ROBERT WANKOWSKILAS VEGAS, NV
Only the ultimate Green Bay Packer fan would have their work id picture taken in a Packers shirt and a cheesehead. The person that did that was my uncle, Robert Wankowski, and elementary school physical education teacher in Las Vegas, Nevada (originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin). He has single handedly added tot he legions of Packer fans through his teaching in Hawaii and Nevada by his passion and dedication to the green and gold.
His story begins the same as most green and gold diehards, gathering around the television with family and friends after Sunday morning mass, just as Coach Lombardi preached, "God, your family, and the Green Bay Packers."
Rob went to college in Hawaii, where he started spreading the gospel of the green and gold. The students at Fern Elementary School developed green and gold Friday's. The players on the school flag football team emulated Dickey, Coffman, and Lofton. Because of the geographical logistics, he could not attend games on the mainland, so he did the next best thing, attend the annual Pro Bowl to cheer on the Packer players that were there and to display his Packer pride.
After teaching in Hawaii for a decade, Rob moved to Las Vegas in 1991. His classroom is a shrine to everything Packers. The room is covered from floor to ceiling (including the ceiling) with Green Bay paraphernalia. The students of Snyder Elementary School also participate in the living shrine to the green and gold, as the rule is " if you bring something Packer related, it goes up on the walls, shelves, or somewhere in the classroom." There is so much stuff, that one Las Vegas Fireman says the room is "technically illegal," but is over looked because it is about the Packers. In fact, the Fireman brings over visitors to the classroom to view this green and gold shrine.
While living in Las Vegas, he continues his annual journeys to the Pro Bow and has made the pilgrimage to Lambeau Field for both games and for the annual stockholders meetings. At one of the stockholders meetings. he even did the Lambeau Leap.
There is no bigger Packers fan in the country. It doesn't matter if you don't live in the great state of Wisconsin anymore. A person's love, passion and enthusiasm for the Packers will show through and spread to others.
