1962

1962 marked the first season that Green White uniforms sported the new logo, a slightly modified version of which (left), is still used today. Current club President Cindy Kaempfer explains how that came to be. "The club wanted to give themselves an identity separate from the Danube Swabian Society as a whole," she says. "Up until that point we had just been using a variation of their logo. This crest was redesigned by Eckhard Kaempfer, and featured the club's name written in German, along with something resembling the Chicago skyline."

In the early 60s, Chicago's skyline wasn't quite as recognizable (photo) as it is today, but the logo was later updated to include the Hancock and the Sears Tower, and that's the logo that Green White continues to use today.

On the field in 1962, Green White once again waged a strong campaign to return to the Major Division , but they had a few pitfalls along the way. The injury bug hit again, and one player, Toni Zimmer (photo) was hit especially hard. He broke his arm and hurt his knee that season. Sandor Gyurko also suffered an injury.

But Green White was in the hunt until the final week of the season. For the second straight year they fell just short, finishing in 2nd place.

The Maroons were the champions of the Major Division that year, and featured a pesky little attacking winger named Steve Pastorelli, who would later become a thirty-year member of Green White.

Off the Field

“Michael Melcher (father of Horst and Walter) was our president that year," Hans Bittenbinder remembers. He anchored a Green White board that featured a few of the old guard in key positions. Andreas Laxgang, a key member of the club since it's inception, served as the First Vice President, and Anton Wagner was the Second Vice President.

The rest of the board included Eckhard Kaempfer—Secretary, Horst Melcher—Treasurer, Wilhelm Franz—Protocol Secretary, Adam Harjung—First Festival President, Joe Hertl—Second Festival President, Anton Kirschner—Festival President (Kitchen), Matz Kraemer—General Manager, Martin Schneider—First Team Manager, Walter Klaus—Reserves Manager, Paul Wenson—Kids Manager, Georg Kovac & Sandor Gyurko—Cashiers, Heinrich Schaefer—Judiciary Committee Chairman, Fritz Herbstler—Assessor, Peter Erhardt & Hans Bittenbinder—Midwest League delegates, Hans Schmidt & Eduard Speth—Equipment Managers, Alfred Langenfelder—Trainer/Paramedic, and Fritz Becker—Membership chairman.


Green White Wedding Bells

There were several Green White weddings in 1962.

Maria Laxgang married Wolfgang Blaas, Helen and Toni Zimmer were also wed, and Eckhard and Hildegard Kaempfer (photo) were married in St. Alphonsus Church on September 8th.

According to the official Green White books, the married couples received flowers (Blumen) from the club.




GW Babies

(Photo) Susan Zimmer (now Duffy, daughter of Steve & Maria Zimmer)

Walter Stadler (son of original member Franz and Trude)

Marcus Laxgang (son of Stefan and Christel Laxgang)

Anita Strumberger (daughter of Steve and Anni Strumberger)





Elsewhere in Soccer

*The 7th World Cup was staged in Chile in 1962. Naturally, with a South American location, Brazil was the heavy favorite. Not only were they the defending champions, they had the best player in the world, Pele. But after scoring in the opening match, he was injured and did not play the rest of the tournament. Even without him, Brazil met Czechoslovakia in the final and won easily. Sadly this World Cup is not remembered so much for the great soccer as it is for the fighting on the field. Argentina, Italy and Uruguay were all part of ugly incidents.

In Pop Culture

~The #1 pop hit of the year was “I Can’t Stop Loving You” by Ray Charles

~The #1 TV show of the year was “The Beverly Hillbillies”

~The Academy Award for Best Picture went to “Lawrence of Arabia”


Elsewhere in Chicagoland

~The Robert Taylor Homes were built.

~Randhurst Shopping Center opened in Mt. Prospect. It was considered a marvel. Carved from a farm at Rand and Elmhurst Roads, it announced to the world that the Northwest suburbs had arrived. “Randhurst didn’t open the floodgates,” Greg Perbolte, executive director of the Mount Prospect Historical Society said, “Randhurst was the floodgate.” It was the largest air conditioned mall in America at the time it was built.

Coming next month: 1963. Green White flexes their muscles in the indoor season, the Bears win a championship, and one first name dominates the Green White babies.

As always, if you have any thing to add or correct in this month’s installment, please drop me a line at amishrick@yahoo.com. I consider this a group project, and a work in progress, so we can add and subtract until we get it all exactly correct. If you have photos you’d like to contribute, please do.