Throughout the 1948 and 1949 seasons, Fritsch continued to steadily perform for the Packers under head coach, Curly Lambeau, as the team first slipped to fourth in the Western Division and then fifth.
Fritsch finished third in rushing and first in scoring for the team in 1948 and second in rushing and first in scoring in 1949.
Meanwhile, dissatisfaction was growing within the Packers organization.
The harmful field conditions at Rockwood Lodge took a toll on some of the Packers players, causing shin splints and other leg issues.
Lambeau also became embroiled in contentious battles with legal counsel — Gerald Clifford — the man that had guided them through receivership, but Clifford remained on the executive committee.
And the executive committee created separate committees of board members to oversee different areas of the corporation, essentially stripping Lambeau of some of his authority.
In September 1949, after the first game — a 17-0 loss to the Chicago Bears — Lambeau announced that he would turn coaching over to Packers Line Coach Tom Stidham, Backfield Coach Bob Snyder and Defense Coach Charles Brock.
Curly said he would then devote his time to his work as vice president and general manager.
But Lambeau never truly stepped down and stayed involved on the field.
By November 1949, the corporation’s financial state was threatening the existence of the franchise and the executive committee was proposing a team payroll cut.
The Packers corporate minutes show that the purchase of the lodge wasn’t the issue, other than it was costing money at a time when the Packers were facing $90,000 in debts.
After all, the board of directors had been in favor of purchasing the lodge.
The lingering issue was how much Lambeau’s wife spent to redecorate it and where the funds came from.
The executive committee decided that another stock sale would be needed to straighten out the team’s financial woes, but Lambeau wanted to take the team private, stating that he had four investors willing to contribute $50,000 each.
The matter then became central to Lambeau’s contract renewal.
On Nov. 30, 1949, during an hours-long board of directors meeting at the Brown County Courthouse, an effort by Lambeau’s foes to fire him failed when other members voted to extend his contract.
Eventually, the contract was never offered to him, and the infighting continued into January 1950.
A stock sale — offering new shares at $25 a piece — was planned with the goal of raising $200,000 to keep the Packers viable.
But by mid-January, Lambeau was yet to receive his contract, and to make matters worse, on Jan. 24, 1950, Rockwood Lodge burned to the ground.
The insurance policy brought a reported $75,000 to help the financial state of the corporation, but it would not repair the contention inside.
“The Packers started hunting for a new head coach today — for the first time in 31 years,” Art Daley wrote in the Feb. 2, 1950, edition of the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
“The field was declared ‘wide open’ by Packers President Emil R. Fischer immediately after Earl L. (Curly) Lambeau signed a two-year contract [Feb. 1] to head coach the Chicago Cardinals.”
What would a new coach mean for Fritsch and the remainder of the team?
To be continued
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