When Pride Still Mattered: A Life Of Vince Lombardi by David Maraniss

When Pride Still Mattered: A Life Of Vince Lombardi Reviews

• 
  Dan

  Marannis is an excellent and thorough biographer. After reading When Pride Still Mattered, I came away feeling like I knew Lombardi and the arc of his life which is the goal of most biographers.
  
  I think the genius of Marannis's writing lies in a consistent narrative. Show don't tell being the adage. You might think there would be several chapters on the Packer's two Super Bowl wins. In fact there are only a few pages on these monumental achievements in an otherwise lengthy book. He treats every period of Lombardi's life evenly which I guess is largely how we remember our own lives.
  
  There are only two reasons that I did not give this book the full five stars. First, there was a tendency to omit timelines. While the book was laid out chronologically it was easy to get lost in the years and months of Lombardi's life. The second issue was, that as a football fan, I felt the description of the individual games could have been more dramatic.
  
  I think the relationships between Lombardi and his family and players are exceptionally well drawn and if you are interested in a really good biography without all the minutia of the x's and o's of football then this is an excellent read.
  
  There was a fair amount of nostalgia here for me. I reflected on my own football fan of a father who reached adulthood in the late 40's and fully embraced the Lombardi mystique and ethos of hard work and roughly hewn edges.
• 
  Bob

  Summary: The biography of Green Bay Packers football coach Vince Lombardi, showing a man striving for excellence in, and caught in the tensions of the three priorities in his life: faith, family, and football.
  
  Growing up a Cleveland Browns fan in the 1960's, if there was any team that quenched our hopes in the Jim Brown era, it was the Green Bay Packers quarterbacked by Bart Starr, with Hornung and Taylor in the backfield. And behind it all was legendary coach Vince Lombardi, for whom the Superbowl trophy is named, a coach with a consuming drive to win, characterized by the quote, "Winning isn't everything, it is the only thing."
  
  David Maraniss is another author in the mold of George Will and David Halberstam, writing political biographies of Bill Clinton and Al Gore, but also fine pieces of sports writing including a biography of Roberto Clemente and this work on Lombardi. He traces the rise of Lombardi, the son of a Sheepshead Bay butcher, through his playing days at Fordham (one of the Seven Blocks of Granite, even though an average, but intense, player at best), through his first high school coaching positions, returning as assistant coach at Fordham, then five years at West Point under Red Blaik, perhaps the most formative in his development as a coach, and then the years as an assistant with the New York Giants, alongside fellow assistant Tom Landry. By this time, in 1959, he was in his mid-40s and beginning to despair of ever getting a head coaching position, wondering if his Italian name and heritage was working against him.
  
  But Marannis' biography goes far beyond football. Lombardi was a deeply religious man, whose outlook was profoundly shaped by Catholic educators, notably ethics professor Ignatius Wiley Cox, S. J. whose teaching defined character as "an integration of habits of conduct superimposed on temperament, the will exercised on disposition, thought, emotion, and action." In both New York and Green Bay, he attended Mass daily, carried a rosary with him, and counted a number of priests as close friends. There was a continuity between his religious aspirations and football, as Marannis notes:
  
  "The fundamental principles that he used in coaching--repetition, discipline, clarity, faith, subsuming individual ego to a larger good--were merely extensions of the religious ethic he learned from the Jesuits. In that sense, he made no distinction between the practice of religion and the sport of football" (p. 245).
  
  He was also a family man, deeply in love with Marie, and yet the constantly fought, and she struggled between devotion to Vince's coaching success, and deep depression, alcoholism, and occasional overdoses. He struggled with his relationship with his children, particularly his son and namesake, Vincent. The demands of NFL coaching made him a more or less absentee father, who rarely attended his son's games.
  
  Perhaps his struggle with an explosive temper revealed the tension he wrestled with to be true to his aspirations of faith, family and football. His son Vincent said of him:
  
  "He went to mass to repent for his anger....He thought, I've got this temper. I fly off the handle and offend people. I apologize. But it's this temper that keeps me on edge and allows me to get things done and people to do things. Life was a struggle for him. He knew he wasn't perfect. He had a lot of habits that were far from perfect. His strengths were his weaknesses and vice versa. He fought it by taking the paradox to church. It went back to the Jesuits and the struggle between the shadow self and the real self--your humanity and your divinity. He saw that struggle in clear and concrete terms."
  
  When Lombardi reaches Green Bay he takes a losing team and turns them into winners in a season, championship contenders the next and champions by the third season as head coach and general manager of the Packers. Marannis portrays him as a relentless teacher with the ability to simplify things in the minds of his players so they knew exactly what was expected of them, typified in the "Packer sweep". He demonstrated skilled psychological insights, pushing one player, coaching another, being like a son to Bart Starr. One of the fascinating sidelights was his commitment to racial equality, and even his sensitivities to homosexual players on his teams.
  
  Lombardi reached the pinnacle of coaching success with his victories in the first two Superbowls. But things were changing. The league and its players were changing. He was tired. After a year as just General Manager, he became coach for the hapless Washington Redskins, once again turning them into a winning team in one season. Sadly, that is all he had. Marie was the first to notice and fear the worst. On September 3, 1970, he "ran to win" one more time, passing away from a particularly malignant form of colon cancer.
  
  Marannis portrays a complex, multi-dimensional man, who called out the best in players wherever he coached and yet struggled to connect with his own children, who never questioned the faith in which he was raised, but often struggled to live up to its tenets, who adored and constantly squabbled with his troubled wife. He gives us a richly textured biography of a man whose life could not adequately be captured by anything less.
• 
  Don

  I'm a football fan, and I'm a student of excellence -- that is, I like learning from those who have attained excellence in hopes of improving my own professional habits and skills -- and for these reasons, I loved this book. I'm not sure if
  When Pride Still Mattered would appeal to non-football fans, but perhaps. The book is a great character study, as Maraniss delves into the inner workings of a complicated, intriguing man, one of those distant post-war men who couldn't be called a great father or husband but did his best. Moreover, the book also chronicles many key events in the years following the war. Like Forrest Gump, Lombardi lived through many of these events -- from the assassination of his friend John F. Kennedy to racial integration -- and often played a surprising and inspiring role. I was especially touched by the old Catholic's accepting views of homosexuals, his own brother as well as some of his players. So on second thought, yes, I think there's probably something in here for most readers.
• 
  Kris Roedig

  There are biographies that highlight, usually, a small part of the subject’s youth - then a brief bit about young adulthood and on to their path of whatever accompaniment they’re known for.
  
  Then there are books such as “When Pride Mattered” where author David Maraniss dug so deeply into the life of Vincent Lombardi, I’m a bit surprised he didn’t mention the brand of toilet paper the Hall of Fame coach used.
  
  Lombardi was awfully progressive in his day - something that was pretty unheard of in his tenure. His life was not an easy one, certainly. Heartache, despair, and triumph- all the great parts of a great story.
  
  This book does very little to let the reader/listener in on Lombardi’s methods on coaching. Instead, it’s a story about the man and his family and his passion.
  
  Green Bay, Wisconsin will always be synonymous with Lombardi and for good reason. He literally may be the person who put it on the map.
  
  I’m proud to be a Green Bay native- born, where else, but a hospital named St. Vincent’s.
  
  Definitely a book for fans of Packers or Lombardi himself. A complete life with a lot of great happenings.
• 
  Nicholas

  Well written. Never a dull moment. I did not know half of what I learned in this book. More than just a book for a football fan.
• 
  Gavin

  I guess this review is more about the format than the actual book, but sweet bleeding Jesus on the cross, do biographies alway have to be so dry? In any other book, a cohesion of direction and story arc is a must. For reasons unclear to me, biographies exist in their own world...a world in which the exact dates of Vince Lombardi's attendance to summer camp at age 8 are presented as pertinent information. This is a problem for me. Just because it happened, and, due to some fluke of research, this information is still existent, does not necessarily make it relevant to the book.
  
  Perhaps I'm approaching it unfairly. Perhaps a biographers mission is to set down the facts for the storage of history, rather than tell a story. Maybe documentation is separate from 'writing'. I suppose that nobody suggests Encyclopedia Brittanica write more engaging entries. Still, I'm always left with nagging memories of high school papers. The assignment was for ten pages, so ten pages you would fill with whatever irrelevant information you could scrape out of the nearest encyclopedia. Is it all true? Sure. Is it good writing?
  
  Vince Lombardi is a legend of the gridiron, but this book just didnt make it happen for me. The chapters about his legendary coaching career are interesting, but the rest is just sifting through the detritus of an average American family man. Some (of the many) glowing reviews on the cover express fascination with the 'complicated, flawed character' of the man, but come on. He's just a man like any other, and no one should be surprised by that. Everyone has complications and flaws beneath the surface. What makes lombardi interesting is that he's come to stand for something more. Batman is just a dude with a mask on, but he's more than that...and altogether more interesting for the mythos. I have no desire to know where Bruce Wayne went to summer camp.
• 
  David Crow

  David Maraniss writes with a clarity and beauty that seem effortless. That’s not easy to do. Starting with Vince Lombardi as a young man, Maraniss shows us how he became the most idolized sports hero of our time. I learned so much along the way. Just a delight. Highly recommend.
• 
  Brian Kuyper

  As a die hard Green Bay Packers fan, this was a must read for me to learn the legend behind Vince Lombardi. The author did a tremendous job of giving details on how Lombardi thought about football, and how much of an impact he made from the high school level and ultimately into the NFL. He also provided great insights on how people should live their lives and pursue goals.
  
  Through all of the players, coaches, reporters, and close friends, it was inspiring to see the impact he made with everyone he met. Lombardi was the kind of guy that would help any close friend or stranger he ran into to make sure they were helped before he helped himself. He always made sure to get every ounce out of someone, whether that person believes they could do it or not. With being such a big proponent of the NFL in the 60s, leaving his mark on the Packers and the league, it made sense for the commissioner to name the Super Bowl trophy after him. Lombardi isn’t just a packers great, he is a football great.
  
  I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the NFL or anyone who is looking to see how a leader is supposed to lead people.
• 
  Katie Osborne

  Admittedly, I skimmed most of the play-by-plays that defined each championship chapter as that can be found anywhere. What cannot be found just anywhere are the detailed descriptions of Lombardi's past and personal life. He was truly a force of a man that defined a decade, not only in football, but in America. His resounding words and wisdom echo through every football arena today and will forever.
• 
  Asher Pless

  This book made me a fan of David Maraniss.
  
  This book goes far beyond the usual biography of a sports figure. In it the reader actually comes to believe they not only personally know Vince Lombardi, but his wife, and their children, too. We know their foibles, their strengths, and their weaknesses, too. We even know that they never used the fireplace even though they lived in cold Green Bay, Wisconsin because Vince had a fear of fire from a childhood incident.
  
  It was no surprise that the author brought out that Lombardi was a domineering personality, one that could often be perceived as a bully. Maraniss brings to life the other sides of Lombardi, though, the ones that don't get touched on so often. That we was an altar boy even when he was the most famous coach in the country. That he was far more liberal in his thinking than most people would believe.
  
  All in all by far the best biography of a sports figure I have ever read and I have read a good number.
  
  My scoring system is based on the following attributes:
  
  Plot: As a biography over famous individual the plot could be assumed. But the author took us outside of the expected path so that we actually came to understand the makeup of the man rather than just his coaching life. 5 Stars.
  
  Writing Style: Easy to read, excellent command of vocabulary, the author has a natural flow in his style that just carries you along. 5 Stars
  
  Editing: Excellent, no complaints at all. A well organized and cohesive book. 5 stars
  
  Character development: This is a biography, but it was a far deeper biography than usual, where the author went deep enough into the family that the reader feels like they know not only the subject but his wife, children, parents, and even his friends. 5 stars.
  
  Cover design. This is the only weakness I could really criticize. The cover is just a black and white picture of Vince Lombardi standing on the sidelines. There is nothing dramatic, but that may have been on purpose. 4 stars.
  
  
• 
  Gabriel

  Being a figure so representative of how baby boomers conceive the world as of now, it surprised me to know that Vince Lombardi was one of the first coaches that accepted black and gay players in his locker room without prejudice. I started reading this book because I, a lifelong Packers fan, wanted to understand how this apparent contradiction played out in the life of a character I've always heard of but little knew about. At first, I thought I would get the portrait of a character with SJW values hidden behind a facade of a strong man.
  
  The answer that I got from David Maraniss' biography was not the one that I was hoping to get. Vince Lombardi was, indeed, an authoritative figure. He believed in order and discipline and was repelled by the culture of freedom of the 1960s. He just happened to be a democrat with an unprejudiced nature best exemplified by the phrase muttered by Henry Jordan: "Lombardi treated us all the same: like dogs".
  
  Nevertheless, I grew fond of the character portrayed by Maraniss. Lombardi was all too human to be the iron man presented by sports anthologies. He was a distant father and husband and had often mood swings. These traits made him the legend he is now: his "winning is not a sometime thing is an all-time thing" mentality that pushed him away from his family and his emotional nature were essential to mold Lombardi into the best coach in football history.
  
  One thing I was marveled to know was the fact that Lombardi was devoted to the teachings of San Ignacio de Loyola and that his "Spiritual Exercises" influenced the way he saw life and the way he instructed discipline into his players. The fact that Lombardi viewed himself more like a teacher than a coach explains a lot about Lombardi: an authoritative figure that loved his players as if they were his sons.
  
  I also appreciated the way Maraniss presents the historical background of the era Lombardi lived. The journalism of Grantland Rice and the portrayal of football before the super bowl era were both high notes of this book for me.
  
  Most of all, I will remember this book for making me grew fond of so many figures I already revered. Not just Lombardi: Starr, Hornung, Kramer, Taylor, Nitchske, Gregg and all those legendary players are well represented in this biography.
  
  This was also the first audiobook I ever read. I enjoyed the experience in great part due to the voice of Ricard M Davidson. He reminded me of John Facenda, "The Voice of God".
• 
  Todd Stockslager

  Review title: What is everything and the only thing
  I have now in order read biographies of the two greatest football coaches of the 20th century. I hadn't intended to, but after finishing Paterno, and with Maraniss' highly-honored biography of Lombardi on my ready-to-read shelf, I felt the pairing unavoidable and perhaps worthwhile.
  
  The similarities between the two men was sometimes striking:
  
  They came from the same place, Brooklyn, and their paths even crossed briefly, when the high school coached by Lombardi beat the high school team featuring Paterno at back.
  They came from similar roots: large families of recent Italian immigrants. Lombardi's parents had come from Italy, but adopted their new country and culture whole, insisting on English being spoken in the home. Even so, both Paterno and Lombardi valued and cherished their heritage.
  Perhaps because of that heritage, both men hated discrimination in any form, and were among the first to welcome and encourage African-American players into their largely white communities in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
  They shared similar interests, both reading widely in literature and history, both putting the lie to the "dumb jock" image of players and coaches, and maintaining their wide range of interests throughout their lives.
  Both languished long years before reaching the pinnacle they were both so ambitious and certain they were capable of reaching. Paterno's long years as an assistant at Penn State were matched by Lombardi's long journey from Catholic high school head coach to college assistant (at Fordham and then West Point) to NFL assistant (leading the New York Giants offense while Tom Landry lead the defense, certainly the strongest assistant coaching pair in NFL history).
  
  
  But both did finally achieve their dreams, and found them perhaps both more and less than they hoped. It is easy to say they were driven to win (Lombardi, famous for the quote that winning is not just everything but the only thing, didn't originate it, and Maraniss devotes a brief but interesting chapter to the history of the phrase) but that drive alone neither accounts for their success, and for their inability to enjoy it beyond the moment. While Paterno found his career continuing beyond the peak of his success driven by some single-minded pursuit or perhaps because having driven so long for it that he was incapable of another path of mind, Lombardi found his health consumed by his devotion to his ambition, and by his stubborn refusal to seek treatment for internal illness that took him as a relatively young man after attempting to recreate his success with the Washington Redskins.
  
  As a young football fan when Lombardi went to the Redskins after his brilliant years of success in Green Bay (five championships in nine years), I remembered before reading that he had not lasted long with the Redskins and hadn't been able to recreate his success there, but I didn't know why and assumed he had faded in failure. In fact, he had only one season with the Redskins, taking the down and out franchise to its first winning season in many years, when he was cut down by colon cancer. In a way, by placing this end in context, Maraniss while humanizing the legend has enhanced it in my mind; he hadn't been a failure, he had died before he could achieve the success he certainly would have given time!
  
  But Maraniss, writing in a more classic biographical style than Joe Posnanski in his Paterno book, certainly makes no effort to gloss over the inadequacies of Lombardi the man. While beloved by the community and (if begrudgingly and sometimes after the fact) his players, he was not a great husband and father. While he was a faithful husband to wife Marie, he was often so absorbed in his work he failed to attend to her needs and desires, especially as his job path took him hop-scotching around the northeast and then to the frigid hinterlands of Green Bay. Similarly, his relationships with son Vincent and daughter Susan were alternately distant or strained, as neither met his expectations or were able to find his attention long enough to register as much as his players, coaches, and fans.
  
  I am rating the Lombardi biography one star less than the Paterno one, not because it is not as well written and researched (it is, despite the difference in style), but because the subject was not so recently an open wound in my life and those who follow football and current events. Writing from a further emotional distance, Maraniss had the time to give a considered and balanced approach to Lombardi that lacks just a bit of the immediacy of Posnanski's first-draft study of the recently-passed Paterno, while at the same time providing more depth and breadth.
  
  In the end, Lombardi's life, while cut short, was not as tragic as Paterno's rapid and utter fall from legend. In fact, Maraniss makes the point briefly in the epilogue that perhaps Lombardi was better served to leave a world early that was on the brink of finding him either irrelevant or bypassed by events, the "win-at-all-costs" symbol of a rigid conservatism being dashed to pieces by the turbulence of the late 1960s. While Lombardi was not a rigid conservative (he was in fact a Kennedy Democrat), his fame and legendary status had put him on a pedestal in a place not of his own choosing.
  
  Perhaps this position, so much like Paterno's, was their greatest similarity, their greatest weakness, and in the end their greatest mystery.
• 
  Robert Lester

  Phenominal book on leadership and football. As a lifetime Chicago Bears fan, I have to say that I look at the Packers differently now. God bless you Vince Lombardi.
• 
  Andrew Smith

  I listened to this as an audiobook, read by the author. For anyone interested in sport (like me) it's a fascinating insight into a man who became a top coach: his upbringing, his playing career (limited as it was) and ultimately his distinguished years coaching the American Football team the Green Bay Packers. What I liked most was the anecdotes about specific games and incidents that drew out his personality (tough, driven, obsessed even) and his coaching methods (rigorous, hugely detailed, very specific). In one sense this book presents Lombardi one dimensional character only interested in winning football games, but dig under the surface and you see a love for his players which, at times, tortured him but was at the very core of his ability to motivate and inspire a group of men to become the greatest team of his generation.
• 
  Tom Hill

  Excellent book. I had never read much about Coach Lombardi but found this to be a very well balanced and interesting account of his life. The author did not get carried away with the bigger-than-life aspect of Lombardi but gave us a good look at the man, warts and all. I am always amazed at the sacrifices great mean have to make in their lives, and those closes to them that have to sacrifice also. The lack of closeness with his son and the problems that his wife had to deal with are two examples. Lombardi had the ability to make men believe they could achieve great things, taught them what they had to do to accomplish them, then inspired them to make it happen. The true signs of a great leader in football and in life.
• 
  The Scrivener's Quill

  This is my fourth or fifth time with this book. It is one of those books that any lover of the game of football should read at the start of the season, or listen to. David Maraniss honors the life of Vince Lombardi and is a pleasant narrator to his work. This book is like the first warm cup of soup of autumn. Take it on a drive, enjoy the leaves changing colors, and prepare for the big game on Saturday.
• 
  Kifflie

  Maraniss has written a beautifully researched and balanced biography of Vince Lombardi, a man who was much more complex than people think. It's sad to think that this was a man who was so driven to succeed, yet couldn't manage to take care of himself. Fifty-seven was way too young for him to die. The book is a long slog, but worth the time.
• 
  Todd Miles

  Excellent page turner. The author brought out the significance of Lombardi’s Jesuit background and how it shaped his coaching and leadership. I learned much about the NFL during the 50's and 60's. I thoroughly loved the book.
• 
  Michael

  Almost certainly the most well-researched sports biography I have ever read.
• 
  Lyn

  Excellent biography and a very well written book in its own right. Colorful, brilliant description of life in New York when Vince was a boy.
• 
  Tim

  Another outstanding book by Maraniss. An amazing book about an amazing coach.
• 
  Robert Guida III

  This is by far the worst book I have ever read in my entire life. Don't read this.
• 
  Craig

  The writing of David Maraniss has offered enjoyment and knowledge to me over the years; the decision to return to a biography of football coach, husband and father Vince Lombardi proved pretty easy. First published in 1999, Maraniss‘ book 'When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi' offers a clear and informative narrative of the man, his times, what shaped his life and the life of his family.
  
  Family and his Roman Catholic faith were early influences over the work ethic and philosophy that would inform the man Vince Lombardi would become. Having grown up in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, the decision to attend Fordham University in the Bronx came rather naturally as a place to keep those ties and play football. Discipline and playing through pain and hardship were highlights of many early experiences shared in the Maraniss biography, along with the mythmaking and writing styles for how reports of college football were written of at the time. That Lombardi needed to work to break the lineup, and the feeling of contributing to a goal larger than himself, were early lessons that informed the coach Lombardi would become.
  
  Lombardi‘s path into coaching football was not a given, having been born in 1913 and coming of age during the Great Depression. The steps Lombardi took into coaching and teaching at Roman Catholic schools, with decisions around if and when to move into the high school ranks not always being straightforward. A degree of discipline and honoring of commitments factored into when not to move on, though the influences of his playing days and the underpinnings of those early teaching experiences where Lombardi led and developed a philosophy for how to speak to his chosen audience influenced his landing work at the West Point, a military academy of the United States based in New York state.
  
  What Lombardi knew about football landed him work at West Point. Beyond affirming a sense of the organized development and motivation of men, Lombardi‘s time there offered an insight into dedicated documentation of film to review the tendencies of each individual player on plays. Lombardi further took a sense of how to simplify game plans down to the core points of emphasis, rather than focusing his players on understanding the full scope of the playbook. The academic cheating scandal revealed in 1951, during the time Lombardi coached at West Point, would influence the erstwhile coach later in his career despite Lombardi reportedly having no knowledge of the scheme at the point it occurred.
  
  There was some degree of unease for Lombardi following his time in the college ranks, with his first advance into the NFL (National Football League) being as an assistant coach for the New York Giants from 1954 to 1958. Tom Landry would be an assistant coach for the Giants beside Lombardi, with Lombardi leaving in February 1959 to become the General Manager and head coach of the Green Bay Packers in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
  
  Lombardi had complicated relationships with his wife and children as he began transforming the Packers into a team that won five NFL championships, including the first two Super Bowls in his final two seasons as Packers coach. Many of the principles learned earlier in his career led to the grueling approach to coaching the team, though all who could withstand that rigor reportedly responded to Lombardi with loyalty and success. A gambling scandal in part led to the transition from Paul Hornung to Bart Starr as Packers quarterback during Lombardi‘s tenure. Both players would be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Lombardi‘s career would finish with the Washington Redskins (now Washington Commanders) in Washington, DC.
  
  The rough outlines of the life and career of Vince Lombardi are hinted at with the above details from the biography written by David Maraniss. The Maraniss thoughtfulness, thoroughness and engaging detail offer clear perspectives about the cultural place of pride for Lombardi and the football people who followed his lead. This notion applied for Lombardi and his family as well, though the relationships there were a bit more complicated, with a sense of who Vince and Marie Lombardi were to each other and their kids showing up over time, including at the time of Vince Lombardi‘s death in September 1970. I grant 'When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi' as written by David Maraniss 4.0-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
• 
  M. Newman

  This biography of the legendary football coach, Vince Lombardi was one of the best sports biographies I have read. Beginning with Lombardi’s upbringing in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, author, David Maraniss covers the formation of his religious philosophy to the beginning of his football career as one of the famed “7 Blocks of Granite” of the great Fordham University football team of the mid 1930s. After graduating from Fordham, Lombardi landed a coaching job at St. Cecilia HS in Englewood, N.J., turning them into a New Jersey powerhouse. From there, he went on to be an assistant coach to the great Red Blaik at West Point whom he credited for the rest of his career as being his mentor. Lombardi’s next stop was the NY Giants as Assistant Coach of the Offense ( a position known these days as Offensive Coordinator. ) Lombardi was highly successful at that position as was his colleague, Tom Landry, the Defensive Coordinator who went on to become the terrific Head Coach of the Dallas Cowboys.
  Finally, after years of failing for many years to land a head coaching job, Lombardi was hired as Head Coach of the Green Bay Packers, a once proud franchise which had fallen on hard times. The Packers had become the laughing stock of the NFL when they hired the unproven Lombardi and many so-called experts felt that they had made a big mistake by signing a man with no prior head-coaching experience.
  Well, the unproven hire, went on to coach the Packers, who had finished the previous season with a record of 1-10-1, to their first winning record in more than 10 years. They went on to win 6 championships in his 10 years as their Head Coach.
  As many biographies do, this one covered his relationships with his family and his friends, his philosophical beliefs and his conflicts. Of course, it also covered his relationships with his players.
  I really enjoyed the football history presented in this book and the nostalgia of remembering players and events from the days when I was a youngster but to me, (perhaps because I have been a basketball coach for more than 35 years ) the most touching chapter of the book was the one near the end when scores of Lombardi’s former teammates came to visit him on his deathbed. Their conversations with and/or reactions to him nearly brought me to tears.