Al Schneider
Inducted: 1992
Packers Hall of Fame Vice President: 1979-83
Packers Hall of Fame Committee/Board: 1970-83
Schneider was one of the key players in the early development of the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame. He was initially a member of the committee of the Green Bay Packer Hall of Fame Association, which ran the hall from 1970 to 1975. When it was reorganized as the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame, Inc., Schneider served on the board from 1976 until his death.
Founder of one of the largest trucking companies in North America, Schneider also was one of three local businessmen who loaned the hall of fame money so it could build its own permanent quarters in 1976 next to the Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena. Previously, the hall was set up in the east concourse of the arena for only part of the year. Schneider also helped launch the first Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 1970, three years after the hall opened its doors.
"He was invaluable to the hall of fame," said Tom Hutchison, who ran the hall from 1970 to 1990 as co-chairman of the association and then as president and chairman of the board of the corporation. "After I talked to Bill Brault (the hall's founder) about starting the induction banquet, Al was the first guy I called. He immediately endorsed the plan. Al was a wonderful guy. He wasn't interested in notoriety. He didn't do it for credit."
Throughout his life, Schneider was an avid supporter of the Packers, including serving as chairman of the Packers Welcome Luncheon, sponsored by the Green Bay Chamber of Commerce. Schneider actually organized the first luncheon in 1963, when it was held at St. Norbert College, and continued doing so into the 1970s.
He also was a co-chairman of the Packers' 50th anniversary committee, which was celebrated in 1969.
As early as 1942, Schneider volunteered to participate in the Packers' season-ticket drive. In 1951, he went with a group of business leaders to Milwaukee to push the sale of season tickets there. In 1965, he was one of the leaders of a reception committee that greeted the Packers at the airport after they had clinched a share of the Western Conference championship.
Schneider launched what is now Schneider National, Inc. when he sold the family car to buy his first truck in 1935 and built it into one of the largest companies in its field. Schneider's son, Donald, succeeded him in running the trucking company and served on the Packers' executive committee from 1984 to 2006.
Born March 16, 1907, in Fond du Lac, Wis. Given name Aloysius John Schneider. Died March 2, 1983, at age 75.
- By Cliff Christl