Auction Name: 2025 December 19 - 21 Winter Sports Catalog Auction

Lot Number: 82762

Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/50081*82762

1935 Green Bay Packers Stock Certificate -- First to Ever Be Offered at Auction - Signed by George Whitney Calhoun! The Green Bay Packers are unique in professional sports as the only publicly owned, non-profit major league team in the United States. Their history of stock offerings dates back to 1923, when financial troubles threatened the young franchise. In response, local businessmen organized the first stock sale to save the team, raising $5,000 through the sale of 1,000 shares at $5 each. This effort officially established the Green Bay Football Corporation, which later became the Green Bay Packers, Inc. It ensured community ownership and kept the team rooted in Green Bay.

A second stock sale occurred in 1935, again driven by financial necessity. The Great Depression had strained the team's finances, and the organization launched another offering to raise funds and restructure debt. Shares were sold for $25 each, and this campaign raised over $15,000, helping stabilize the team and preserving its community ownership structure. Unlike traditional corporate stock, Packers shares do not pay dividends and cannot be traded. Instead, shareholders gain voting rights and the ability to attend annual meetings.

These early stock offerings laid the foundation for the Packers' unique governance model, with over 500,000 shareholders today. They also exemplify the enduring community support that has defined the franchise for over a century.

Heritage regulars will remember that one of the rare few surviving stock certificates from the original 1923 offering sold in our August 2025 Platinum Night auction for $152,000, the third example from 1923 that we have had the privilege to present. However the listed example, while twelve years newer, is quite a bit rarer as well, with this being the very first we have encountered here at Heritage in over twenty years of sports collectibles auctions. We are aware of only one other example, housed in the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame Museum at Lambeau Field.

This certificate recognized "E.C. Manger & Sons, Co.," a Green Bay casket manufacturer/distributor, as the owner of two shares. The certificate unfolds to a standard 8.5x11" in size and is signed by Packers secretary George Whitney "Cal" Calhoun--a Green Bay newspaperman who partnered with Curly Lambeau to found the team in 1919 and personally coined the team name "Packers," and team president Leland H. Joannes, who kept the team afloat in 1933 and 1934 with a $6,000 loan and headed the 1935 stock sale that this certificate represents. Each autograph is 8/10 or better. Certificate is folded into thirds with a small chip and stray ink mark at lower border and general handling/storage wear throughout, but it remains solid and eminently displayable. Our consignor's father worked for Manger and purchased the company in 1988.

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