A gem around the NFL

GREEN BAY – This year’s Packers Hall of Fame Inc. annual golf outing, held July 14 at Green Bay Country Club, gave 120 lucky participants the opportunity to interact with Green Bay Packers alumni while raising funds for the organization.

The annual event is held as a fundraiser for the organization and welcomed 28 celebrities for a day of golfing and hospitality this year.

The event is unique across the NFL.

“LeRoy (Butler) was saying last night, and so were the other players, that the Packers are the one and only that bring all the players back and keep the camaraderie going. And it’s really neat to see. And we love to have the past guys back here, because it’s just a good time,” said outing co-chair and past HOF Inc. president, Tom Konop.

“It is probably the gem around the NFL. And it’s just, you know, with us having events like this, we can afford to do some things in the community with the schools and everything, and it just keeps the history going.”

The Packers HOF Inc. is a 501(c)(3) and a separate, independent corporate entity from the team, committed to “preserving and advancing the storied history of the Green Bay Packers.”

“In the past couple of years, we put some busts of Curly Lambeau at East High School and Vince Lombardi at Lombardi Middle School. And we’re going to continue that trend and keep, hopefully, getting the younger generation to realize that there was football before all of this free agency stuff and all of that,” Konop added.

“We’re going to do another bust for West High School coming up — Arnie Herbert — and just doing some more things in the community. We did some stuff at Rawhide, through Bart Starr. Obviously, Bart and Cherry were big contributors to the Hall of Fame, and we’re big fans of theirs, so we’re going to keep doing some things with that.
Each year, for more than two decades, Konop and other organizers have been gathering Hall of Fame inductees and other alumni for the event.

“They love coming back because they get to see all their old buddies again. It’s a great course, great day and a lot of good camaraderie.”