By Darin Today, we’re time-traveling to a season of triumph and financial turmoil, where the undisputed World Champions had to risk their flawless reputation just to get paid.
Champions and Empty Pockets
The year is 1929. The stock market had crashed, but in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the Packers were celebrating. Led by the legendary player-coach Curly Lambeau, the team had just secured the National Football League Championship with a stunning regular-season record of 12 wins, zero losses, and one tie.
The Packers secured their first of 12 world championships with a near-perfect 12-0-1 regular-season record. Their defense that year was legendary, recording eight shutouts in 13 games (including a 0-0 tie). The opposition struggled to even score, with the team conceding only two safeties through the first five games and no NFL opponent scoring more than six points against Green Bay all season.
This team was stacked with talent—future Hall of Famers like tackle Cal Hubbard and the brilliant, eccentric back Johnny “Blood” McNally. They were the best team in the world. But here’s the problem with being a champion in 1929: there were no playoffs, no Super Bowl, and critically, no massive gate revenue from a title game.
The players were World Champs, but their pockets were empty. As was standard practice, the Packers’ payroll was dependent on ticket sales. With the season over, the community, led by the Green Bay Press-Gazette, organized a fund drive that raised just over $5,000, which eventually paid each player about $220, plus a commemorative watch.
For the stars of the league, that wasn’t enough to live on. The only way to make real money was to keep playing. So, the undefeated Green Bay Packers embarked on a risky, post-season barnstorming tour—a way to scrape out a living by selling tickets to see the World Champs.
The Memphis Shock
This leads us to December 15th, 1929, in Memphis, Tennessee. The Packers were scheduled for an exhibition game against the Memphis Tigers. Now, the Tigers were an independent club, not an NFL team, and they were backed by a local celebrity: Clarence Saunders, the founder of the Piggly Wiggly grocery chain. For the Tigers, this was a chance to prove themselves against the NFL’s gold standard. For the Packers, it was just a payday.
The risk they faced was tremendous. They had everything to lose—their champion mystique, their perfect record—and nothing to gain but a small cut of the gate. But necessity often wins over reputation.
The game did not go as planned.
The Memphis Tigers, energized by the moment and perhaps facing a road-weary Packers squad, dominated from the opening whistle. Tigers scorers like Austin Applewhite, Bucky Moore, and Tiny Drouilhet ran roughshod over the champions.
The final score was a humiliating 20-6 upset victory for the independent Memphis Tigers. The undefeated NFL champions had been beaten by a local team, on the road, for an exhibition paycheck.
The Cost of Early Glory
The shocking loss proved that even the greatest team in professional football was vulnerable when its focus was split between competitive pride and financial survival. The Packers had gambled their reputation and lost, but the trip served its ultimate purpose: generating much-needed revenue for the players to get through the off-season.
The story of the 1929 Packers’ loss in Memphis is the ultimate reminder of the struggles of early professional football. These athletes weren’t playing for millions; they were playing for rent and groceries. That barnstorming tour and the stunning upset in Tennessee serve as a poignant footnote to their championship season—a testament to the resilience and commitment required by the pioneers of the modern NFL.
