Vince Lombardi

Birth Date:	06/11/1913
Height:
Weight:	0lbs.
Position:	Coach

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Vince Lombardi is the name of NFL football today. Vince Lombardi’s nine seasons in Green Bay were filled with success. His win-loss record in Green bay was a lifetime 89-29, or .754. Modern coaches would love to have that type of success over a nine year period.

From the start, Lombardi expected and inspired the best in his players. It didn’t hurt to have Bart Starr as quarterback, but his supporting cast excelled under Coach Lombardi’s style. His only playoff loss came during the building year of 1960. He won the first two Super Bowls, two conference championships, and six division championships. Prior to the creation of the Super Bowl, a Lombardi coached team took the NFL championship three times.

He took one year off from coaching when he left Green Bay, but came back to coach the Redskins for one year. His untimely death in 1970 from cancer, cut short what was already a stellar career.

Very shortly after his death, the Super Bowl trophy was named the Lombardi Trophy, a fitting honor that that still stands.

As a coach, Lombardi brought a demanding regimen to Green Bay. He expected the most from his players on the training field and on the gridiron. In 1961, the ratio of black players to white was very low. At one point, Lombardi had eight African American players on the team, when the entire NFL roster had only 33.

He passed on his dream job of coaching in New York, after the Packers lost a playoff game in 1960. He hoped to coach at Notre Dame, but never got the chance.

Notable plays and schemes that are credited to Lombardi are the Lombardi Sweep, zone blocking, and “running to daylight”. Although he did not coin the phrase “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing,” he brought that phrase to Green Bay and beyond. To this day, modern coaches find his former coaching style and motivational speeches to be an effective tool in the NFL.