Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Interesting item on eBay. A program touting a 1952 exhibition game in Grand Forks, North Dakota, between the Green Bay Packers and the “Duluth Eskimos.” It looks like the “Eskimos” might all be then-current and/or former Packers. I didn’t check all the names. Thoughts on this?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-1952-Gree ... 3103257296

It was a Packers intra-squad game:

BD Sullivan wrote:It was a Packers intra-squad game:

I figured as much, but I find it interesting how they used to do things like this. It shows how in 1952 the NFL was still smaller in stature compared to baseball. Inside the program there is an advertisement for the Grand Forks Chiefs minor league baseball team, a Philadelphia Phillies affiliate (say that five times real fast).

Did the Packers somehow own the Duluth Eskimos name and franchise at that time? I've never heard of them buying the team. The Colts franchise owns (or did own) the Dayton Triangles/Brooklyn Dodgers and the Giants own the Detroit Wolverines, but I don't know of this occurring between the Packers and Eskimos.

JameisLoseston wrote:Did the Packers somehow own the Duluth Eskimos name and franchise at that time? I've never heard of them buying the team. The Colts franchise owns (or did own) the Dayton Triangles/Brooklyn Dodgers and the Giants own the Detroit Wolverines, but I don't know of this occurring between the Packers and Eskimos.

On Aug. 10, 1951, the Packers played an intra-squad game in Duluth and they named one of the teams the Duluth Eskimos. The game was called the Fish Bowl.

They played the second and final Fish Bowl game in Duluth on Aug. 8, 1952, and again one of the teams was called the Duluth Eskimos. When they played in Grand Forks three days later, they simply used the same name for one team.

There was no question of ownership. It was more of an in joke than anything else.