By Jason Wilde
Photography by the Bievers
To the Bievers, who have captured the Green Bay Packers in photographs from the sidelines for almost 70 years, quality time starts with the opening kickoff.
This photograph, like so many others taken in various eras of Green Bay Packers football, hangs at Biever Travel in Port Washington, Wis., just north of Milwaukee. It is from the 1940s, taken from the sideline of the old City Stadium, the Packers’ home before historic Lambeau Field opened in 1957. It shows a Packer being tackled out of bounds by a group of Chicago Bears, while those on the sidelines back away from the commotion. This photo is different, though. For once, a Biever—father Vernon, or son John or Jim— isn’t behind the lens. He’s in front of it.
Vernon, in his suit and fedora, Speed Graphic camera in hand, can be seen standing on the field, trying to get his shot while other photographers scurry to get out of the way of the action. Milwaukee Sentinel (a predecessor to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) photographer Ernie Anheuser, with one click, captured proof of the Biever family’s dedication to the Packers.
“All the pictures in my office are ones I took,” Vernon says proudly, one day after celebrating his 85th birthday. “Except that one.”
These shots make up a family portrait in which the principals aren’t in the frame: There’s Vernon, who entered the Packers Hall of Fame in 2002 and still shoots the team’s home games from time to time; John, 57, who took his most famous picture at the ripe old age of 16 and has been an award-winning photographer at Sports Illustrated for more than 20 years; and Jim, 48, who took over his dad’s post as the Packers’ official team photographer and chronicled Brett Favre’s entire record-breaking career with the Packers.
The Bievers’ respective careers have practically spanned the Packers’ existence. Vernon, who shot his first game for the Milwaukee Sentinel—on a volunteer basis—as a freshman at St. Norbert College, has photographed every one of the Packers’ 14 head coaches—from E.L. “Curly” Lambeau and Vince Lombardi to the three Mikes (Holmgren, Sherman and McCarthy).
“Lombardi was so dedicated and so intense, he didn’t want any interference. On the sidelines, to take a picture of him, I’d have to hide behind somebody, then sneak out and snap a picture,” Vernon says. “He’d give me a stare, and I’d go back and hide again.”
Vernon’s work is even respected in enemy territory: His photos of Chicago Bears Hall of Famers hang in the luxury boxes at Soldier Field. And all three Bievers have photos hanging in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which named Vernon the NFL Photographer of the Year in 1984.
John, who worked at the Milwaukee Journal from 1973 to 1986 before joining Sports Illustrated, has had 67 of his photos grace the magazine’s cover, including one of Tiger Woods’ first victory at The Masters. And in addition to shooting every one of Favre’s 16 seasons, Jim took Favre’s wedding pictures with Vernon.
“Jimmy and I were just incredibly lucky to follow our dad,” John says.
While one might think their favorite memories are tied to the time the three of them spent roaming the sidelines as a family, it turns out not to be the case.
“We’re so concerned about doing a good job and following the action, we’re not familiar with the people next to us,” Vernon says. And when they do notice, it’s not necessarily a good thing: At the NFC Championship game between the Packers and the New York Giants in January, John, shooting for SI, got in Jim’s way as Favre came out on the field with Packers’ legend Bart Starr.
“Jim said he was going to call security and have me hauled away,” John says, with an older-brother chuckle. “I think he was kidding.”
“As a photographer, you get so involved in the game,” Jim says. “I never talked to my father or my brother very much during the game. You’re concentrating on what you’re doing. (The camaraderie) is in comparing notes after the game—asking each other, ‘Did you get that shot? Did you see that happen?’ That’s a big part of our time together, the post-game reviews.”
Vernon maintains that Biever Travel, which he founded in 1975, is his business and photography is his hobby, though it’s hard to believe. From the vast vault of photos and negatives in the basement of his home—“He is amazing, organizationally,” John says—to having an exclusive distributor (the Gallery of Sports Art in Greenfield, Wis.) for the Vernon Biever Classic Collection, the labor of love has turned into a profitable endeavor.
The Bievers (from left to
right): John, Vernon and
Jim
And this was no small feat, given its humble beginnings in 1941. Having just graduated from Port Washington High School, where he’d been in the camera club, Vernon went to Stoney McGlynn at the Milwaukee Sentinel.
“I told him I was going to be in Green Bay and could I take pictures for him,” Vernon recalls. “He said, ‘There’s a game next Sunday—the Packers are playing the Bears. Let’s give it a shot.’ That’s how the whole thing got started.”
Then, World War II came along. Vernon enlisted, and he became the photographer for the 100th infantry division in France and Germany. He took pictures at events and awards ceremonies, but also found himself in combat. Just like during his time on the football sidelines, he never backed down.
“I wanted to get the best photos I could, and of course that meant getting in harm’s way,” Vernon says.
When he returned state-side a few years later, the Milwaukee Sentinel had hired a full-timer to cover the games. So Vernon went to the Packers with another of his offers.
“I said, ‘If you furnish me a field pass, I’ll give you the pictures for nothing,’” he says. “I guess the price was right.”
Thousands of images were attained as result of that smart play, and because of Vernon’s diligence, football fans can still enjoy them.
“For a lot of the older images, my father had the foresight to hold onto our negatives,” Jim says. “A lot of teams have had team photographers come and go, and a lot of negatives have been lost. Even a lot of newspaper images early on were lost. So I think we’ve got a history of a team that no other team has, as far as photography.”
The photography has evolved, however. In the early days, Vernon had to prefocus his 4×5 range finder and wait until the action came to that point. “So I’d take six to eight photos in a game. Ten was exceptional,” he says. “Now, they take hundreds. Thousands.”
But unlike vinyl records, whose fans claim sound better on their turntables than music does on CDs or iPods, digital imaging has come so far so fast that even Vernon has upgraded.
“It is so simple these days. Anybody can take pictures,” Vernon says. “Auto focus, you name it. Before that, I spent thousands of hours developing.”
SO HOW did the talent trickle down the family tree?
“I never pushed them at all, ever,” Vernon says. “But from the very beginning, John and Jim both were always asking, ‘Can I go along with you? Can I carry something?’”
But for all the talent and lessons Vernon passed on to his sons, ask Jim and John what they learned most from their father, and their answers are virtually identical—and shocking, given the photo in Vernon’s office.
“Probably the main thing is get out of the way when the players are running at you—find an escape route,” says Jim, whose son, Michael, has taken pictures for Packers.com. “No photographer wants to be a clip on ESPN, getting knocked senseless.”
Adds John: “The best pictures are when you’re not in somebody’s way. I’m not too brave that way. I’d rather be there tomorrow to shoot the next game.”
His dad always was. In fact, Vernon has only been knocked down once, during a game in Chicago long ago.
“I was in the end zone, and some safety blitz was on, and I never saw the guy coming,” Vernon says. “He knocked me over and I fell into the mud. A soft landing. He actually came over and picked me up. I always say, if he had known I was a Packers photographer, I would still be laying there.
“A couple years ago, I was on the sideline, and Brett ran out of bounds. And then he stopped and said, ‘Vern, you’ve got to run a little faster.’ And he smiled and he went back onto the field.”
And as he did, Vernon, John and Jim snapped his picture, like always.
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HE’S THE FAVRE-ORITE
During his 16 seasons with the Green Bay Packers, Brett Favre was photographed on and off the field by Vernon, John and Jim Biever. But the legendary quarterback wasn’t just mugging for the camera: He holds the NFL record for most completed touchdown passes, at 442.
The Shot
How John Biever took one of the most well-known images in football history.
On Dec. 31, 1967, Vernon and John Biever were on the sidelines of the NFL championship game—”The Ice Bowl,” as it came to be known because of the minus-13-degree temperature.
“Before the game started, I said to John, ‘We do not want to be in the same place at the same time.’ With 15 seconds left, we both end up in the end zone, and [quarterback Bart] Starr calls time-out and goes to the sideline,”
Vernon remembers. “I say to John, ‘Why don’t you stay here, and I’ll go to the Packers sideline in case they score. Maybe [Coach Vince] Lombardi will show some emotion.’
“I got a very good picture of Lombardi’s back running off the field, and John got the important picture.”
That picture—of Starr (15) sneaking the ball across the goal line to beat the Dallas Cowboys and send the Packers to what became the first Super Bowl—remains the best-known image in Packers history.
“I was 16 at the time. I didn’t know what I was doing, didn’t know how cold it was,” John says. “A lot of people had their cameras stop working in the cold. It was just one shot at it, and I guess I nailed it. Dumb luck, is what it was.”
