TV and radio commercials in the Twin Cities at the time. Well… Bill gathered several studio singers and added additional voices on top my original recording. It turned out great. I put together a fictitious name for the group: Eddy J and the Packer Polka Ramas (the rumors are true… except for Bill and I the other voices on this archive rendition of "I Love My Green Bay Packers!" are a bunch of studio singing Oly’s from Minnesota! Ha! But all kidding aside, great people and great talents.) So… Bill and I put together a record label called Krokodile records and released the mixes on a cassette tape. The 1990’s Packer resurgence still hadn’t happened yet. There was promise with a new QB by the name of Brett Favre and a new coach by the name of Mike Holmgren, but true success for the Pack was still a few years away. We had fun with the song but by mid 1995 I thought the luster of “I Love My Green Bay Packers!” (The Packer Polka) had faded into relative obscurity. In September of 1995 Bill Bundy and I went to a Packer game at Lambeau Field and before the game attended a tailgate party that featured a DJ and music. Bill told the DJ that I sing a Packer song and he said “Oh yeah, here’s the mike, give your song a go”. So… I sing the song and am surprised that many folks in the audience are familiar with it. I found out that a radio jock in Green Bay was playing the song on air on a regular basis. He later told me that he had a cassette from two years ago that his staff had dubbed on a broadcast cart. At that point nobody knew where it came from or who sang it, but the DJ told me he was getting hundreds of requests for it! Well… it came from the first half dozen tapes that I sent to TV and radio in Green Bay and Milwaukee in late September 1993! Another synchronicity moment… In the audience at that tailgate was a man by the name of Bill Wenzel, at that time the owner of Packer Fan Tours, the official tour company of the Green Bay Packers. He asked me if I’d come sing the song at his tailgate party before the next game. I said sure, so two weeks later I’m at another tailgate singing “I Love My Green Bay Packers!”. In the audience was Packer legend Fuzzy Thurston and his wife. I was introduced to them and Fuzzy’s wife told me she loved the song! Her grandkids listen to it all the time! I was, well, pleasantly surprised. I was invited by Packer Fan Tours to Tampa Florida to sing at several tailgate parties before the Pack/Bucs game in December of 1995. The fans went wild after hearing the song and you could tell the Packer resurgence was gaining significant momentum. Well needless to say, the Packers, under the leadership of Mike Holmgren off the field, and Brett Favre and Reggie White on the field went on to win the Super Bowl in January of 1997. I was an entertainer for Packer Fan Tours during that time and until the year 2000. I have to thank Bill Wenzel for many fabulous times including being invited to many home and away games and the Super Bowl itself. Thanks to him I’ve sung “I Love My Green Bay Packers!” to live audiences across the country from Minnesota, to North Carolina, to Florida, to Texas, to California. And everywhere you go people sure love their Green Bay Packers! And they sure do dance the Packer Polka too! |