By Juliet Sokol
On July 19, 2003, Wanda Boggs sat in the midst of the Green Bay Packers greatest players at the annual Packers Hall of Fame induction ceremony. She was surrounded by players she grew up watching, such as James Lofton and Max McGee, as well as players like Donald Driver and Marques Anderson, whom she now watches every Sunday.

Boggs stood in front of these Packers legends and gave them a three-minute speech about the events in her life that took place during the past year. Immediately after she finished, Driver, a leading receiver for the Packers in the 2003 season, gave a speech and spoke of fan loyalty, addressing Boggs directly. “I felt like a celebrity,” Boggs says.

In fact, Boggs is a celebrity, especially to the millions of Packers fans who only dream about the opportunities she has had during this last year. Boggs has the honor of holding the position that no woman has ever held before, inductee into the Packers Fan Hall of Fame.

The Lesson Plan

Boggs has been an elementary school teacher in Brookfield for the past 16 years. As most of her students are aware, the Packers are a large part of her third grade curriculum.

Beyond mentioning the Packers daily, Boggs says she uses the team to teach a variety of subjects. To encourage teamwork between her students, she describes how the Packers' offense needs to work together to be successful. To teach problem solving, she explains how the Packers’ defense uses problem-solving techniques to stop the opposing offense from scoring. When it comes to mathematics, Boggs has a variety of Packer techniques. For decimals, she brings in the team’s game statistics. She uses final Packer scores to teach addition/subtraction and multiplication/division. To teach the students how to graph, she charts the points the Packers have scored and the points its opponents have scored every Monday morning.

So, it should come as no surprise that it was Boggs’ students who nominated her for the Packers Fan Hall of Fame. The idea originated from a parent, whose daughter then presented the idea to the class. The class quickly agreed their teacher would be the perfect candidate.

“The class had to figure out how they would write the 500-word essay,” Boggs says. “A student came up with the idea of writing a poem using the letters from GO PACKERS.”

Her kids wrote: “Mrs. Boggs is so obsessed, she has green all around her. She dreams about Brett Favre and thinks she is Brett Favre, the second.” They also wrote: “You do not want to see our teacher Mrs. Boggs in the morning when the Packers win. She’s bouncing off the walls and going nuts for the Packers.” (To see the entire poem her students wrote, click here.)

Once the poem was submitted, a Packers Fan Hall of Fame selection committee picked Boggs as one of 10 finalists. Once nominees become finalists, their information is posted on the Packers official site as well as on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel site and fans get to vote on the winner. Boggs received the most votes in her group and instantly became a Wisconsin celebrity.

“My 15 minutes of fame has been such a treat. It’s like the Miss America pageant, but there’s no Packer crown,” Boggs says.

Green and Gold Makeover

Her fame did not end with the induction into the Packers Fan Hall of Fame. Because of her new status, she received four club seats to the Buffalo Bills game last season, when the Packers triumphed 10-0. She brought her husband and two children to the game with her. Before the start, her name was announced and her picture was shown on the big screen. She says her kids enjoyed their mom’s fame.

Boggs also got a $500 gift certificate to the Packers Pro Shop, which, according to her, went fast. “We changed our family room from a plain, boring room to a Packer room,” Boggs says.

To make the transformation, the Boggs family bought two new green couches, put a picture of Lambeau Field up above their fireplace, hung both her honorary plaque and the poem her students wrote for her nomination and filled the room with other Packer souvenirs they had purchased.

Boggs and her husband also went to Tampa Bay Nov. 16, 2002, to watch the Packers take on the Buccaneers. They received two game tickets, airfare and hotel accommodations for their trip.

And to top it all off, Boggs was invited to the annual Packers Hall of Fame induction ceremony, where she got to meet the players she has supported for so many years.

“It was amazing to meet all the players from the ‘60s. I definitely took a lot of pictures,” Boggs says.

Since Boggs was 4 or 5 years old, she has been watching the Packers play every Sunday. She says when the Packers are playing, she is in her own world.

“When the Packers are on, I don’t answer my phone, and my kids understand that for those three hours on Sunday, they have to fend for themselves,” Boggs says.
Boggs and her husband live in the small town of New Berlin. Her husband, who is originally from West Virginia, used to be a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. Since they have been married, she has converted him into a Packer backer. “If you’re not a Packer fan, you don’t belong in Wisconsin,” she says.

Fans are inducted into the Packers Fan Hall of Fame annually. If you know of a diehard Packer fan that you feel should be inducted into the Packer Fan Hall of Fame, visit www.packers.com or www.jsonline.com to nominate them.

Also, see Packer editorial by Juliet Sokol.