Tatum Elementary teacher remembers Packers glory days

Michele Ozkan isn’t shy about her Green Bay Packers pride. She wears a blazer embroidered with the Packers’ “G” and a football necklace decorated with green and yellow rhinestones while cleaning up her classroom one Friday afternoon.

At first glance, Ozkan, now a kindergarten teacher at Tatum Ridge Elementary School, looks like any other fan, but her Packers pride runs deeper.

That’s because from 1967 to 1971, while other fans watched the Packers play on their televisions, Ozkan watched from the sidelines as a member of the team’s cheerleading squad, the Golden Girls.

In the 1960s, the Packers established themselves as the foremost team in the NFL by making appearances in six NFL championships in Vince Lombardi’s nine seasons as head coach for the team.

Created in 1961 by Mary Jane Sorgel, the Golden Girls were the team’s first cheerleading squad and as much a part of Lombardi’s vision for the team as his rigorous training regimens.

Despite its fame, Ozkan never planned on becoming a member of the prestigious team.

She wound up on the squad after a chance meeting with Sorgel at a baton twirling camp in 1967. At the end of camp, Sorgel offered Ozkan a spot on the cheerleading squad.

While she was a baton twirler by training, Ozkan said she always envied her high school’s cheerleaders.

“I always looked longingly at the girls who were cheerleaders with the big fluffy pompoms,” Ozkan said.

All Sorgel had to say was “pompoms” and Ozkan was sold.

Ozkan accepted the position without consulting her parents and spent the rest of the summer flying from her home in Pottstown, Pa., to Sorgel’s home in Sturgeon Bay, Wis.

The next fall, Ozkan moved to Wisconsin to attend Lakeland College in Sheboygan and later University of Wisconsin. 

The Packers were coming off a win in the first Super Bowl when Ozkan joined the team. Because of the team's success, the first game of its 1967 season was televised nationally.

“Had I realized what I was encountering ... I probably would have been frightened,” Ozkan said. “But I just went in with a carefree heart and I got to use those big pompoms.”

The Packers would make headlines that season, finishing with another Super Bowl win.

While fans celebrated, headlines of a different sort were sending shockwaves through the country. The Vietnam War created sharp divisions throughout the nation and prompted anti-war demonstrations on college campuses across the country, including Ozkan’s.

She lived in two worlds— one of political unrest and one of unyielding unity.

“When we got on the field on Sunday it was as if nothing in the world existed besides Packer football … the only thing was you were cheering for the Packers,” Ozkan said. 

Ozkan left the squad in 1971 with a degree in radio, television and film from the University of Wisconsin, but it wasn’t long before Sorgel would make her another life-changing offer.

Ozkan struggled to find a job in radio, but Sorgel invited her to take over her dance studio. It was there that Ozkan fell in love with working with children. She was inspired to earn a degree in early childhood development.

“Because Mary Jane gave me this opportunity once again, I then started on a path for the rest of my life,” Ozkan said.

She went on to earn a master’s degree at Temple University and teach child development classes at the University of Pennsylvania, all the while spending her summers working for Carnival Cruise.

She applied for the Carnival job because she wanted to see the world, but she landed the job because of Sorgel. The company said it was her Golden Girl experience that won her the position.

Her title was youth activities coordinator, but her roles varied from tour guide to librarian to magician’s assistant. Her days hardly followed a plan, but she said she was always up for the challenge.

While working for Carnival she met her husband, Mehmet Ozkan. Sixteen days after meeting on the ship, they married.

She tells stories of traveling through the former Soviet Union and sharing benches with members of football legend. She settled in Sarasota because the town seemed to jump out at her from the map.

Now, 50 years after their chance meeting, she credits Sorgel with her greatest adventures.

“Meeting Mary Jane Sorgel has been the single most factor that has changed my life over and over again,” Ozkan said. “I don’t believe that it was a coincidence. I kind of believe it was meant to be.”