The Green Bay Packers will honor Lee Remmel, their long-time public relations director, by naming the press box in the redeveloped Lambeau Field the 'Lee Remmel Press Box,' Packers President & CEO Bob Harlan announced Saturday.
Remmel, now in his 30th year as a member of the Packers' front office, began covering the team as a newspaper reporter in 1945 before joining the organization in 1974.
"Lee has such a long, great history with this franchise, both as a reporter and public relations director," Harlan said in making the announcement. "He certainly will go down as one of the all-time great figures in the history of the Packers. It's been an honor for me to work with him for 30 years."
A permanent plaque will be installed in the press box, located on the west side seventh floor in the redeveloped Lambeau Field, by the end of July - in time for the Packers' first home preseason game of the 2003 season, Aug. 23 against the Carolina Panthers. All future references to the press box, in club and NFL publications, also will make reference to the 'Lee Remmel Press Box.'
The plaque reads as follows:
Lee Remmel Press Box
Lee Remmel, first as a sportswriter and later as a team publicist, played a monolithic role in shaping the Green Bay Packers' image to the lofty status it enjoys today. Well known for his colorful writing style and the use of unconventional words such as antediluvian, he began his six-decade association with the Packers in 1945 as a reporter for the Green Bay Press-Gazette, covering games from the sidelines for many seasons. Remmel chronicled the on-field success of Vince Lombardi's five championship teams of the 1960s during his 291/2 years as a sportswriter. He moved to the Packers' front office in 1974 to head up the club's public relations efforts, becoming executive director in 1989. Beginning with team founder Curly Lambeau he worked with each of the first 13 head coaches in Packers history and also was recognized for his "perfect" attendance at the Super Bowl, both as a reporter and administrator. A native of Shawano, Wis., Remmel was inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame in 1996. The press box of redeveloped Lambeau Field was named in his honor in 2003.
