Dominic Olejniczak was the Green Bay Packers’ president for 24 years, the longest tenure of any president in franchise history.
Olejniczak grew up near Hagemeister Park, the Packers’ former home.
For ten years, the Packers Hall of Famer was also the mayor of Green Bay.
His legacy includes hiring Vince Lombardi in 1959 and raising a large family in Green Bay that still lives there today.
Olejniczak’s son Mark and granddaughter Sara speak about their family’s place in Packers and Green Bay history in this video.
speaking about their family’s place in Packers and Green Bay history (the transcript follows the full broadcast story)
The Packers’ success in the 1960s helped shape the franchise into what it is today: Lambeau Field. Titletown, The G. Vince Lombardi deserves credit for much of that success. One family was instrumental in bringing Lombardi — and success — to the franchise.
During his nine years as head coach, Vince Lombardi led the Packers to five championships. Lombardi might not have ended up in Green Bay if it hadn’t been for longtime Packers president Dominic Olejniczak.
“What happens if, when he went to New York to hire Vince Lombardi, he didn’t hire Vince Lombardi?” According to Mark Olejniczak.
During his nine years as head coach, Vince Lombardi led the Packers to five championships. Lombardi might not have ended up in Green Bay if it hadn’t been for longtime Packers president Dominic Olejniczak.
“What happens if, when he went to New York to hire Vince Lombardi, he didn’t hire Vince Lombardi?” According to Mark Olejniczak.
Mark Olejniczak, Dominic Olejniczak’s son, recalls his father flying to New York to look for a coach.
“The guy that they were wanting him to look at was a defensive coach by the name of Tom Landry,” he said. “And [Landry] did all right for himself too, I guess.”
But Lombardi was chosen by Fominic, who was only in his second year as team president. And the rest, as they say, is history: the team went from one win in 1959 to five rings in seven years. Plus, Mark’s favorite memory is from the 1967 Ice Bowl, when a teenage Mark ran the 60 steps from the press box to the field to show Bart Starr photos of the Cowboys’ defense.
“As I was running down those steps, I would see people with icicles coming off their beards,” said Olejniczak. “It was very cold.”
Sara, Mark’s daughter, was not present for those memories, but she recalls her father and grandfather having high expectations for their family and business.
“You hear the memories, you see the pictures, which is absolutely beautiful,” Sara Olejniczak-Laughlin said. “But I think what is really instilled in my siblings, my sisters, and my brother, is just such a sense of pride.”
Dominic Olejniczak was mayor of Green Bay, a Packers board member, a land developer, and a father all at the same time.
“Not many people are able to be pioneers in the way he was,” Olejniczak-Laughlin said.
Mark believes Dominic, who died in 1989, would be astounded by the Packers’ rise to power.
“If Dad were here right now, he’d probably be looking around, looking at the Packer houses and Titletown and saying, ‘Oh, my.'” ‘What exactly is this?'” Mark stated.
Despite the fact that Dominic helped lay the groundwork for both.
The Olejniczak family no longer works in the Packers front office, but they still own and run Mark’s real estate company in Allouez.
And you can count on seeing Mark, his five children, or his 12 grandchildren at almost every Packers home game.
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