• The player-coach of the original team, Earl "Curly" Lambeau, still directed the Pack­ers in 1936 when they won the Western Division with a 10-1-1 record, best in the league by 1 1/2 games over their archrivals, the Chicago Bears.
• The Packers had reached the top in Don Hutson's second year with the club. The "Alabama Antelope" led the NFL in receptions with a record 34 (20 more than his nearest pursuer), in receiving yards with 536 (+122 over #2), and receiving touch­downs with eight. No one had ever seen a receiver so swift and graceful with sure hands to boot. He was also an outstanding defensive back.
• Hutson helped QB Arnie Herber amass an incredible 1,239y through the air, almost 400 more than anyone else in the league. Throw in tough FB Clarke Hinkle who averaged 4.76ypc and you can understand why the Pack led the league in scoring with 248 points, 26 more than the Bears. Curly considered Hinkle the superior of Chica­go's great Bronko Nagurski.
• One writer described how Lambeau built his offense around Hutson: Coach Curley Lambeau used him out wide ... in a one-man spread. So proficient is Hutson in the art of nailing all tosses that practically every team in the league has had to use two men to cover him, thus leaving someone else unguarded. This Hutson-spread also confuses the defense against ground plays, since the back­ersup are tricked out of position and vulnerable holes are thus opened up.

Arnie Herber and Don Hutson

• George Preston Marshall, who made a fortune in the laundry business, founded the franchise in 1932.
• Playing the first season as the Boston Braves at the home of the city's National League baseball team, Marshall's team went 4-4-2 and lost $46,000. As a result, he lost all his partners in the enterprise.
• Full of ideas and not at all bashful, George convinced his fellow owners to adopt a number of changes that made pro football much more interesting. One change in­volved dividing the league into East and West and having the winners play for the champion­ship.
• Now the sole owner, George changed his club's nickname to the Redskins, its colors to burgundy and gold, and moved their games to Fenway Park. However, they contin­ued at the .500 level for '33 and '34 before dropping to 2-8-1 the next season.

Fenway Park set up for football; note goal posts on goal lines.

• The Redskins, picking second each round, selected four players who were not superstars but still contributed to their Eastern championship run: Round 1 - Riley Smith BB (Alabama), Round 3 - Ed Smith FB (NYU), Round 7 - Don Irwin FB (Colgate), Round 8 - Wayne Millner E (Notre Dame).

• Even more importantly, Marshall hired a new coach: Ray Flaherty, just retired from being captain and an assistant coach for the New York Giants. Ray would con­struct a Hall of Fame career on the Redskins sideline. Flaherty insisted on a clause in his contract that required the owner to stay off the sideline during games.
• Millner teamed with the other end, Charlie Malone, to improve Boston's passing game right away as he snagged 18 receptions.

• After nine games, Boston stood at a mediocre 4-5. But they won their next two to set the stage for what in effect was the East championship game the final week against the 5-5-1 Giants, who could win the division by upending the 6-5 Redskins.
• Sparked by Battles' 75y runback of a punt through almost ankle-deep mud in the Polo Grounds, the Indians (as journalists often called them) won 14-0 before a soaked, chilled crowd of 20,000.
• The defeat ended the Giants' streak of winning all three East titles since the league split into divisions.

• Expressing optimism about his team's chances for capturing the division and know­ing that it was the East champion's turn to host the playoff, he pledged to play the NFL title game right in Fenway Park, if we have to play it in three feet of snow. Boston deserves that playoff game, and Boston is going to get it before I quit.
• However, George, upset that only 4,800 has turned out in Fenway Park for the last home game and still losing money in Beantown, decided to ask the league for per­mission to move the championship game to the Polo Grounds. The announcement was hardly a surprise since the football bleachers at Fenway Park had been taken down.
• The next day he received a favorable decision, as the Associated Press reported: By mutual consent of the owners, coaches and rival players, the game was transferred from Boston to New York because it is believed it will attract a larger turnout here, thus fattening the players' pool. Apathy on the part of Boston fans is already reported to have cost Owner George Marshall almost $30,000 this season and he is seriously considering shifting the franchise to some other city.
• George even transported his team to the Westchester Country Club in Rye NY to practice on a polo field in preparation for the clash with the Packers.
• Marshall had effectively burned his bridges behind him and would move his team to Washington D.C. just a few days after the title clash.

Holding the game at a neutral site would serve as a barometer for the popularity of pro football in the northeast.

• If the game drew a crowd similar to what the first three title contests had drawn in home parks, the owners could rightly claim that fans wanted to see their product regardless of who was playing.
• So much would depend on the weather, which had plagued the previous two champion­ship games in New York and Detroit. Inclement conditions might reduce the crowd but was considered an advantage for the Redskins against the high­powered Packers.
• A little discussed advantage would prove quite valuable for Green Bay - an edge in the kicking game.
• The two teams met twice during the regular season with the Packers taking both clashes. However, in the second game in Boston, the Skins held the visitors to a scant 19y on the ground and almost pulled off an upset. But an even 200y through the air allowed the Pack to escape with a 7-3 victory.
• The only regular for either team who would miss the fray was G Eddie Kahn of Boston.
• Packer fans relished the idea of showing the nation that a team from a midwest city of only 40,000 could defeat a squad representing the populous Boston-Wash­ington corridor.

• Quarter 1
  Fans had barely settled into their seats when the Packers pulled one of their copy­righted dazzling pass plays. The Redskins received the kickoff and started to move, but Riley Smith coughed up the pigskin, Lou Gordon recovering for the Pack on their 46. George Sauer gained two at right tackle, then Hinkle three more over center. On third down, Herber dropped back 10y behind perfect protection and spot­ted Hutson run­ning easily with his deceptive loping stride straight down the field. Don used his change of pace to get a full stride behind Riley Smith. Arnie's beautiful throw dropped down over Hutson's shoulder into his sure hands at the 20, and he ran into the end zone without a finger laid on him. Ernie Smith's PAT made it 7-0. If any­one expected the Redskins to roll over after the haymaker, especially after they lost speedy Cliff Battles for the afternoon with a knee injury just four minutes into the game, they were sadly mistaken. Instead, after an exchange of punts, they march­ed 78y. Pug Rentner, former Northwestern All-American, picked up 12 on two thrusts. Then a long, lazy pass from Don Irwin to Ed Justice added 32 more to the Green Bay 34. The roar from the crowd indicated that Redskin fans outnumbered Packer rooters. Six more relentless plays put the pigskin on the one as the teams changed ends. Packers 7 Redskins 0

• Quarter 2
  On the first play, Rentner cut back off right tackle for the touchdown. However, Riley Smith missed the extra point, his first failure in his last 15 attempts. The miscue looked like a tragic mistake as the half ended with no more scoring. The closest either side came to adding points was a missed field goal by Smith from the Green Bay 29. Packers 7 Redskins 6

• Quarter 3
  According to a Milwaukee writer, the Packers played some of their greatest football of the season in the second half. Just as they scored early in the first half, Green Bay struck again with only a few minutes gone. With the ball on the 25 after the kickoff, Herber threw down the middle to E Milt Gantenbein for 14. Then Arnie connected on another long one, this time to John Victor McNally Jr., known to football fans as the legendary Johnny Blood. The 33-year-old veteran went straight down the field with Irwin, ten years younger, covering him but not knowing whether the "old man" was a decoy or the genuine article. Johnny cut to his left, then turned upfield again. He never gave any indication that he was the intended receiver until Herber had thrown the ball, which traveled 65y in the air, wobbling enroute. Blood had to swing to his left and chop his stride to pull it down at the 10. That pause allowed Irwin to pound Johnny out of bounds on the three to complete a sensational 52y play. Three snaps later, though, the Packers found themselves still at the four facing 4th and goal. Eschewing a field goal, Herber hit Gantenbein in the end zone. The Redskins concentrated so much on Hutson and Blood in the flat that they left the middle wide open. Ed Smith's second conversion gave Green Bay an eight-point lead which, with the two-point conversion far in the future, meant Boston would need two scores. During the period, the Hub City eleven lost another key player. C Frank Bausch, a bulwark at linebacker, became embroiled in fisticuffs with Frank Butler, the Green Bay sub C. Both were ejected. According to Arthur Daley of the New York Times, that cost Ray Flaherty's young men dearly because Larry Simmering, Bausch's understudy, spins back a "hard" ball that the backs could not handle. They fumbled handcuffing snaps thrice and poor punt snaps led to two blocks. Packers 14 Redskins 6
• Quarter 4
  The Packer defense continued to dominate the Skins, holding them without a first down in the second half. Early in the period, with Boston punting from their 20, a bad snap allowed Lon Evans to block the ball, with Hutson beating everyone to it on the two. After Hinkle could only halve the distance to the goal line, Bob Monnett avoided the mass in the middle by wheeling around right end to pay dirt. This time, Tiny Engebretsen took care of the conver­sion. (Teams needed several kickers because substitution rules often prohibited the #1 conversion man from entering the game after a score unless the coach used a timeout.)
  Each team lost a touchdown it thought it had before the game ended. First, Redskin E Charlie Malone got a hand on a sideways pass from Herber to Joe Laws, picked it up, and rambled 70y to pay dirt. However, the officials ruled the play an incomplete forward pass. Later, Monnett connected with Cantenbein with a pass in the flat, and Milt raced 25y into the end zone. However, an anxious tackle had pulled out of the line too quickly to get out and block. Finally, Ernie Smith blocked another of Riley Smith's punts, Tony Paulekas recovering on the 14. But a succession of passes just missed, and Boston took over.
  FINAL SCORE: PACKERS 21 REDSKINS 6

The statistics accentuated the difference in the passing game between the two contestants.

• Herber completed 6-of-13 for 129y, and Hutson snared five of seven tossed in his direction. Altogether, the Packers gained 153y through the air and 71 on the ground for a total of 232y.
• Meanwhile, the Redskins, behind most of the game, connected on only seven of 27 aerials for 81y and ran for just 66 more. They actually led in first downs, 8-7, but all eight came in the first 30 minutes.

View brief footage of the 1936 Championship Game
49 seconds of additional footage
Some more video

The Packers took the Ed Thorpe Trophy home to share with their ecstatic fans.

• The players split 60% of the gate of $33,471, with each Packers earning about $250 and the Skins about $180 apiece. (About 5,000 of those in the stands were youngsters who paid only 40 cents each.)
• Dignitaries in attendance included Giants owner Jack Mara and his coach, Steve Owen, Bears' head man George Halas, Bert Bell of Philadelphia, and other owners and coaches.