Lambeau Ladies: The Boundary-Breaking Women Behind Lombardi's Packers

A book for anyone who thinks they know everything there is to know about the Green Bay Packers!

Long before NFL players had teams of trainers, nutritionists, therapists, agents, and other specialists, the dynastic Green Bay Packers of the 1960s relied on a different kind of support staff: their wives. In Lambeau Ladies, mother and daughter Laura Kostelnik Biskupic and Katherine Biskupic tell the remarkable, largely untold story of the women who helped to keep the Lombardi-era Packers performing at a championship level. From preparing game-day sandwiches, nursing injuries, and reviewing game film to managing households, hosting social gatherings, and providing emotional strength to their spouses, these women were a driving force behind one of the greatest teams in football history.

Through intimate interviews and vivid storytelling, the authors bring to life the experiences of Cherry Starr, Vicky Aldridge, Barbara Gregg, Ruth Pitts, Peggy Kostelnik, and many other wives who formed deep friendships and carved out lives of meaning far from their hometowns, often in the face of social and racial barriers. With humor and candor, they describe making ends meet on modest salaries, feeding hungry young players who wandered into their kitchens, boosting their husbands' confidence, and coming up with ingenious strategies for staying warm--and stylish--on the sidelines during Green Bay's frigid winters.

Their stories reach far beyond football. Some of these women helped integrate Green Bay during the civil rights movement. One became one of the district's first Black teachers; another was half of one of the NFL's first interracial marriages. Others made contributions in their own singular ways--fostering children, launching a business and a community organization, becoming a voice in local media. And at the center of it all was Marie Lombardi, the coach's wife and the de facto mentor of the entire wives' cohort, whose influence extended from locker-room culture to community life.

Lambeau Ladies paints a rich portrait of midcentury Green Bay--a place where championship football, small-town rhythms, and national social change converged--and reveals how the Packers' dynasty was shaped as much in living rooms, kitchens, and carpool lanes as on the frozen turf of Lambeau Field.

Warm, funny, and deeply inspiring, Lambeau Ladies celebrates the extraordinary women who helped build a dynasty--and, in the process, changed their town, their team, and each other.

Laura Kostelnik Biskupic cut her teeth as a sportswriter and wrote about the Packers in a Where Are They Now series for the Appleton Post Crescent. She taught high school journalism, worked as a marketing director, and since 2013 has hosted a popular blog. The daughter of Green Bay Packer Hall of Famer Ron Kostelnik, Laura grew up in the shadow of Lambeau Field under the watchful eyes of Packer wives.

Katherine Biskupic is a comedy writer based in Los Angeles via the Midwest. Trained at Second City, she won the top award at their Works by Women Fest before moving to Los Angeles and selling a sports comedy pilot to Audible. She has performed in venues from New York to Seattle and her videos have been featured on Funny or Die, Vulture, UPROXX and USA Today. As the granddaughter of Ron Kostelnik, she still roots for the Packers every Sunday.