Sometimes words tell only part of the story. In this case, the essence of a story resides on an exterior rear brick wall of a bar at 301 South Broadway in Green Bay.
An hour after reports emerged that the Packers and Jets had agreed to an Aaron Rodgers trade, Beau Thomas went to Old School Bar and walked around back, armed with black paint and a roller. Within a few minutes, Thomas had erased his own monument to Rodgers entitled King of the North, one of his two-dozen downtown murals and the only one of a Packers player.
“I was ready for the mural to be gone a lot earlier than it was,” Thomas says. “It was a risky thing to do. I’ve seen a lot of hate for it online. Giving the guy a crown and calling him king in the first place, people can judge that and question the artist and the intent. I was ready to put that one behind me, honestly.”
For two years, Rodgers had been glorified in this cramped, quiet alleyway. Now his image was gone, just as the quarterback would be from the town that saw him turn from boy to man, from backup to champion.
