vince lombardi Archives

When Pride Still Mattered: A Life Of Vince Lombardi by David Maraniss. The writing talent of David Maraniss has aged very well over the last twenty years. This is a very amazing story of Lombardi’s life surrounding coaching and leadership. Yet, Vince’s complex life will certainly surprise new readers today.

David tells a hard truth. It is striking to learn that Vince was distant to his wife and children. Today no NFL coach could get away with repeated public “Shut up Marie!” derogatory statements to his wife. Good grief I did not see that coming. Yet distant relationships with his son and daughter are also a surprise when Vince was so dedicated to his players.

David traces Vince’s life from birth to death. His early years will impress many football fans especially playing New York City high schools games against Sid Luckman. Vince was also attending college with Wellington Mara, another interesting element for fans of the game. At the same time his college life crisscrossed meetings with Frank Sinatra.

The writing throughout this book is powerful and extremely detailed. Maybe to a fault. Lombardi attended a catholic mass daily. His faith is a key element of Lombardi’s life. Author Terry Tibbetts writing A Spartan Game The Life and Loss of Don Holleder acknowledges Lombardi kept in his bible the prayer card for Don Holleder. A junior All-American coached by Lombardi at West Point, Major Holleder died during the Battle of Ong Thanh.

Similarly Lombardi kept prayer cards for two West Point quarterbacks killed during the Korean War. Most assuredly, Lombardi never forgot their sacrifices. There is much to Lombardi’s complex life and David Maraniss captures it all perfectly. Growing up in Ohio, the status of “Saint Lombardi” did not resonate for me. Only after 1997 was his lasting impact first recognized across the Wisconsin press and NFL media publications.

Merriam-Webster defines Spartan as a person of great courage and self-discipline and A Spartan Game The Life and Loss of Don Holleder is just about a perfect story of such a person. Yet I find it somewhat difficult to share how immense Don’s life was today. Many heroes on the gridiron and battlefield have been lost to our collective memory simply because HDTV, the internet and social media did not exist in the 1940s.

Since the 9/11 attacks only a handful of professional athletes have chosen to serve our country. Pat Tillman, the former Arizona Cardinal defensive back turned down a multi-million dollar NFL contact extension to enlist in the Army only to be killed under questionable circumstances in Afghanistan.

If you found Pat’s story compelling then A Spartan Game reveals how Don Holleder played and lived on a much higher stratosphere. Pat was killed two years after leaving the NFL. Don Holleder was killed 11 years after leaving West Point but within three months of arriving in Vietnam.

The early chapters of A Spartan Game reveals Don’s family history, his extended background and amazing success playing high school football and basketball in Rochester New York. His high school team actually traveled to my hometown of Toledo Ohio in the early 1950s to play Toledo Central Catholic in basketball. I was surprised to read so many Catholic schools in the 1940s and ’50s traveled extensively throughout the country. Don was an extraordinarily gifted athlete and he excelled in football.

Don was expecting to attend Notre Dame on a football scholarship but something changed his life. After his senior football season but before he graduated Don’s father died suddenly. His father never told Don he wished for his son to attend West Point. It was only after his father’s wishes were revealed by his mother that Don focused solely on attending West Point.