Arnie Herber: Lambeau bets on Green Bay’s own

Continued from last week

“Both East and West high schools will be represented by former football starts on the Green Bay Packer eleven this fall as Arnold Herber and Dave Zuidmulder, two of the best young performers ever seen in uniform of Green Bay schools will get a chance with the team, according to Captain E.L. (Curly) Lambeau,” the Green Bay Press-Gazette anounced on Aug. 9, 1930.

“Captain Lambeau signed the former East and West stars today and believes both will develop into great professional football players.

“Herber, who is regarded as the greatest all-around athlete ever developed at West High School, will be getting his first taste of the professional sport.”

The “Purple Flash” — as Herber was affectionately referred to — still held records at West as he suited up for the Packers.

Zuidmulder became a tailback for the Packers from 1929-1931.

After his time in professional football, Zuidmulder joined the Green Bay Fire Department, where he became chief of the department in 1955.

“By 1930, Lambeau fell into a routine where he headed to the West Coast soon after the Packers season ended to scout the East-West Shrine Game and occasionally other bowls,” Cliff Christl wrote in The Greatest Story in Sports.

“It was on those scouting junkets that Lambeau uncovered a number of his future stars, or followed up on leads from his many contacts in the college game.”

Herber and Zuidmulder were two exceptions, but Herber was special, as his star shone at West much like Lambeau’s had at East.

“[Lambeau] figured a hometown boy might be good for the gate. Herber signed for $75 a game,” Norman Macht wrote in “Arnie Herber: The Man Who Invented the NFL Passing Game.”

Sometime before Herber started with the Packers, his mother remarried August Voelker and in August 1930, the couple purchased the De Pere Bottling Works company from Herbert Owens and Percy LaFond.

Herber’s mother and stepfather resided in a Michigan Street home in De Pere, where a year later, Herber’s Velp Avenue grandfather, Victor Du Chateau, passed away at the age of 70.
“As a rookie, (Herber) started the first two games as quarterback, but played sparingly over the rest of the season,” Christl added.

“In 1931, Herber was cut after the third game when NFL President Joe Carr threatened Lambeau with stiff penalties if he didn’t trim his roster to the legal limit.

To be continued