Packers' Lee Remmel to receive Pro Football Hall of Fame award

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Lee Remmel, who was associated with the Green Bay Packers for 62 of their 106 years, will receive the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Award of Excellence in 2026.

Remmel is one of three public relations directors honored with the award. The others are Scott Berchtold, who was hired by Remmel and worked five years with the Packers before moving on to the Buffalo Bills for 34 more years, and Jim Gallagher, who spent 46 years with the Philadelphia Eagles.

"He was the consummate PR guy and a very descriptive writer, but also a man of relationships," said Aaron Popkey, Packers director of public affairs, who was hired by Remmel.

Former Green Bay Packers public relations director and historian Lee Remmel stands in the Packer Hall of Fame on Jan. 7, 2005. Remmel died at age 90 in 2015. Cliff Christl replaced Remmel as the team's historian.

A native of Shawano, Remmel was a reporter writing about the Packers for the Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1946 to 1974, Packers public relations director for 30 years and Packers team historian for three years. He was associated with every Packers coach from Curly Lambeau to Mike McCarthy. He talked about some of the coaches in an interview with Packers historian Cliff Christl in 2014.

"He was most proud of having connection with all the Packers head coaches through [Mike] McCarthy," Popkey said.

Awards of Excellence recognize significant contributors to the game in behind-the-scenes roles. Recipients include public relations personnel, assistant coaches, athletic trainers, equipment managers and film/video directors. Each group will announce its selections for the Class of 2026 over the next few months. Honorees will be recognized June 24-25, 2026, at the hall of fame in Canton, Ohio.

Last year, athletic trainer Pepper Burruss, who worked 42 years in the NFL, including 26 with the Packers, received an Excellence Award.

More: Faith, science give ex-Packers trainer Pepper Burruss new life | Lori Nickel

Remmel became a full-time Packers reporter during his last seven years with the Press-Gazette. Before that, he covered high school sports; bowling and the Green Bay Bobcats, the city's semipro hockey team, as well as pitching in on Packers coverage, according to Cliff Christl, who worked with Remmel at the Press-Gazette and succeeded him as Packers historian.

In his early years, he wrote locker-room sidebars for home games and occasionally pinch-hit for main Packers reporter Art Daley on offseason stories. Once the Packers started winning under Vince Lombardi, Remmel traveled to an increasing number of away games to write sidebars as Daley's backup. In 1964, Remmel also started writing a semiweekly sports column titled "Personality Parade." He'd frequently profile Packers players and coaches as well as people involved in other sports, Christl wrote.

Remmel was inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 1996. The press box at Lambeau Field was named after him in 2003. Remmel died in 2015 at age 90. He was a semifinalist for inclusion in the hall of fame in 2023, but wasn't elected.

"He's one of the icons in the industry," Popkey said. "What I think he stood for was professionalism, accuracy, fairness, courtesy, all those things. He represented the team and did it with class and with professionalism."

Press-Gazette writers Art Daley, center, and Lee Remmel, right, work in the Lambeau Field press box during the Packers’ preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Aug. 27, 1966. Daley covered the Packers for the Press-Gazette from 1941 to 1968; Remmel did so from 1945 to 1974, then joined the Packers as director of public relations.

Popkey said Remmel was a great storyteller and knew all the best stories about the Packers.

"He could recite them all and do it in a very colorful way. Encyclopedic in his knowledge," Popkey said. "He had an awesome vocabulary and he'd put that to work every week."

Christl wrote that Remmel "was a mind-blowing wordsmith and arguably the most engaging storyteller of Packers history – anytime, anywhere he spoke on God's green and gold earth."

Remmel ran a tight ship when he was in charge of press conferences with coaches and players.

"Lee was very straightlaced or by the book in how he tried to run the press conferences, but [quarterback Brett] Favre would get him off stride every now and then with a joke," Popkey said. "The relationships he had with the players and coaches was legendary as well."

Remmel covered the first 40 Super Bowls. He represented the Press-Gazette at the first eight, 22 as NFL auxiliary media relations staff, two years for the Green Bay Packers, and another eight with the NFL.

Berchtold spent five seasons with the Packers before joining the Buffalo Bills in 1989. He worked for the Bills for 34 years, including 23 as a vice president and senior vice president. An Illinois native, Berchtold worked 32 Super Bowls – four with the Bills and 28 on the NFL staff. For 12 of those years, he was selected by the NFL as the “PR captain” and directed the entire PR media operation for those games.

Contact Richard Ryman at rryman@usatodayco.com. Follow him on Twitter at @RichRymanPG, on Instagram at @rrymanPG.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Packers' Lee Remmel to receive Pro Football Hall of Fame award

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