Welcome to Cheesehead Origins, an offseason series geared toward showcasing Packer fans with interesting fandom origin stories! CheeseheadTV is devoted to Packer fans worldwide, and we want to hear (and share) your stories. 

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Earlier this spring I posted a short message on Twitter asking people who they would like to hear from in the Cheesehead Origins series. I wanted to find out who I should reach out to beyond the circle of connections I’ve already made, or the people who I already follow.

One name that came up several times was that of Dawn Dacquisito, who I had not previously known or talked to. As it turns out, she’s a really wonderful woman, and she had some great stories and thoughts to share!

Dawn is a co-host of “Hey! We Like Your Pod,” a podcast series that focuses on the work being done by content creators around the internet (generally Packers content creators and podcasters). It’s sort of a more focused version of what I’m doing with this column; where I’m profiling Packer fans of all ages and backgrounds, they’re profiling Packers podcasters and content creators. I’m not much of a podcast listener myself, but I’ve tuned in to a couple episodes and it’s got a really great, positive vibe.

Dawn grew up in Racine, Wisconsin (30-40 minutes south of Milwaukee, for those who are not from the area) and went to school at Carthage College in Kenosha for graphic design and business administration, but she’s lived in southern California for more than half her life. Despite being a Wisconsinite by birth, she initially did not take a big interest in the team.

“Believe it or not, I wasn’t into the Packers, didn’t drink beer or eat bratwurst, meat in general even though I grew up surrounded by Packers, Bucks and Brewers fans!” said Dawn. “I HATE condiments and gag at the smell of ketchup so there’s that. I now appreciate a good European or craft beer but still lean Vegan.”

That being said, growing up in Wisconsin during a Packers golden age, it was difficult for Dawn to not be surrounded by the Packers hooplah. Though she may not have been a strong fan herself, her family certainly was invested, and she has many fond memories growing up associated with the Packers as a result.

She used to play football with her brother and other kids on the block, and would beg to get to e Bart Starr (and she believes her brother, Rory, even said yes at least once). During the Lombardi era, her family would also make pilgrimages up to Green Bay. 

“[We drove] up to see the Packers practice with the whole fam, where the players would chat with fans over a fence,” she said. “Mostly I remember tumbling around on the ground.”

She remembers her family’s black and white television tuned into the Ice Bowl, and racing across the TV during commercials so her dad wouldn’t yell out, “Hey! You make a better door than a window!”

“I remember that game like ti was yesterday, and I seemed to develop an image that ALL games were like that,” she recalled. “Icy, wet, muddy and kind of disgusting to a prissy little girl.”

Her aunt, uncle and other family friends were in attendance, and she remembered being concerned about whether they’d turn into icicles or if they would even come home alive. For a girl who was around six years old at the time, this was a very real concern.

So while Dawn has some early memories of football in the greatest era of Packers history, these are not the moments that made her into a true fan. That didn’t arrive until quite a bit later in life when she met her friend Bonnie.

“[Bonnie’s] a walking sports encyclopedia I met about 15 years ago here in San Diego, when I wasn’t really a football fan AT ALL,” said Dawn. “When she discovered I was from Wisconsin she burst out with joy and said ‘You must be a Packer fan!’ I wasn’t! I said ‘no,’ but she was and she never really took ‘no’ for an answer. So it began.”

Bonnie ended up inviting Dawn over to watch games, and as they were watching she would explain the history of the team and everything that was happening on the field. Her husband made them paninis as they watched the game from Bonnie’s king-sized bed. 

This was when the seed was planted; Bonnie took her time to explain the game, and Dawn soaked it in. 

“Bonnie is in her late 80s now and we still text during and after the games, but she claims her husband doesn’t allow her to watch because of her blood pressure,” Dawn said. “We laugh about this all year via text. I am a nervous wreck during games–really, the entire weekend!”

Meanwhile, Dawn’s family back home was thrilled to hear that Bonnie’s influence turned Dawn into an official Packer fan at long last, after years of her actively disliking the sport. 

Bonnie ended up taking Dawn to see Aaron Rodgers play his first game as a starting quarterback and helped her make a sign to take into Lambeau. 

Today, Dawn describes gameday as being “ALL DAY FOOTBALL,” a remarkable shift from earlier phases of her life. When she used to live in Wisconsin she would occasionally go to games, but the combination of cold and condiment smells (along with her own lack of interest in the sport) typically led her to turn down invites. But now when she visits family she tries to arrange trips as much as possible. Even if there’s not a game, she tries to get up to visit Lambeau and Titletown at least once a year.

When not in the state, she supports her team all the way from southern California. She often attends Chargers parties with friends for the food and socialization, and has grown an affinity for the team, but make no mistake: her priority is the Packers. And the last couple years in particular she’s cranked up the gameday energy.

“Since the pandemic, I just have my own personal football party day and cram in games as soon as I am done with my morning zoom worship,” she said. “It’s hard because I am on West Coast time, so even noon games start at 10 a.m. here. It involves snacks and usually one craft beer, and I scream my brains out. I won’t answer the phone and only texts about the games on Sundays. I watch MNF and TNF while recording our podcast. I have become obsessed. And I get completely emotionally spent at the end of every Sunday.”

As she’s become more and more invested in the team, she’s also developed a list of moments that stand out. There are a few memorable and/or powerful moments in particular that stand out to her.

For Super Bowl XLV, she spent the day with friends in San Diego, and happened to carpool with one of her best friends whose husband was a Steelers fan. 

“I had to be careful about celebrating too much, and really I was the only Packers fan there,” she said. “I was afraid to cheer, but my phone blew up (Bonnie and my sister, mostly) and I had some kind of internal fireworks experience. It’s when it really sunk that Chargers fans, for example, didn’t share the consistency, hope and history the Packers offered and the kind of memories I had from childhood. It’s when I really appreciated what a rich heritage I had a sa Wisconsin native. I really appreciate the entire Packers organization and philosophy.”

As an example of this, Dawn points to the day Vince Lombardi died, a day she clearly remembers from her childhood, long before she was a fan herself. 

“We were on vacation in Rhinelander and the entire resort went hush,” she recalled. “It was crushing to everyone around me. As usual, I didn't really know what was happening, but I could feel the weight of the news on everyone. We sat around a radio to listen. Everyone was at a whisper. Everyone stopped everything, including eating. Will never forget.”

It was the kind of moment that showed just how much the Packers and the team’s icons mean to the people of Wisconsin and the Packer fans around the globe, and how closely the team and fans are intertwined.

She also thinks about her father showing her the book her brother Rory gave him about Brett Favre, and watching the games with her parents as they aged on her visits out to Wisconsin. Even when Dawn had no idea what was going on in the games, she delighted over watching them and their friends “go batshit crazy” over the games. 

“My dad always shared the things that interested him, but I usually was clueless and I wish I had those days back,” she recalled. “My mother said when they were younger he would be depressed all week when they would lose!”

Dawn considers herself something of an emotional fan herself these days, “definitely not even-keeled,” and still hurts from the endings of the last two seasons. A trait she may have inherited from her father. As a fan, she loves watching good sportsmanship, prefers watching games alone so she doesn’t get interrupted, and always mutes the television to listen to Wayne Larivee and Larry McCarren to avoid the national broadcasts.

And as previously mentioned, she now has a podcast, something friends and family would likely never have expected out of the Dawn who once hated football. 

“I love the podcast medium and consume tons of podcast and YouTube shows, football and non-football, since the inception of podcasts,” Dawn says. “I pretty much have watched zero tv most of my adult life.”

Her consumption of football podcasts increased dramatically during the pandemic when she discovered Cheesehead TV, Tom Grossi and Pack-A-Day.

“I am recovering from a decade of multiple spinal surgeries and serious complications, so I was already on a form of lockdown and felt the world closing in when the pandemic hit,” she said. “Finding something new to bury myself in has been a lifesaver!”

She saw Matt Pickett on Twitter would often comment on the same threads and accounts she was following, and they ended up connecting via the platform. They both participated in the Pack-a-Day Mock Draft in 2021 and bonded over that. They both were on a similar path in terms of the stay-at-home orders and binging on Packers content, so they became fast friends.

Soon, their own content journey began.

“I felt like there must be others like us who would like to learn more about the game and maybe didn’t have a Bonnie to give them a crash course,” said Dawn. “So I thought it would be fun to chat and compare what we learned each week and just record our conversations as a podcast. So I asked Matt, since we shared similar sensibilities, and he said sure. I really was (and continue to be) bursting with enthusiasm about the layers and layers of Packers content and felt there was a need to highlight some of it for people who might not have the time to sift through it the way I was.”

With Dawn being a designer and artist and Matt being a musician, the two were able to put together a theme song and podcast art, then just got down to work. They’ve had a variety of great guests in their run so far. 

“We’ve shared a ton of laughs and really cherish hearing everyone’s Packer origin story like you do,” she said. “They are all precious and unique. Our Signature Superlatives is a hit and was surprised how most guests really put into their contribution and looked forward to sharing. We are blown away by the positive response to our show, and I am gushing about our next guest, Andy Herman, the Packers Pod-Father himself! I loved having Joey on. Love what he and Big B are doing and supporting the kiddos! They would probably hate me saying that.”

When I asked Dawn to give some shout-outs or if she had any stories she wanted to share, she had a lot to say. She did begin a Packers Pets community, prompted in part by her own recent kitten adoptions of Taches (French for Spots) and LaFleur (you can guess the origin there). She also is happy to be the Bonnie to anyone who needs one.

“If you need a gramma, I will virtually adopt you as I have dubbed myself the Packers Glamma to honor the way Bonnie took her under her wing, for the Packers and everything in life! Just think, I was able to experience Bart Starr, Favre and Rodgers. Hopefully JLove will be just as epic and have a long career with the Packers!”

She gave many shoutouts, including to her family, to Matt, to other West Coast Packer fans, and many more. 

Depending on her health and the state of the Pandemic, she’s hoping to make it out to see the Packers playing at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, which would be her first visit to the beautiful new stadium. Ands he hopes to meet the west coast Packer contingent as well.

But most importantly:

“Shout out to my family for putting up with me all those years hating football!” 

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Dawn is just an absolute joy. Thanks to her for the great responses to my questions! If you’re on Twitter, be sure to follow her at @DawnDacquisito, and check out “Hey! We Like Your Pod” on Spotify or anywhere else you find podcasts.

NEXT WEEK: A one-week break from this series. There’ll be a whole lot to discuss post-draft, so I’m busting out a special offseason edition of Hello Wisconsin. Get ready for a bunch of Packer thoughts, as well as Wisconsin Beer of the Week (Month/Season) and plenty of other random nuggets. The series will resume after that!