Combing Over the Glory Years

Holmgren Remains Central Figure in Packers Shop Talk

GREEN BAY, Wis., Jan 11 -- Back in the glorious years when playoffs were routine in the hulking stadium across the street, Mike Holmgren would leave his Lambeau Field office and ride his Harley-Davidson to Mer Meyer's barbershop. In those days, the shop that Meyer ran with his wife, Patti, hummed with inside football information as Holmgren, the coach of the Green Bay Packers, and other team executives sat in Meyer's great chair.

Not that secrets, even NFL secrets, lasted long around here. It's too small a place. People talk. Stories get told.

Like the time Meyer raised his price for a haircut from $12 to $15 and the notoriously combustible Holmgren bristled at the outrage, flinging his money at Meyer as he stormed out the door.

"It wasn't like that," Meyer said with a laugh on Friday afternoon. "He kind of grunted. That's what Mike did when he got mad. He grunted. Then he stomped out the door."

About a year ago, Meyer closed the shop, affixing a sign on the window that read "Closed. Retired. Tired." He is 70 now and Patti, 67, has been fighting cancer for years. He then sold the property to a friend, who in turn sold it to the Packers, whose designs on the land are not altogether certain. But before he cut the deal, Meyer insisted on controlling the driveway to the property for two years and ensuring a nice payday from fans searching for a place to park for today's playoff game against Holmgren's Seattle Seahawks.

Snow had fallen the night before, so Meyer pulled a John Deere tractor from the garage, attached a plow to the front and worked to clean off his driveway in anticipation of the fleet of cars that would fill his yard within hours. He was asked about Holmgren, a man who has been something of a polarizing figure in the nine seasons since he left here to coach the Seahawks. Meyer scoffed.

"You get people who [complain] about him but you don't understand what he did for this community," Meyer said. "He did as much as [legendary coach Vince] Lombardi in bringing attention to Green Bay. He brought the Super Bowl."

Holmgren's return, his fifth since taking the $32 million offered him by Seahawks owner Paul Allen in 1999, has brought with it consternation among the populace. There are some who see the Packers' 13-3 record and NFC North title this year as evidence they have managed fine without the old coach. Others pine for the two Super Bowls he took the Packers to following the 1996 and '97 seasons and point out that the franchise went into a steady decline after he departed.

What people remember most, according to Meyer, is the way Holmgren's leaving worked. Everyone in town, Meyer said, including himself, believes that Holmgren reached a secret deal with the Seahawks following the 1997 season, and coached the Packers in 1998 knowing he was going to be named the coach and general manager in Seattle. When one fan yelled as much at the coach as he came off the field at halftime, Holmgren stormed up to the man and let loose with a string of obscenities.

This week, the hosts of a radio show in Appleton, 30 miles away, made a plea to the town government of Ashwaubenon -- which borders Green Bay and Lambeau Field -- to temporarily change the name of one of the town's vital roads, renamed Holmgren Way after the Packers won Super Bowl XXXI in 1997. They suggested several names, including "Traitor's Trail" and "Benedict Arnold Way." The movement did not go far in the village offices, yet it reminded folks here of just what it was that made them so angry about Holmgren.

And yet time also has a way of healing those wounds. Meyer said he was surprised in 2006 when Bob Harlan announced his upcoming retirement as president and chief executive of the Packers, and fans who drifted into Meyer's shop for haircuts wondered aloud if the team would go after Holmgren to fill the void.

In a way, even with a new coach, Mike McCarthy, whom people love for getting Green Bay into the playoffs again, Holmgren still seems bigger than life here. It's been almost 10 years since he went away and yet people remember well what life used to be like. They want that again.

Meyer held out a small hope Friday that the old coach might stop by while he was out plowing. He and Patti still get a Christmas letter from Kathy, Holmgren's wife. In this year's note Kathy said he was trying to persuade her husband to give up coaching, to little avail. Mike Holmgren also called the shop a few years ago to say hello and gripe about Meyer's observation that the coach was getting a bald spot in the back of his head.

Before he hung up, Holmgren told Meyer that whenever he comes to town and goes by Lambeau Field, he looks for the barber shop across the street and gives a small salute.

In a way, it will always be Holmgren's town.