Lombardi Biography
Vincent Thomas Lombardi was born on June 11, 1913 in Brooklyn, New York, the first of Henry and Matilda Lombardi's five children. He was raised in the Catholic faith and studied the priesthood for two years before transferring to St. Francis Preparatory High School, where he was a star fullback on the football team.
Vince was accepted at New York City's Fordham University in 1933. After a year on the freshman team, varsity football coach "Sleepy" Jim Crowley (a Knute Rockne protégé) made 170-pound Vince a guard in Fordham's steadfast defensive line, which was tagged the "Seven Blocks of Granite." He was successful off the field as well, graduating magna cum laude with a business major in 1937.
For the next two years, Vince worked at a finance company, took night classes at Fordham's law school and played semi-pro football with Delaware's Wilmington Clippers. In 1939 he took a teaching and coaching job at St. Cecilia High School in Englewood, New Jersey. For $1,700 a year Vince taught Latin, algebra, physics and chemistry, and coached the football, basketball and baseball teams.
He married Marie Planitz in 1940, with whom he had a son, Vince Jr., and a daughter, Susan.
Vince left St. Cecilia in 1947 to coach at his Alma Mater, Fordham. He spent one year coaching Fordham's freshman football team and the next as an assistant coach for the varsity team.
Earl "Colonel Red" Blaik, football coach for the United States Military Academy at West Point (and considered the best coach in the country at the time), hired Vince to manage their varsity defensive line in 1949. Vince regularly worked 17-hour days with Blaik, whose expertise helped refine Vince's leadership skills. Blaik taught Vince to stick with clear-cut plays (simple blocking and tackling), strive for perfect execution and conduct himself respectively on the field.
Vince left West Point in 1954 for an assistant coaching position with the New York Giants, under head coach and former classmate Jim Lee Howell. Vince was in charge of offensive strategy for the Giants, while future Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry led the defense. The previous season, the Giants suffered with a 3-9 record and scored the least number of points in the league. Within three years of Vince's arrival, however, the Giants were a championship team. His leadership channeled the talents of football great Frank Gifford, whom he switched from defense to offense. For each of the five years that Vince coached the Giants, Gifford was nominated as a halfback on the all-pro team and the Giants did not have a losing season.
By 1958, the 45-year-old coach was tired of being an assistant. He accepted a challenging five-year contract in Wisconsin as the general manager and head coach of perpetual losers the Green Bay Packers. At the time, the Packers had no clout in professional football (they won only one game the previous year), and Vince saw them as a chance to prove himself and his coaching abilities. Vince held the first of his notoriously intense training camps to gear up for the 1959 season. "Dancing is a contact sport," he told the Packers, "Football is a hitting sport." Vince expected obedience, dedication and 110% effort from each man, but he also made a promise to them: if they obeyed his rules and used his method, they would be a championship team.
Three years later, that promise became a reality. At Lambeau Field in Green Bay on December 31, 1961, Vince watched proudly as the Packers defeated the New York Giants 37-0 for the National Football League championship.
Despite long hours and fierce competition, Vince never put forth anything but his best effort. Just as he drilled his men to be the paramount players in professional football, he challenged himself. Vince constantly looked to implement new plays and game strategies (even changing his players' jersey numbers before a game to confuse George "Papa Bear" Hallas' and his Chicago Bears). The Packer's offensive line became so powerful, their run was dubbed the "Green Bay Sweep."
In 1967, after nine phenomenal winning seasons with the Packers, Vince decided to retire as head coach (though he would still act as general manager). The Packers had dominated professional football under his direction, collecting six division titles, five NFL championships, two Super Bowls (I and II) and acquiring a record of 98-30-4. They had become the stick by which all other teams were measured.
After less than a year, however, Vince realized that he still wanted to coach. He accepted the head coaching position for the Washington Redskins in 1969. During that season, Vince kept what had become the Lombardi tradition and led the Redskins to their first winning record in 14 years. In January of 1970, his professional coaching record stood at a remarkable 105-35-6, unmarred by a losing season, and the NFL named him their acclaimed "1960s Man of the Decade."
Unfortunately, Vince would never have the opportunity to lead another team to the Super Bowl. He was diagnosed with intestinal cancer and died on September 3, 1970. Over 3,500 people attended his funeral (the news was filled with stories about fans who drove cross-country to be there), and tough football players cried openly. United States President Richard Nixon, who had telegrammed Vince get well wishes while he was ill, sent another telegram of condolence to Marie signed "The People." Vince was buried at Mount Olivett Cemetery, in Middletown, New Jersey.
Vince helped the men he coached succeed to the furthest of their abilities. He brought them pride and victory, and his legacy of perseverance, hard work and dedication has made him one of the most admired and well respected coaches in history.
Vince Lombardi was inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame in 1971. That same year, the Super Bowl trophy was renamed the Vince Lombardi Super Bowl Trophy in his honor. It is considered to be the National Football League's most prestigious award. In 2000, ESPN named him Coach of the Century.