Prior to this role, Christl worked as a newspaper reporter for over 30 years at newspapers in Wisconsin, including the Manitowoc Herald Times, the Green Bay Press-Gazette and the Milwaukee Journal (which became the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel during his tenure).
[4] Christl's father, also named Clifford, fought in World War II, but died shortly after his son's birth.
His mother remarried and Christl noted he spent a lot of his childhood with his grandmother, who worked at Wade House Historic Site, and was the one who originally got him interested in history.
He attended University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh, where he majored in political science but ended up taking journalism courses in his senior year.
The Trail identifies 25 historic sites related to the history of the Packers and marks them with commemorative bronze plaques.
[5] In 2021, Christl released The Greatest Story in Sports: Green Bay Packers 1919–2019, a four-part book with over 1,000 pages total, as the definitive history of the team.
[11] Christl has a close association with the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame, which he helped reorganize during its redevelopment in 2015.