The History of the Central Florida Packer Backers Club!
Once upon a time, back in the Eighties when the Green Bay Packers were a struggling 4-12 team, a young bearded restaurateur by the name of David Walraven had a vision... and a couple two-tree beers. While sitting at the bar in the Chi Chi's Restaurant he managed just north of Orlando, Florida in the city of Casselberry… Dave heard a soft voice off in the distance whispering the words: "Get a dish and they will come." Well, being a big fan of the film “Field Of Dreams,” Dave was no dummy and immediately heeded the advice! Sure enough, after securing a satellite dish from Radio Shack (a Tandy Company) to pull down all of the televised Packers’ broadcasts, they did come! OK, it may have been just Packer Dave (#100), Packer Bob (#102) and a couple of other green and gold-wearing Cheddarheads in the beginning… but the word eventually spread from Disney World to Universal Studios, from Busch Gardens to the Space Coast, from Gatorland to the Booby Trap, of a place where displaced Packers fans could eat, meet, play, win, drink and cheer
on the Pack! (Incidentally, Dave later discovered that the mysterious voice he overheard that fateful day was actually a Chi Chi's waitress telling the cook in the kitchen to: "Get a dish... and a day old bun!" Oh well.) But regardless of what was actually said, it’s important to note that it was the day the Central Florida Green Bay Packer Backer club was born!
And it grew quickly. From several dislocated Wisconsinites back in 1987, to well over 1500 official paid members today, the CFPB club has grown quickly, while at the same time overcoming adversity.
Well, okay… not exactly adversity. But for a while the club did have a problem trying to keep the same address. Since the CFPB club began in 1987, members have survived four different club locations. We first met weekly at the Chi Chi's in Casselberry which closed down in 1994 because they didn't have bratwurst on their daily dinner menu. Then, after two years at the Chi Chi's in Orlando, they too closed up because they failed to offer members a Friday fish fry. And, after one season at Logan's in Winter Park, we had to move again because they kept running out of Leinenkugel's before the final gun. By the mid-Nineties, the CFPB organization had grown so large that a second location, just South of Orlando, was chosen to handle all the Packer fans in the area. But don't bother looking for it... it's no longer there. It too closed down.
But ever since 1997, we’ve been very happy with our current CFPB clubhouse: One Eyed Jack's (15 N. Orange Avenue) in downtown Orlando. And over the past several years, the CFPB club has been run by several dedicated former Wisconsinites. There’s Wausau-native Jerry Steffen (“Head Cheese” #101), Milwaukeean Mike Gottlieb (“Vice Cheese” #110), and DePere-raised Brian OHalloran (“Cheese Spread-Media” #777).
And every season the CFPB club just seems to get better and better! Each year we offer tasty tailgates, an annual picnic, a bowling party, games, a free beer fiesta, club discounts and benefits, a newsletter, web-page, tons of great weekly giveaways, a chance to win Packers’ tickets... and of course we gather together on a weekly basis during the football season to watch, socialize and cheer-on the most storied team in the history of the NFL... the legendary Green Bay Packers!
It's also important to note that just about each week of the season we happily welcome visiting Green Bay fans from all over the country. The word is getting out! One of the best places to watch the Packers play, outside of Lambeau Field, is at CFPB club headquarters at One Eyed Jack’s in Orlando! As Art Daley of the Packer Report declared after a visit in 1995, the CFPB club is “The Grand-Daddy of all Packer-fan hotbeds!” Even Brett Favre has positively acknowledged our fan club!
And after all the fun they have with us, many of our visiting Green Bay fans insist on taking home a few CFPB souvenirs! Club t-shirts, hats, bumper stickers, Packer money are all available! Just ask!
Oh… and what ever happened to Dave Walraven, the Green Bay and Wausau native who started the CFPB club back in 1987? Well, Dave mysteriously disappeared from Orlando during the autumn of 1995. We did get reports of an unofficial Dave-sighting in January of 1997. Apparently Dave was spotted with a two-liter beer stein, a neck-full of beads and a content look on his face while wandering the streets of New Orleans after the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl that year. Then, after a stint trying to convert convicted Cowboys’ fans into dedicated followers of the Pack in 1997, Dave decided to buy an Outback Restaurant in Phoenix only because it was located near the intersection of Highway 10 and Ray Road which Dave correctly saw as a prophetic sign that Ray Rhodes was going to be the Packers 10th head coach. (Actually, Rhodes was Green Bay's twelfth head coach, but Dave mentally blocked out the Lisle "Liz" Blackbourne [17-31] and Ray "Scooter" McLean [1-10-1] years for obvious reasons. Incidentally, since then, Dave has been trying to forget about the Rhodes era too.)
Anyway, Dave has since retired from the restaurant biz, and is now concentrating on marketing his new hybrid invention which he said was inspired by two of his favorite provisions. Coming soon to a tavern near you: “Walraven’s Bratwurst Flavored Beer!*
Mmmmm. Brat-beer!
Remember… whenever you’re in Central Florida during the football season; be sure to join all of us for our weekly Packers parties at One Eyed Jack’s!
God bless the Packers!
*(Made from tasty Leinenkugel suds and real Johnsonville bratwursts! Currently available only at the Paul & Plautz Tavern in Wausau, the National Liquor Bar in Milwaukee and Wally’s Tap in Orlando.)
-Written by Packer Jerry
