Yesterday in La Crosse

The NFL welcomes your halftime entertainment, the Marching Chiefs, 51 years ago

Published

6 years ago

December 31, 2018

In December of 1967, members of the La Crosse State College band, the Marching Chiefs, were getting ready for nationwide exposure. The campus newspaper, the Racquet, said the band was scheduled to perform at halftime of the NFL championship game, if the Packers were to host the title game at Lambeau Field. But they wouldn’t know until December 23rd, by which time the musicians would all have gone home for the holidays.

The Chiefs planned to play a medley of songs associated with TV sports programs, including the Gillette razor jingle, and “The Stripper,” which was used in ads for Noxzema shaving cream.

It was the league title game between Green Bay and Dallas, the legendary “Ice Bowl” game of New Year’s Eve, 1967. The winner would go to the second Super Bowl. The temperature at Lambeau was well below zero…too cold for the marching band, so it didn’t get to play for halftime at that famous game. But La Crosse’s Chiefs still got to attend the Ice Bowl, yesterday in La Crosse.

Related Topics:Ice Bowl Lambeau Field Marching Chiefs

Brad Williams

A native of Prairie du Chien, Brad graduated from UW - La Crosse and has worked in radio news for more than 30 years, mostly in the La Crosse area. He regularly covers local courts and city and county government. Brad produces the features "Yesterday in La Crosse" and "What's Buried on Brad's Desk." He also writes the website "Triviazoids," which finds odd connections between events that happen on a certain date, and he writes and performs with the local comedy group Heart of La Crosse. Brad been featured on several national TV programs because of his memory skills.