Vince Lombardi, Old Warrior Coach

I’m an admirer of coach Vince Lombardi. How can you resist a coach who has the psychological insights of, say, Shakespeare?

It could have been Bassinio who said:
“Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.” But, it was Lombardi.

It could have been Ariel from The Tempest who mysteriously whispered,
‘If thou art not fired with enthusiasm, thou’ll be fired with enthusiasm.‘
But except for the ‘thou art’ part, it was Vince Lombardi who growled that memorable trope.

Lombardi’s romance with language might have come from his father, a Neopolitano straight from Italy; a butcher who sang while slinging the saws. Or it might have been from his mother, Matilda Izzo, or from her father, a barber who also sang… and who as a teenager eloped with the teen-aged love of his life, to come to America without a dollar to fold over.

Thus, Lombardi, a tough guy raised in Brooklyn, only 5′-8″ tall, #185, yet played pro guard, and … as a coach he sang a whole different way:
“It’s easy to have faith in yourself and have discipline when you’re a winner, when you’re number one. What you got to have is faith and discipline when you’re not a winner.”

And too, Lombardi was once studying for the priesthood, and you can see Catholic social justice teachings leaking through his speech:
“People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society.”

and maybe a bit of the old fashioned Puritan ethic too:
“The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.”

Coach Lombardi didnt become a coach til he was 41 years old, and at age 45 became coach of the Green Bay Packers …who had lost 10 out of 12 games in the previous season.

Lombardi tromped all over the team’s depression, cutting no slack, but instead, he drilled his team relentlessly, more like a Catholic singleminded Jesuit with Drill Instructor genetics, than the Packers’ previous more laid-back coaches.

Thus, Lombardi turned the fate of a huge and heavy ship in mid-sea, and with the Packers trained to within an inch of their lives as a fast, well oiled group machine, Lombardi led the Packers to ‘a still unmatched’ three consecutive NFL chamionships, winning the first two Super Bowls…

and of all the odd things in the world, Lombardi had become so popular a public figure in the US by then, that it’s said Richard Nixon considered him as a VP running mate.

In probably the most gigantic boo-boo of all time, Notre Dame University could have had Lombardi instead of Ara, for Lombardi wrote two letters to Notre Dame expressing interest in coaching there. But, his letters were never answered.

And thus history was writ as it was writ.

Vince Lombardi, 1913-1970, died young, at age 57. But, he left us this… and more…

“I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious.”
VL

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CODA
If you have a favorite coach, especially one who’s written a book you like, I’d love to know who and which book. I am trying to teach myself ’sports’ and am very remedial, thereby appreciate all the help I can get.