25: UNTIL LOMBARDI LOVES YOU
132. Susan Lombardi had suspected: Ints. Susan Lombardi, Father William Spalding.
133. The first report: Ints. Ray Scott, Hal Scott, Father Dennis Burke, Father William Spalding.
134. At the final film session: Ints. Tom Brown, Willie Wood, Jim Grabowski; Kramer, Instant Replay, p. 227.
135. Two and a half weeks after: Press-Gazette, Feb. 2, 1968; Wisconsin State Journal, Feb. 2, 1968; Milwaukee Sentinel, Feb. 2, 1968; ints. Chuck Lane, Lee Remmel, Art Daley, Jim Irwin, Tony Canadeo, O. C. Krueger.
136. Why did Lombardi quit?: Ints. Chuck Lane, Carroll Dale, Father William Spalding, Susan Lombardi, Father Tim Moore, Tony Canadeo.
137. All of this had come to a climax: Leonard Shecter, “The Toughest Man,” Esquire, January 1968. Ints. Dick Schaap, Chuck Lane; Cohane papers; Howard Cosell interview, Summer 1969.
138. Two other reasons: Ints. Bert Turek, Gary Knafelc, Vincent H. Lombardi.
139. On the Friday morning: Int. Ruth McKloskey; letters from Vincent H. Lombardi papers.
140. For several years: Ints. Jack Koeppler, David Carley, Jim Carley, Mitch Fromstein, O. C. Krueger.
141. As he became more famous: Ints. Vincent H. Lombardi, Jack Koeppler.
142. Lombardi now equated money with power: Ints. David Carley, Jack Koeppler, Mitch Fromstein; Agreement in Principle Between David Carley and Vincent Lombardi, Public Facilities Associates, Inc., David Carley papers.
143. He had tried to persuade: Ints. Father Dennis Burke, Jack Koeppler, O. C. Krueger, Tony Canadeo.
144. Red Blaik was part of the group: Ints. Doug Kenna, O. C. Krueger, David Carley, Mitch Fromstein, Wellington Mara. O’Brien, Vince, p. 328.
145. “Dear Pete,” he wrote: Personal & Confidential letter from R. B. Levitas to Pete Rozelle, April 22, 1968.
146. Sides were being taken: Ints. Bernie Baum, Dave Robinson, Wellington Mara, Pat Richter; Press-Gazette, July 9-14, 1968.
147. In the old days: Ints. Chuck Lane, Ruth McKloskey, David Carley, Susan Lombardi, Ray Nitschke, Chuck Mercein, Jim Grabowski, Art Daley, Lee Remmel, Bud Lea, Bob Skoronski, Tony Canadeo.
148. There was an odd sensation: Ints. W. C. Heinz, Eddie Izzo, Dorothy Pennell; Calendar of Events for “A Salute to Vince Lombardi,” Pro Football Hall of Fame archives; Press-Gazette, Aug. 8, 1968; Recording of “An Evening with Vince Lombardi,” WJPG, Aug. 7, 1968.
149. As Lombardi’s audience grew: Milwaukee Sentinel, May 6, 1968.
150. This was not merely: Int. David Carley; Milwaukee Sentinel, Aug. 3, 1968; Miles McMillin, “Hello, Wisconsin,” (Madison) Capital Times, Aug. 27, 1968; Vincent H. Lombardi papers.
151. Nothing came of this talk: Int. David Carley.
152. The first time he and Marie: Ints. Frank Ripple, Tony Canadeo, W. C. Heinz.
153. “Look at these people!”: Ints. W. C. Heinz; Chuck Lane, Mitch Fromstein, Tony Canadeo, Ruth McKloskey, Max McGee.
154. the consequences for Marie were worse: Ints. Vincent H. Lombardi, Susan Lombardi, Jill Lombardi, DeDe Clark, O. C. Krueger.
155. As the season entered: Vincent H. Lombardi papers; int. Pat Peppler.
156. Lombardi traveled to Washington: Ints. Lee Remmel, Chuck Lane, O. C. Krueger; Thomas, The Man to See, p. 247.
157. In his search for the old: Ints. Ruth McKloskey, Chuck Lane; Press-Gazette, Dec. 8, 1968.
158. Super Bowl III: Ints. Ed Kiely, George Dickson, John Druze, Ben Bradlee; Thomas, The Man to See, p. 330.
26: THE EMPTY ROOM
159. Not since the days: Ints. Pat Peppler, Chuck Lane; Press-Gazette, Jan. 29, 1969.
160. A short time later: Int. W. C. Heinz; Dowling, Coach, p. 12.
161. That weekend: Int. Martie Zad; Washington Post, Feb. 1, 1969.
162. Williams, Bradlee and Art Buchwald: Bradlee, A Good Life (Simon & Schuster, 1995); int. Martie Zad.
163. Lombardi’s mind and spirit: Int. Lois Bourguignon.
164. At his stadium office: Int. Lorraine Keck; copy of letter of resignation, Feb. 4, 1969.
165. The ability of Lombardi: Ints. David Carley, Jack Koeppler.
166. That morning Olejniczak: Press-Gazette, Feb. 3, 1969; ints. Tony Canadeo, Lee Remmel.
167. They convened at 6:10: Press-Gazette, Feb. 6, 1969; Washington Post, Feb. 6, 1969; ints. Tony Canadeo, Chuck Lane.
168. Word of Lombardi’s departure: Wisconsin State Journal, Feb. 6, 1969; ints. Paul Mazzoleni, Lois Bourguignon, Pat Peppler, Chuck Lane.
169. Lombardi was obsessing again: Ints. Chuck Lane, Bart Starr.
170. Perhaps he had been leaving: Ints. Ruth McKloskey, Lorraine Keck, Bart Starr, Vernon Biever; letter from Starr to Lombardi in Vincent H. Lombardi collection.
27: TAKING CHARGE IN WASHINGTON
171. Washington, at last: Washington Post, Feb. 7, 1969; “This Morning with Shirley Povich,” Washington Post, Feb. 7, 1969; The Record, Feb. 8, 1969; Thomas, The Man to See, p. 247; ints. Martie Zad, Ben Bradlee, O. C. Krueger, David Slattery.
172. The fact that the home team: David Broder, Washington Post, Feb. 12, 1969; Art Buchwald, “Hail to the Chief,” Washington Post, Feb. 11, 1969.
173. The move to Washington: Ints. Susan Lombardi, Vincent H. Lombardi, O. C. Krueger; Washington Post, Feb. 16, 1969.
174. The Lombardis stayed: Medical records of Dr. Landon Bamfield; ints. Jackie Anderson, Connie Boyle, Dr. Phil James, Dr. Landon Bamfield.
175. Marie’s outlook brightened: Ints. Jackie Anderson, Connie Boyle.
176. What kind of material?: Ints. George Dickson, David Slattery, Paul Hornung, Sonny Jurgensen; WTEM radio documentary.
177. It was typical of Lombardi: Letter from Joseph Stechshulte concerning Bishop Thomas Lyons.
178. On the evening of June 9: Ints. Vincent H. Lombardi, Jill Lombardi. Minneapolis Tribune, June 10, 1969.
179. On June 16: Ints. Pat Richter, Tom Brown, Sonny Jurgensen, George Dickson, Bill Austin.
180. When training camp opened: Ints. Father Tim Moore, Father Guy McPartland, David Slattery, George Dickson, O. C. Krueger, Ben Bradlee, Joe Lombardi, Pat Richter, Tom Brown, Sam Huff, WTEM documentary.
181. Lombardi was still at training camp: Ints. Vincent H. Lombardi, Jill Lombardi, Anthony Izzo, Jackie Anderson, O. C. Krueger.
182. Not long after Vincent: Letter from Vince Lombardi to Susan Lombardi, Susan Lombardi papers, October 1969.
183. Ethel Kennedy wrote: Letter from Ethel Kennedy, Oct. 27, 1969, Susan Lombardi papers; Wiebusch, Lombardi, p. 16; O’Brien, Vince, p. 361.
184. Lombardi’s reaction: Int. George Dickson.
185. This one brought a letter: President Richard M. Nixon letter, November 1969, Susan Lombardi papers.
186. she wrote a letter that jolted: Letter from Marie Lombardi to Vincent H. Lombardi, November 1969, Vincent H. Lombardi papers.
187. Vincent had a more complicated perspective: Ints. Vincent H. Lombardi, Jill Lombardi.
188. Vince called two of his favorite old Packers: Ints. Paul Hornung, Max McGee, O. C. Krueger, Pat Richter.
189. He went to Super Bowl IV: Ints. Ray Scott, O. C. Krueger, Sonny Jurgensen.
28: RUN TO WIN
190. The work of the NFL league meeting: Ints. Susan Lombardi, Wellington Mara; Wiebusch, Lombardi, p. 188.
191. In the second week of May: Ints. Jill Lombardi, Vincent H. Lombardi, Joe Lombardi.
192. Two days after his New York visit: Milwaukee Sentinel, May 13, 1970; ints. Jack Koeppler, Chuck Lane, Ruth McKloskey, Lee Remmel, Art Daley, Tony Canadeo, Lois Bourguignon, Tom Olejniczak, Father William Spalding, Father Dennis Burke, Eugene Brusky.
193. A few weeks later: Ints. David Carley, Jim Carley, Mitch Fromstein.
194. Marie had accompanied: Int. Susan Lombardi.
195. Patriotism and golf: Int. Gordon Peterson; Susan Lombardi papers.
196. During one round Guglielmi: Int. Ralph Guglielmi.
197. They arrived in time: Int. Ralph Guglielmi; Dayton Journal, June 23, 1970; Dayton Daily N
ews, June 23, 1970; transcript of Lombardi speech to All Pro Mid-America Conference, June 22, 1970.
198. Georgetown University Hospital: Georgetown University Hospital medical records and discharge summary for Vincent T. Lombardi, June 27-July 7, 1970.
199. Marie had suspected it: Ints. Susan Lombardi, Clara Parvin, Vincent H. Lombardi.
200. Exploratory abdominal surgery: Washington Post, June 28, 1970; Georgetown University Hospital medical records.
201. By July 10: Georgetown University Hospital medical records; ints. Vincent H. Lombardi, Joe Lombardi, Harold Lombardi, Wellington Mara, Ben Bradlee, Jack Koeppler.
202. When the players threatened to strike: Ints. Ed Garvey, Pat Richter, Dave Robinson, David Slattery, Bill Austin, George Dickson, Joe Lombardi, Wellington Mara.
203. The trip home: Georgetown University medical records; Washington Post, Sept. 2, 1970; Wiebusch, Lombardi, p. 207; O’Brien, Vince, p. 372; ints. Joe Lombardi, O. C. Krueger, David Slattery.
204. The next day: Ints. Pat Richter, Tom Brown, George Dickson, Bill Austin, Washington Post, July 26-28, 1970.
205. On July 27: Georgetown University medical records; ints. O. C. Krueger, Martie Zad; Susan Lombardi papers.
206. The card was signed: Ints. Ed Garvey, Pat Richter, Dave Robinson.
207. The coach was fading: Georgetown University Hospital discharge summary records, July 27-Sept. 3, 1970.
208. Even his eyebrows were growing wild: Ints. Joe Lombardi, Vincent H. Lombardi, Susan Lombardi, Jackie Anderson, Lew Anderson, O. C. Krueger.
209. His boys make the pilgrimage: Ints. Frank Gifford, Willie Wood, Chuck Mercein, Paul Hornung, Max McGee, Bob Skoronski, Bart Starr, Sonny Jurgensen (WTEM documentary), Willie Davis (with W. C. Heinz); Kramer, Winning Is the Only Thing, p. 4; Marie Lombardi cassette tape recording of Hall of Fame speech (on Jim Taylor).
210. Everyone in Washington: Congressional Record, Aug. 13, 1970; Washington Post, Aug. 12, 1970; ints. Clara Parvin, Joe Lombardi, Harold Lombardi, Jackie Anderson, Lew Anderson, O. C. Krueger, Susan Lombardi, Father Tim Moore; Georgetown University Hospital discharge summary report; Marie Lombardi interview with Bob Addie, Washington Post, Sept. 1, 1970.
211. Vincent visited his father’s hospital room: Int. Vincent H. Lombardi.
212. By August 31: Georgetown University Hospital medical discharge records; Marie Lombardi interview with Bob Addie; ints. Vincent H. Lombardi, O. C. Krueger, Gordon Peterson, Paul Hornung, Tom Brown, Susan Lombardi, Jackie Anderson, Lew Anderson, Martie Zad.
213. Four days after his death: Washington Post, Sept. 3-8, 1970; New York Daily News, Sept. 8, 1970; Press-Gazette, Sept. 7-8, 1970; ints. Vincent H. Lombardi, Susan Lombardi, Joe Lombardi, Harold Lombardi, Madeline Werner, Clara Parvin, Anthony Izzo, Tony Canadeo, Lois Bourguignon, Al Quilici, Father Dennis Burke, Father Tim Moore, Paul Hornung, Bart Starr, Willie Wood, Dave Robinson, Bob Skoronski; Newark Star Ledger, Sept. 8, 1970; New York Times, Sept. 9, 1970; Homily of His Eminence Terence Cardinal Cooke at Funeral Mass of Vincent Lombardi, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Monday, Sept. 7, 1970.
EPILOGUE
214. “Oh, yecch!”: From cassette tape recording of Marie Lombardi practicing the speech, Vincent H. Lombardi collection.
215. This was the summer of 1976: Ints. Susan Lombardi, Vincent H. Lombardi, Jill Lombardi, Pat Cochran, Lois Bourguignon, O. C. Krueger.
216. Everybody knows about: Marie Lombardi tape.
217. Marie still watched pro football: Ints. Vincent H. Lombardi, Susan Lombardi.
Bibliography
The literature on Vince Lombardi includes two sports classics that framed the glory years of the Green Bay Packers. Run to Daylight! is the coach’s diary of the week leading up to a game against the Detroit Lions in 1962, written by W. C. Heinz; and Instant Replay is Jerry Kramer’s diary of the 1967 season, written with Dick Schaap. Any biography is obliged to the works that have gone before it, as I am to those two books. Also of particular note are three other books: Michael O’Brien’s Vince, the first serious study of his life; Tom Dowling’s absorbing Coach, an account of his season with the Redskins, and John Wiebusch’s Lombardi, a trove of interviews compiled shortly after his death. The reference book I turned to more than any other was Total Football, edited by Bob Carroll, which I considered my bible on football facts and figures.
Bengtson, Phil, with Todd Hunt. Packer Dynasty. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1969.
Biever, Vernon J. The Glory of Titletown. Dallas: Taylor, 1997.
Blaik, Earl H., with Tim Cohane. You Have to Pay the Price. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1960.
Burns, James MacGregor. Leadership. New York: Harper & Row, 1978.
Bynum, Mike. A Dynasty Remembered. Nashville: Athlon, 1994.
Carroll, Bob. When the Grass Was Real. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993.
_____. Total Football. New York: HarperCollins, 1997.
Cestaro, Antonio. Vietri di Potenza. Agrapoli, Italy: Capano, 1996.
Cohane, Tim. Bypaths of Glory. New York: Harper & Row, 1963.
Collins, John J. Saint Cecilia’s Parish. Englewood, N.J.: St. Cecilia, 1967.
Daley, Art, and Jack Yuenger. Green Bay Packers 1968 Yearbook. Green Bay, Wis.: Inland Press, 1968.
_____. The Lombardi Era. Inland, 1968.
D’Amato, Gary, and Cliff Christl. Mudbaths & Bloodbaths. Madison, Wis.: Prairie Oak, 1997.
Dowling, Tom. Coach: A Season with Lombardi . New York: Norton, 1970.
Flynn, George L. The Vince Lombardi Scrapbook. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1976.
Fülöp-Miller, René. The Power and Secret of the Jesuits. New York: Braziller ,1956.
Gentile, Domenic, with Gary D’Amato. The Packer Tapes. Madison, Wis.: Prairie Oak, 1996.
Gifford, Frank. The Whole Ten Yards. New York: Ballantine , 1994.
Greenfield, Jeff. Television: The First Fifty Years. New York: Abrams, 1977.
Halas, George. Halas by Halas. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979.
Halberstam, David. The Fifties. New York: Villard, 1993.
Hallam, Elizabeth. Saints. New York: Simon & Schuster,1994.
Hornung, Paul, with Al Silverman. Football and the Single Man. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1965.
Huizinga, Johan. The Autumn of the Middle Ages. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. (Translation of 1921 edition.)
Kisseloff, Jeff. The Box: An Oral History of Television, 1920-1961. New York: Viking, 1995.
Kramer, Jerry, ed.Lombardi: Winning Is the Only Thing. New York: World, 1970.
Kramer, Jerry, with Dick Schaap. Instant Replay. New York: New American Library, 1968
_____. Farewell to Football . New York: World, 1969.
_____. Distant Replay. New York: Putnam’s Sons, 1985.
Leahy, Frank. Notre Dame Football. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1949.
Levi, Carlo. Christ Stopped at Eboli. New York: Farrar, Straus, 1947.
Lombardi, Vince, and W. C. Heinz. Run to Daylight! Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1963.
Lombardi, Vincent H. Coaching for Teamwork. Bellevue, Wash.: Reinforcement, 1996.
Lombardi, Vince, Jr., and John Q. Baucom. Baby Steps to Success. Lancaster, Pa.: Starburst, 1997.
Long, Gavin. MacArthur as Military Commander. London: Batsford, 1969.
Manchester, William. American Caesar. Boston: Little, Brown, 1978.
Mottola, Anthony, trans. The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1964.
Newcombe, Jack. The Fireside Book of Football. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1964.
O’Brien, Michael O. Vince: A Personal Biography of Vince Lombardi. New York: Morrow, 1987.
Oriard, Michael. Reading Football. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993.
Reeder, Red. Born at Reveille. Rutland: Vermont Heritage Press, 1966.
Rice, Grantland.The Tumult and the Shouting. New York: Barnes, 1954.
Russell, Fred. Bury Me in an Old Press Box. New York: Barnes,
1957.
Schiffer, Don. Pro Football Handbook, 1959. New York: Pocket, 1959.
_____. Pro Football Handbook, 1961. Nashville: Nelson, 1961.
Starr, Bart, with Murray Olderman. Starr. New York: Morrow, 1987.
Steinbreder, John. 70 Years of Championship Football. Dallas: Taylor, 1994.
Thomas, Evan. The Man to See: Edward Bennett Williams. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991.
Tunney, Jim. Impartial Judgment. New York: Watts, 1988.
Wells, Robert W. Lombardi: His Life and Times. Madison: Wisconsin House, 1971.
Whitfield, Clovis, and Jane Martineau. Painting in Naples, 1606-1705. New York: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1983.
Whittingham, Richard. Giants, in Their Own Words. Chicago: Contemporary, 1992.
Wiebusch, John. Lombardi. Chicago: Follett, 1971.
Wiebusch, John, and Brian Silverman. A Game of Passion. Atlanta: Turner, 1994.
Williams, Edward Bennett. One Man’s Freedom. New York: Atheneum, 1962.
Wills, Garry. Certain Trumpets. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994.
Winship, Michael. Television. New York: Random House, 1988.
Acknowledgments
ON JULY 21, 1995, Nardi Reeder Campion of Hanover, New Hampshire, sent me a letter saying that she had heard on C-Span’s Booknotes that I might write a book about Vince Lombardi. It was true that when Brian Lamb asked me about my next biographical subject, I mentioned the late coach, but I said it as something of a lark. I was preoccupied with Washington politics at the time, and the day when I might get around to Lombardi seemed distant. A sentence in Mrs. Campion’s letter changed all that. “My brother, Colonel Red Reeder, was a close friend of his and his next door neighbor at West Point,” she wrote. “Red has a collection of funny Lombardi stories in his remarkable memory. (He is 94 but his memory puts an elephant to shame.)”
A colonel in his nineties with the memory of an elephant was not someone to put off to another year. So I paid a visit to Red Reeder at his retirement home in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and I found him to be as funny and sharp-minded as his sister promised, and my Lombardi book had begun. Until the day he died three years later, Colonel Reeder was a constant source of encouragement, sending me a stream of delightful postcards signed in his big shaky scrawl, RED.
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