When Chris Salter arrived at his seat Sunday inside Lambeau Field, first row in the south end zone, the lifelong Green Bay Packers fan thought he might have an unforgettable experience.
Surveying the landscape, Salter recognized he was in prime real estate to live his dream. A 41-year-old auto dealership worker from Flint, Michigan, Salter has attended “three or four games” at Lambeau Field each season since 2019. He usually sits 10 rows up in the north end zone, but Salter spent $1,000 on a secondary-market ticket for the first row in Section 133, Seat 12.
He knew the location could give him a chance for his first Lambeau Leap, the famous touchdown celebration where Packers players hop into the stands. As Houston Texans running back Joe Mixon approached after scoring a 2-yard touchdown in Sunday’s second quarter, pointing up in Salter’s direction, that first Lambeau Leap took an unexpected twist.
“He kind of looked up,” Salter said, “and I’m like, ‘Don’t do it.’ Not my first Lambeau Leap. Don’t do it.”
Salter wasn’t just thinking it.
The closer Mixon got to the stands, the louder Salter shouted. Don’t do it. Don’t do it. Mixon decided not to heed the warning. There was a Texans fan seated next to Salter. A safe place for Mixon to potentially land, except Salter, a former body builder, is built like a defensive lineman. “I’m a pretty strong guy,” he said. And he wasn’t about to let an opposing player do a Lambeau Leap.
Salter used all his might, placing two hands on Mixon’s facemask visor and shoving the running back once, twice back onto the field, denying entrance with a wicked stiff arm. He said there was “zero ill” intent for Mixon. Salter has the Texans running back on his fantasy football team, meaning when Mixon scored Sunday, so did he. “I like Mixon,” Salter said. “I really do as a player.” Just not enough to share his seat.
It’s common for Packers fans to attempt a blockade of opposing players into the stands for a Lambeau Leap. Rarely do they have Salter’s success.
“My initial reaction,” Salter said, “was to keep him out of the stands. We’re going to protect the tradition. I think Packers players should be jumping in the stands, and I don’t think opposing players should be jumping in the stands. I look at it as a team taunting. It’s no different than when they get a penalty for taunting in the NFL, when they’re dancing too much, or they’re throwing a ball at somebody. That’s how I feel when they do that.
“That’s essentially what my mindset was. This is our tradition. It was just don’t let this dude in here.”
Mixon and Salter exchanged a couple of choice words. “It was on both ends,” Salter said. Sanitizing the language, Salter said the running back told him “you’re too small.” Salter shot back, “but you didn’t make it up here.”
Before returning to his sideline, Mixon waved goodbye. Salter offered a middle finger back. “I was pretty amped,” he said. Two Green Bay Police officers soon approached the area. An officer on the field pointed to Salter, easily to identify in his green and yellow overalls.
Salter missed most of the second quarter after the officers pulled him into the concourse for questioning. Initially, he thought his afternoon might be over. Salter said the officers informed him he would be ejected from the game for making “forcible contact” to a player. He protested his ejection, saying the stadium provides no warnings against fans preventing opponents from doing the Lambeau Leap.
“He’s jumping into the seats that I paid for,” Salter said, reiterating his message to the officers. “I paid a lot of money for these seats. I drove a very long way to come to this game. Pushing somebody’s helmet down who’s in full pads? I’m in nothing. I’m in my overalls. I’m just trying to keep you out of the stands. I’m not trying to manhandle anybody.”
An officer told Salter the incident escalated when a beer was thrown at Mixon, he said. Salter told the officer it had been another fan who chucked the beer. “That’s excessive force,” Salter said. “Don’t throw beer on people. That’s disrespectful.” After taking Salter’s information and consulting with NFL gameday security, the officers allowed him to return to his seat.
The fan who threw a beer was ejected, Salter said. The Packers confirmed that fan’s ejection
Salter’s return drew applause from Packers fans sitting in Section 133. He said fans bought him beers throughout the second half, but Salter drinks minimally during games because it’s an eight-hour drive to his home in Flint. He said no alcohol was consumed before his altercation with Mixon.
The officer’s last words to Salter were to “enjoy the game and relax,” he said. He hoped to go unnoticed through the second half, but that changed after kicker Brandon McManus made his 45-yard field goal as time expired in the fourth quarter. After briefly celebrating with teammates on the field, McManus made a beeline for the south end zone. Same corner Mixon tried to enter earlier.
Salter was celebrating himself, jumping and high-fiving and hugging fellow Packers fans in his section. “We’re all on 10,” he said. As McManus approached, Salter turned to see the kicker pointing up to the stands, where he was sitting.
“I don’t know if this was a, ‘Hey, we’ve seen what happened,’” Salter said. “I’m not saying it is, but of all the areas to run to. He kind of points, and he runs directly at me and jumps right at me, and the entire team comes up. It’s just wild. I’m kind of freaked out a little bit, because I didn’t expect it to happen, but it was an overly joy-type feeling. Like, man. This is a dream come true. This is why I bought these seats. This is the experience I wanted.
“And it was almost like, man, I almost didn’t get to enjoy this because they thought what I did was excessive, which it wasn’t.
The words were kinder as McManus hopped onto Salter’s lap. In a delirious scream, the lifelong fan said, he welcomed the kicker signed only last week to Green Bay. Salter entered Lambeau Field on Sunday hoping to get his first Lambeau Leap.
He made sure it was only one leap, not two.