NEWS RELEASE Contact: Cliff & Shirley Christl Packers Heritage Trail Foundation, Inc. Bart and Cherry Starr to Speak at Packers Heritage Trail Statue Unveiling (Green Bay, WI) The Packers Heritage Trail Foundation, Inc. will dedicate two additional statues at the Packers Heritage Trail Plaza at 12 p.m. on Saturday, November 23, 2013 at the northeast corner of Washington and Cherry streets. The unveiling will follow the AT&T Green Bay Holiday Parade expected to conclude around 11:45 a.m. The unveiling will include comments by Bart and Cherry Starr (photo attached), Green Bay Packers President Mark Murphy and Mayor Jim Schmitt. Sculptors Omri Amrany, Lou Cella, Gary Tillery and Sean Bell will be on hand to unwrap the statues and answer questions. In addition, the Rawhide Boys Ranch will have their color guard stand in formation in honor of Bart Starr. The statue of Starr captures him signing an autograph for a young girl. The other statue shows Hall of Fame fullback Clarke Hinkle walking hand-in-hand with a young boy. It was a time-honored tradition at City Stadium for Packers players to grab young kids by the hand and smuggle them through the back gate so they could watch the games for free. City Stadium was home to the Packers from 1925 to 1956. Another touching custom that grew in popularity especially during the Vince Lombardi era was players signing autographs that kids collected as keepsakes. The statues of Starr and Hinkle and their young fans were made possible through generous gifts from the Packers and Phil Hendrickson, a local businessman and former Packers treasurer. Mary Heather Hendrickson, the late daughter of Phil and Betsy Hendrickson, is the young girl asking Starr for his autograph. The boy walking with Hinkle was Donald Hamacher, who grew up in the shadows of City Stadium and served his country in three wars. The statues will be unveiled in the following order: • Clarke Hinkle/Donald Hamacher Statue: Unveiled by Green Bay Packers President Mark Murphy and sculptors Sean Bell and Gary Tillery • Bart Starr/Mary Heather Hendrickson Statue: Unveiled by Scott Hendrickson on behalf of Phil and Betsy Hendrickson, Bart and Cherry Starr and sculptors Omri Amrany and Lou Cella The Packers Heritage Trail Plaza is an initiative of Packers Heritage Trail, Inc., a non-profit organization promotingGreen Bay’s downtown, primarily its businesses and trail system, by telling the story of the rich and historic relationship between the Green Bay Packers and the community. The first phase of the plaza was dedicated on September 14 with statues of George Whitney Calhoun, the team’s co-founder, and legendary players Johnny Blood and Paul Hornung.
Posted on: Tue, 19 Nov 2013 19:26:51 +0000
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