The annual college football bowling season is full of surprises and spectacular moments. Celebrity coaches have had some memorable comments on America’s most popular sport, and here are some of them from legendary Green Bay Packer coach Vince Lombardi, who many consider the best of the best.
Lombardi’s head coach record in the National Football League was second to none. In 9 years with the Green Bay Packers, Lombardi’s win-loss percentage in the regular season was 73% (96-34-6), his postseason was 90% (9-1) and his total was 75 % (105-35-6). .
He led a 1-10-1 team in 1958 to an NFL title in 3 years, and then won 5 NFL titles in 9 years (1961, 1962, 1965, 1966, and 1967) and three consecutive titles. He led the Packers to the first two Super Bowl titles in 1966 and 1967.
Lombardi’s discipline was legendary. A lifelong Catholic, he spent 4 years at Cathedral Preparatory Seminary to become a Catholic priest before becoming a prominent soccer player at St. Francis Preparatory.
An undersized guard of 5 feet 8 inches and 185 pounds, he was offered and accepted a football scholarship to Fordham University in the Bronx to play for “Sleepy” Jim Crowley, one of the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame in the decade. 1920. He would become part of the “Seven Granite Blocks” that kept Fordham’s opponents scoreless multiple times during a 25-game winning streak.
After training at Fordham, Lombardi became West Point’s offensive line coach with another legendary head coach, Colonel Red Blaik. Lombardi later became the offensive coordinator for the New York Giants, working with defensive coordinator Tom Landry and head coach Jim Lee Howell, before becoming Green Bay’s head coach in 1959.
Lombardi was 59 when he died of cancer in 1970. Adult men and Hall of Fame soccer players wept openly at his funeral.
Here are some of Vince Lombardi’s best known quotes:
“If it doesn’t matter who wins or loses, why are they keeping score?”
“I firmly believe that the greatest hour of any man, the greatest fulfillment of all that he loves, is that moment when he has worked with all his heart for a good cause and lies exhausted on the battlefield, victorious.”
“There is no place for second place. There is only one place in my game and that is first place. I finished second twice in my time in Green Bay and I never want to finish second again.”
“Winning is not everything, it is the only thing.”
“Confidence is contagious. So is a lack of confidence.”
“The harder you work, the harder it is to give up.”
“Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser.”
“Once you learn to quit smoking, it becomes a habit.”
“If you can accept losing, you cannot win.”
“Perfection is not achievable, but if we pursue perfection we can achieve excellence.”
“Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.”
“Success requires only one purpose.”
“It’s not if they knock you down, it’s if you get up.”
“It’s easy to have faith in yourself and have discipline when you are a winner, when you are number one. What you have to have is faith and discipline when you are not a winner.”
“The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have.”
“We didn’t lose the game, we just ran out of time.”
“Teamwork is what the Green Bay Packers are all about. They didn’t do it for individual glory. They did it because they loved each other.”
“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.”
“The coaches who can outline the plays on a blackboard are a dime a dozen. The ones who win get inside their player and motivate him.”
Here are some quotes from Lombardi players:
“When Lombardi said ‘sit down’, we were not looking for a chair.” – Forrest Gregg, Hall of Fame tackle.
“He prepared us so well and motivated us so well that I felt like he was a part of me on the pitch.” Fuzzy Thurston.
“He pushed you to the end of your stamina and then beyond. And if there was reserve there, well, he found it too.” Henry Jordan, Hall of Fame defensive tackle.
“It made us better than we thought we could be.” Jerry Kramer.
“Coach Lombardi showed me that by working hard and using my mind, I could overcome my weakness to the point of being one of the best.” Bart Starr, Hall of Fame quarterback.
“The fear in my mind was not him, but that for some reason he would not be part of the team and he would be with this man.” Forrest Gregg.
“He made you a believer. He told you what the other team was going to do, and he told you what you had to do to beat them, and he was invariably right.” Willie Davis, Hall of Fame defensive back.
(Editor’s note: I have read and studied one of the best biographies on Lombardi: When Pride Still Mattered: A Vince Lombardi Life. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss, I highly recommend his book as a great read.)
Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley
