Lombardi, Vincent T.
Football
b. June 11, 1913, Brooklyn, NY
d. Sept. 3, 1970
A guard at Fordham, Lombardi was one of the "Seven Blocks of Granite," the school's second line with that nickname, in 1935 and 1936. After graduating magna cum laude in 1937, he taught and coached at St. Cecilia's High School in New Jersey until 1947, when he became an assistant coach at Fordham. He went to the U. S. Military Academy as an assistant under Earl Blaik in 1949.
Lombardi was hired as offensive coordinator by the New York Giants in 1954. In that role, he developed a powerful rushing attack, based on the principles of the single wing that he'd learned in college, with double-team blocks, cross-blocking, and pulling guards leading a so-called sweep that was actually a version of the old single-wing cutback play.
During his five years with the Giants, they won four division titles and one NFL championship. The Green Bay Packers hired Lombardi as coach and general manager in 1959. Taking over a team that had won only one game the year before, he had a 7-5-0 record.
In his second season, the Packers won the Western Division title but lost to the Philadelphia Eagles 17-13 in the league's championship game. It was the last time a Lombardi team was beaten in post-season play.
During 1961 and 1962, the Packers had a 24-4-0 record, winning two NFL championships. They missed the playoffs in 1963 and 1964, then won three consecutive championship games and the first two Super Bowls, beating the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10 and the Oakland Raiders 33-14.
Lombardi retired as coach but remained as Green Bay's general manager in 1968. However, he soon decided to return to coaching--"I miss the fire on Sunday," he said--and became executive vice-president, general manager, and head coach of the Washington Redskins.
He began to turn that team around, too, from a 5-9-0 record to 7-5-2 in his first year. But he developed cancer in the summer of 1970 and died shortly after the Redskins opened the season.
A hard-driving disciplinarian, Lombardi believed that success in anything depended on one hundred percent effort at all times. "If you cheat on the practice field, you'll cheat in the game," he said, "and if you cheat in the game, you'll cheat the rest of your life."
In his 10 seasons as a head coach, his NFL teams had a 105-35-6 regular season record, and won 9 of 10 playoff games.
