In 1967, the Penrith Panthers made it – being accepted along with Cronulla-Sutherland, into the Sydney 1st Division Premiership.
As late as 1966 Penrith had played in the 2nd Division wearing blue and white. But on elevation to the top grade they found that Cronulla-Sutherland had already registered blue, white and black.
At that time Newtown were also playing in royal blue and there was the well-known blue and white strip of Canterbury, as such a decision was made to change the club colours to brown and white.
The Panther had been chosen as the Penrith emblem in 1964 after a public competition was won by a graphic artist from Emu Plains named Deidre Copeland.
The first premiership team was: Bill Tonkin, Bob Landers, Dave Applebee, Ern Gillon, Wayne Peckham, Maurie Raper, Laurie Fagan, Tony Brown (captain), Wal Crust, Bill McCall, Geoff Waldie, Barry Harris and Ron Workman.
The team played its first pre-season trial against Cronulla-Sutherland on February 24th. Penrith won 18-12, in front of a crowd of 18,768.
Their first premiership match was against Canterbury on April 2nd and Penrith led 12-10 until the final 15 minutes, when Canterbury overhauled them to win 15-12.
On April 23rd, 1967 Penrith Park was officially opened with a match between the Panthers and the reigning premiers, St George.
The Panthers won 24-12 in front of 12,201 spectators. Penrith finished the season in 11th place, with 12 points from five wins, two draws and 11 losses.
The team’s results were mixed over the years until 1990 when Penrith reached its first grand final, where Canberra beat them 18-14.
That year, four Penrith players – Brad Fittler, John Cartwright, Greg Alexander and Mark Geyer were named in the Asutralian Kangaroos squad.
Despite the grand final loss, premiership glory was not far away and would arrive in 1991.
In a repeat of the previous grand final, the Panthers played Canberra. This time, Penrith won 19-12, with Royce Simmons famously b=playing the role of hero with two crucial tries.
The years from 1992 until 1996 were disappointing ones for the Penrith club. Injuries, internal dramas and a number of prominent departures to other clubs served to bring the Panthers back to earth in a big way.
Among the departures were star players Greg Alexander and Mark Geyer as well as coach and current general manager Phil Gould.
Despite all this the Panthers bounced back in 1997, winning all six of their matches in the Super League World Club Challenge series – played both in the UK and Australia.
They also made the Super League semi-finals by finishing fifth in the competition.
In a tense semi-final Penrith defeated Canterbury15-14 at Belmore to advance to the elimination final against Canberra at Bruce Stadium where they were knocked out 32-12 by their finals nemesis.