Green Bay music legend originally joined band in 1969

Cliff Christl

Lovell Ives, former director of the Green Bay Packers Band, died April 11, 2026, under hospice care at his home in Rib Lake, Wis. Ives was 97.

Ives was director of the team's house band from 1982-97. He had originally joined the Green Bay Packers Band as a trumpeter in 1969, when he was hired as a faculty member by the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

In his first semester there, Ives organized the school's Jazz Ensemble. And over time he became a music legend in Green Bay.

Ives was named director of the Packers' band during the trying times of the 1970s and '80s. In June 1982, just before he was appointed to the position, the Packers decided that they were going to have their band strike a different tune by playing predominantly string music and also dress their cheerleaders in new uniforms in an effort to enliven the game-day atmosphere.

"We're going to bring the band into the 20th century," John Torinus, secretary of the Packers' executive committee at the time, declared.

It was an announcement that didn't go over well with longtime band members. "(The Packers) lost their class right there," said Conrad Keidatz, a 28-year veteran of the band. The decision also led to the resignation of Wilner Burke, who had first joined the makeshift Lumberjack Band in the early 1930s and then became director in 1940, a year after the Packers officially took control of the band. In all, Burke was director for more than 40 years.

When Ives replaced Burke, the Packers were 14 years into what would be almost a quarter-century of futility on the field, and fans were unhappy and willing to express their disgust over just about anything.

For example, a season earlier when Burke asked fans over a loudspeaker to join the cheerleaders in supporting the team, they were all roundly booed. Critical letters to the editor followed the 1982 announcement. "The way the members of the band are being treated is shameful," wrote one female fan.

For the record, the Lumberjack Band that was almost as popular as the team when the Packers played at old City Stadium from 1925-56 underwent its name change to the Green Bay Packer Band in 1963 under the orders of coach and general manager Vince Lombardi. In his effort to give the band a more sophisticated look in accordance with his championship teams, Lombardi discarded the band's lumberjack outfits and replaced them with spiffy green blazers and gray trousers with a gold stripe.

Nevertheless, the band played on. And during Ives' years as director, the biggest hit of all was playing a rendition before each kickoff of the team's fight song, which was composed by Eric Karil in 1930.

At the same time, teams across the NFL were changing their in-game and halftime entertainment. Moreover, two instant replay boards were added at both ends of Lambeau Field in 1996, cutting in even more to the band's playing time. Thus, in 1997, the Green Bay Packers Band stopped playing along the west sideline during games and was limited to playing in the Lambeau parking lot before games.

Still, Ives continued to oversee what became known as the Packers Tailgaters Band for several seasons before it evolved into the Tundra Drum Line.