Horlick Field, Racine -- Curly Lambeau (and the Packers) played here

There aren't many places where Curly Lambeau played for the Green Bay Packers that are still in use as athletic venues. One such place is City Stadium (City Stadium I) in Green Bay, adjacent to East High School. Lambeau played there from 1925 to 1929. After the Packers moved to City Stadium II, aka new City Stadium, for the 1957 season, the stadium became the home only of Green Bay East athletics.

Another such place is Horlick Field in Racine, Wis., which is where Lambeau and the Packers played one NFL game each year from 1922 to 1924. Their opponent was the Racine Legion, league members for those three seasons and one of two NFL entrants from Racine. (The other, the 1926 Racine Tornadoes, didn't play the Packers home or away.)

1922 Racine Legion team photo. (Image property of Racine Heritage Museum)

In its original incarnation, Horlick Field's seating was laid out for baseball.

Bottom photo source: http://www.projectballpark.org/history/aagpbl/horlick.html

Horlick Field is better known as the home field of the Racine Belles of the All-America Girls Professional Baseball League. The Belles played there from 1943 to 1950.

The Horlick Field property was later divided into side-by-side baseball and football fields. The pre-renovation brick exterior remains. This 2006 photo, taken from the southeast corner of the current football field, looks from the outfield toward home plate of the original layout.

Horlick Field is used today for high school football and baseball, city recreation league softball and the Racine Raiders minor-league football team.

Vince Lombardi on artificial turf

"I've been down in Tennessee looking at artificial grass. I don't suppose that means much in California -- but good artificial turf would be an advantage on rainy days here in the Midwest. The Packers have two fields, one in Milwaukee and one here, so we have to think about the expense. But when it's perfected, we'll put it in, maybe in two or three years."

-- Vince Lombardi, quoted in The Sporting News, Nov. 2, 1968

In three months, the Packers' field conditions would no longer be Lombardi's concern. On Feb. 6, 1969, he was introduced as Washington's new head coach and general manager.

Washington did play one game for Lombardi on artificial turf, defeating Philadelphia 34-29 on Dec. 7, 1969 at Franklin Field.

It's important to note that in the late 1960s the expectation was that AstroTurf and PolyTurf would decrease injuries, not increase them. "There is every indication synthetic surfaces cut down on casualties, particularly of the knee type," NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle said in 1968. (Wendell Davis on Line 1, Commissioner.) It's why even a warm-weather outdoor stadium such as Miami's Orange Bowl had PolyTurf from 1970-75.