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STURGEON BAY - One of Door County's most iconic connections to the Green Bay Packers will be remembered in a special event in Sturgeon Bay during the 2025 NFL draft weekend.
"Go Pack, Go! A Celebration of Mary Jane and the Golden Girls" is being held from April 24 to 26 at the Door County Museum to honor the late Sturgeon Bay native and and national champion baton twirler Mary Jane Van Duyse Sorgel and the Golden Girls, the cheerleading crew that Sorgel founded in 1961 to grace the Packers' sidelines during the team's glory days of the 1960s.
The highlight of the event is a reception with several former Golden Girls, who will share stories with and meet-and-greet Packers fans and football fans from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 24, the opening day of the draft. Packers-themed refreshments will be served and the museum will be decked out in the team's green and gold colors.
Visitors also can check out an exhibit about Sorgel and the Golden Girls that's been on permanent display at the museum since September of 2019, and it'll be augmented by photos and video of Sorgel that aren't part of the usual exhibit. In the two days after the reception, some Golden Girls may be at the museum at various times to meet with visitors, Door County museum manager Joe Taylor said.
The exhibit features some of Sorgel's Golden Girls items and memorabilia, including costumes, boots and gold-sequined hat. The video is a six-minute clip from an NFL Films feature on Sorgel that among other things shows her twirling her baton in an airplane flying at 25,000 feet while her dog, Muffy, sat on her head as part of the "Stupid Pet Tricks" segment on TV's "Late Night with David Letterman" in 1985. That stunt also landed Sorgel in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Another part of the NFL Films clip shows Sorgel and the Golden Girls, wearing skirts, cheering on the Packers and the crowd during the famed Ice Bowl game in which the Pack won the 1967 NFL championship over the Dallas Cowboys, 21-17, in minus-13 degree temperatures on Dec. 31.
Taylor said the decision to put on the Golden Girls event was spurred by Karen Lautenbach Cowan, like Sorgel a Sturgeon Bay native, lifelong dancer and teacher and Golden Girl, as well as a close friend of Sorgel.
"(Cowan) called us after the draft was announced, saying, Oh, you've got to do something," Taylor said.
He also noted that Sorgel, with the fame she attained over the years, helped connect Door County to the Packers.
"They always said Green Bay's got the Packers but we have Mary Jane," he said.
Cowan, who holds a Ph.D. in dance, taught many years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and served as executive director of the Wisconsin Dance Council, was involved with putting together the original exhibit in 2019. The Sturgeon Bay resident said the draft offered a great opportunity to not only remember Sorgel and the Golden Girls but also draw attention to the museum from locals and visitors coming to the draft.
"The idea was, if we can honor her again, it would definitely be of interest to people who are interested in the Packers but have never been to this great jewel of a museum," Cowan said.
Sorgel's life and work in dance and baton twirling encompassed more than just the Packers and the Golden Girls, although her time cheering on the Packers included associations with two of the most iconic and important names in team history – Curly Lambeau and Vince Lombardi.
According to Sorgel's obituary after her death in 2022 at age 89, she taught dance and baton twirling from 1949, when she was 16 years old, until getting married and retiring in 1972, operating studios in Door and Kewaunee counties. She continued to teach following that official retirement and in 2007 received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Dance Council.
Sorgel also was a TV personality for two stations simultaneously in Green Bay, serving as a "weather girl" on Channel 11 and as Lambeau's assistant on Channel 5's "Ask Curly Lambeau" show.
Her baton twirling led her to the Packers. In an interview with Packers team historian Cliff Christl published in 2015 on the packers.com site, she said she was performing with the baton one night in 1949 as part of the entertainment in the dance hall her parents owned (now the Institute Saloon) when she was noticed by Wilner Burke, who happened to be the leader of the Packers Lumberjack Band that played for their games.
Burke asked Sorgel to audition, and she found herself performing at the next Packers game and becoming a majorette for the Packerettes, the band's baton troupe. Sorgel won the Wisconsin state championship for baton twirling in 1951 and '53 and the National Baton Twirling Championship in 1954, as well as being named Miss Majorette of America by the National Baton Twirling Association in 1953.
Her baton twirling ability also got her onto national TV following her time as a Golden Girl, with two appearances on Letterman's TV show and one on Sally Jessy Raphael's talk show. The twirling association inducted her into their Hall of Fame in 2006.
Along the way, she picked up the nickname "Golden Girl," she said to Christl, from a Chicago Tribune writer who saw her perform with her blonde hair and bright costume during a Packers-Bears game in 1959.
Sorgel had been head majorette for the Packerettes for several years when, before the 1961 season, Lombardi asked her to lead a new cheerleading squad to help get fans enthused during games, according to the interview with Christl.
She put together the Golden Girls, a team of dance students of hers from Sturgeon Bay and elsewhere in northeast Wisconsin that didn't just cheer but also did tumbling routines and put on skits on the sidelines. Sorgel led the squad until retiring in 1972, at which point the squad's name reverted to the Packerettes.
Sometime in the early '60s, Sorgel met Lambeau in a Sturgeon Bay restaurant. The co-founder of the Packers, who was coach and general manager for 30 years and led the team to three straight NFL championships from 1929 to '31, was out of football at this point and had a home in Fish Creek.
Sorgel and Lambeau began dating, and they were seeing each other when Lambeau died of a heart attack at age 67 while mowing Sorgel's lawn at her Sturgeon Bay home in 1965.
Although Sorgel retired from leading the Golden Girls after the 1972 season, she continued to show her devotion to the Packers, dance and the baton through appearances at special events for the team and charitable functions through the years.
"Go Pack, Go! A Celebration of Mary Jane and the Golden Girls" runs from April 24 to 26 at the Door County Museum, 18 N. Fourth Ave., Sturgeon Bay. The reception with several Golden Girls is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 24. Museum hours for the exhibit are from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and admission is free. For more information, call 920-743-5809 or email [email protected].
Contact Christopher Clough at 920-562-8900 or [email protected].
MORE:Here are 7 Door County restaurants with a special Easter brunch or menu
MORE: Midsummer's Music announces its 35th season, including a Big Top celebration
FOR MORE DOOR COUNTY NEWS: Check out our website
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Door County Museum holds Packers' Golden Girls event for the NFL draft
Continue reading...
"Go Pack, Go! A Celebration of Mary Jane and the Golden Girls" is being held from April 24 to 26 at the Door County Museum to honor the late Sturgeon Bay native and and national champion baton twirler Mary Jane Van Duyse Sorgel and the Golden Girls, the cheerleading crew that Sorgel founded in 1961 to grace the Packers' sidelines during the team's glory days of the 1960s.
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The highlight of the event is a reception with several former Golden Girls, who will share stories with and meet-and-greet Packers fans and football fans from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 24, the opening day of the draft. Packers-themed refreshments will be served and the museum will be decked out in the team's green and gold colors.
Visitors also can check out an exhibit about Sorgel and the Golden Girls that's been on permanent display at the museum since September of 2019, and it'll be augmented by photos and video of Sorgel that aren't part of the usual exhibit. In the two days after the reception, some Golden Girls may be at the museum at various times to meet with visitors, Door County museum manager Joe Taylor said.
The exhibit features some of Sorgel's Golden Girls items and memorabilia, including costumes, boots and gold-sequined hat. The video is a six-minute clip from an NFL Films feature on Sorgel that among other things shows her twirling her baton in an airplane flying at 25,000 feet while her dog, Muffy, sat on her head as part of the "Stupid Pet Tricks" segment on TV's "Late Night with David Letterman" in 1985. That stunt also landed Sorgel in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Another part of the NFL Films clip shows Sorgel and the Golden Girls, wearing skirts, cheering on the Packers and the crowd during the famed Ice Bowl game in which the Pack won the 1967 NFL championship over the Dallas Cowboys, 21-17, in minus-13 degree temperatures on Dec. 31.
Taylor said the decision to put on the Golden Girls event was spurred by Karen Lautenbach Cowan, like Sorgel a Sturgeon Bay native, lifelong dancer and teacher and Golden Girl, as well as a close friend of Sorgel.
"(Cowan) called us after the draft was announced, saying, Oh, you've got to do something," Taylor said.
He also noted that Sorgel, with the fame she attained over the years, helped connect Door County to the Packers.
"They always said Green Bay's got the Packers but we have Mary Jane," he said.
Cowan, who holds a Ph.D. in dance, taught many years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and served as executive director of the Wisconsin Dance Council, was involved with putting together the original exhibit in 2019. The Sturgeon Bay resident said the draft offered a great opportunity to not only remember Sorgel and the Golden Girls but also draw attention to the museum from locals and visitors coming to the draft.
"The idea was, if we can honor her again, it would definitely be of interest to people who are interested in the Packers but have never been to this great jewel of a museum," Cowan said.
Becoming the Golden Girl
Sorgel's life and work in dance and baton twirling encompassed more than just the Packers and the Golden Girls, although her time cheering on the Packers included associations with two of the most iconic and important names in team history – Curly Lambeau and Vince Lombardi.
According to Sorgel's obituary after her death in 2022 at age 89, she taught dance and baton twirling from 1949, when she was 16 years old, until getting married and retiring in 1972, operating studios in Door and Kewaunee counties. She continued to teach following that official retirement and in 2007 received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Dance Council.
Sorgel also was a TV personality for two stations simultaneously in Green Bay, serving as a "weather girl" on Channel 11 and as Lambeau's assistant on Channel 5's "Ask Curly Lambeau" show.
Her baton twirling led her to the Packers. In an interview with Packers team historian Cliff Christl published in 2015 on the packers.com site, she said she was performing with the baton one night in 1949 as part of the entertainment in the dance hall her parents owned (now the Institute Saloon) when she was noticed by Wilner Burke, who happened to be the leader of the Packers Lumberjack Band that played for their games.
Burke asked Sorgel to audition, and she found herself performing at the next Packers game and becoming a majorette for the Packerettes, the band's baton troupe. Sorgel won the Wisconsin state championship for baton twirling in 1951 and '53 and the National Baton Twirling Championship in 1954, as well as being named Miss Majorette of America by the National Baton Twirling Association in 1953.
Her baton twirling ability also got her onto national TV following her time as a Golden Girl, with two appearances on Letterman's TV show and one on Sally Jessy Raphael's talk show. The twirling association inducted her into their Hall of Fame in 2006.
Along the way, she picked up the nickname "Golden Girl," she said to Christl, from a Chicago Tribune writer who saw her perform with her blonde hair and bright costume during a Packers-Bears game in 1959.
Helping Lombardi, meeting Lambeau
Sorgel had been head majorette for the Packerettes for several years when, before the 1961 season, Lombardi asked her to lead a new cheerleading squad to help get fans enthused during games, according to the interview with Christl.
She put together the Golden Girls, a team of dance students of hers from Sturgeon Bay and elsewhere in northeast Wisconsin that didn't just cheer but also did tumbling routines and put on skits on the sidelines. Sorgel led the squad until retiring in 1972, at which point the squad's name reverted to the Packerettes.
Sometime in the early '60s, Sorgel met Lambeau in a Sturgeon Bay restaurant. The co-founder of the Packers, who was coach and general manager for 30 years and led the team to three straight NFL championships from 1929 to '31, was out of football at this point and had a home in Fish Creek.
Sorgel and Lambeau began dating, and they were seeing each other when Lambeau died of a heart attack at age 67 while mowing Sorgel's lawn at her Sturgeon Bay home in 1965.
Although Sorgel retired from leading the Golden Girls after the 1972 season, she continued to show her devotion to the Packers, dance and the baton through appearances at special events for the team and charitable functions through the years.
FYI
"Go Pack, Go! A Celebration of Mary Jane and the Golden Girls" runs from April 24 to 26 at the Door County Museum, 18 N. Fourth Ave., Sturgeon Bay. The reception with several Golden Girls is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 24. Museum hours for the exhibit are from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and admission is free. For more information, call 920-743-5809 or email [email protected].
Contact Christopher Clough at 920-562-8900 or [email protected].
MORE:Here are 7 Door County restaurants with a special Easter brunch or menu
MORE: Midsummer's Music announces its 35th season, including a Big Top celebration
FOR MORE DOOR COUNTY NEWS: Check out our website
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Door County Museum holds Packers' Golden Girls event for the NFL draft
Continue reading...
