Have a Coke (or a Smoke) and a Smile [UPDATED]

This photo has been making the rounds a lot lately.

Press-Gazette Archives

And no wonder - it's a beauty.

Vince Lombardi enjoying a Coke in the locker room, surrounded by Jim Taylor, Paul Hornung and Bart Starr. Taylor, like his coach, is enjoying a Coke. Hornung has a cigarette and Starr a rather uncomfortable facial expression.

I don't know when it was taken. Speculation has been that it was after a championship game, and Lombardi's expression certainly leans in that direction.

The uniforms can help narrow our timeframe; the green/white/gold pant stripes were only used through 1962. In 1963 the Packers adopted the green/white/green Braisher stripe pattern they still wear today.

Similarly, that jewelry on Lombardi's finger looks like a men's fashion ring than the Packers' 1961 World Championship ring. That could help us narrow it down even further - perhaps even to that 1961 Championship Game itself.

If we could see more of Hornung's number font, maybe we could know for sure.

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UPDATE 9/26:  We have confirmation - Tom Farley recognized the locker room as County Stadium. Jeff Ash from the Green Bay Press-Gazette recognized the photo as one of theirs, and was able to supply us with this caption:

In the locker room at County Stadium after clinching Western Division championship with a 20-17 victory over the New York Giants on Dec. 3, 1961.

Jeff comes through again! I have added a photo credit to the image above.

I'm glad that our little detective work had us on the right track. I had the year right, and it was a victory party of sorts, just not the one I thought it might be. This was Week 12 out of a 14-game season, when the Packers clinched their conference.

Looking at the Milwaukee Journal's coverage of the game, we get a couple good shots of the game itself, including a photo of the Packers wearing the blue-and-gold sideline capes left over from previous years:

And there, along the right margin, is a photo of Jim Taylor. Note the distinctive cuts on his nose, matching our original post-game photo (although it does appear that his dentist was given new work to do between the two).

Taylor looks pretty pleased with himself, and rightly so; his 186-yard rushing performance against the New York Giants that day was a Packers team record, and remained his career best.

The only thing I love more than a good mystery is a good mystery solved.