When (& why) the Packers started riding kids’ bikes to training camp

It’s one of the most wholesome traditions in the NFL: Packers players riding to and from training camp every summer with thousands of kids, sometimes even on their bicycles. 

But when and how did it begin?

David Goodner swears he was the kid biker behind it.

“It was 1958 and the new City Stadium (later renamed Lambeau Field) had just been completed in ‘57. Scooter McClain was the Packers Head Coach and I was a 12-year-old kid with a brand-new Schwinn Jaguar Bicycle. I lived only a few blocks from the field and I was fanatical about football. I rode my bike to the stadium twice every day to watch the team practice,” Goodner remembered.

Goodner’s favorite player was John Symank, a defensive back and usually the first player dressed for practice. So, one day, Goodner worked up the courage to ask Symank if he’d like to hop on the back of his bike and ride down to the field with him. The d-back smiled, and said, “Sure.”

“I can’t describe the thrill of being 12 years old and riding with my football hero twice a day,” Goodman said.

📸 PHOTOS: Packers Riding Kids’ Bikes Through the Years 

The next year, when Vince Lombardi arrived as the team’s new head coach, Goodner asked his permission to continue riding players from the locker room to camp. He agreed!

“During the Lombardi years, every single team player rode my bike at one time or another, except for Vince Lombardi himself,” Goodman recalled. 

Soon, other kids caught on and, more than 65 summers later, the tradition continues today–with thousands of kids riding their bikes two and from training camp with the players. But it doesn’t stop there: In 2013, the Packers turned the fun ride into a fundraiser, with American Family Insurance donating $1 for every mile biked to We All Rise, an African American resource center in Green Bay.

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