VINCE LOMBArdI BIOGrAphy - Arizona Theatre Company

TABLE OF CONTENTS
About ATC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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GENEROUS SUPPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Introduction to the Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Synopsis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Meet the Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Meet the Creators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Interview with Eric Simonson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Vince Lombardi Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Green Bay Packers: A Short History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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1960s Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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The NFL and the Super Bowl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Race in the NFL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Lombardi Sweep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Lombardi Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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A Quotable Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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It is Arizona Theatre Company’s goal to share the enriching experience of live theatre. This Play Guide is intended to help you
prepare for your visit to Arizona Theatre Company. Should you have comments or suggestions regarding the play guide, or if you
need more information about scheduling trips to see an ATC production, please feel free to contact us:
Tucson: April Jackson
Associate Education Manager
(520) 884-8210
[email protected]
Phoenix: Amber Tibbitts
Education and Company Management Associate
(602) 757-6289
[email protected]
Lombardi Play Guide compiled and written by Katherine Monberg, Literary Assistant. Discussion questions and activities provided
by April Jackson, Associate Education Manager, and Amber Tibbitts, Education Associate.
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ABOUT ATC
Arizona Theatre Company is a professional, not-for-profit theatre
company. This means all of our artists, administrators and
production staff are paid professionals, and the income we receive
from ticket sales and contributions goes right back into our budget
to create our work, rather than to any particular person as a profit.
Each season, ATC employs hundreds of actors, directors and
designers from all over the country to create the work you see on
stage. In addition, ATC currently employs about 100 staff members
in our production shops and administrative offices in Tucson and
Phoenix during our season. Among these people are carpenters,
The Temple of Music and Art, the home of ATC shows in downtown Tucson.
painters, marketing professionals, fundraisers, stage directors,
computer specialists, sound and light board operators, tailors, costume designers, box office agents, stage crew – the list is endless –
representing an amazing range of talents and skills.
We are also supported by a Board of Trustees, a group of business and community leaders who volunteer their time and expertise to
assist the theatre in financial and legal matters, advise in marketing and fundraising, and help represent the theatre in our community.
Roughly 150,000 people attend our shows every year, and several thousands of those people support us with charitable contributions
in addition to purchasing their tickets. Businesses large and small, private foundations and the city and state governments also support
our work financially.
All of this is in support of our vision and mission:
Our vision is to touch lives through the power of theatre.
Our mission is to create professional theatre that continually strives
to reach new levels of artistic excellence and that resonates locally,
in the state of Arizona and throughout the nation. In order to fulfill
our mission, the theatre produces a broad repertoire ranging from
classics to new works, engages artists of the highest caliber, and is
committed to assuring access to the broadest spectrum of citizens.
The Herberger Theater Center, ATC’s performance venue in downtown Phoenix.
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Generous support
support for ATC’s education and community programming has been provided by:
APS
Arizona Commission on the Arts
Bank of America Foundation
Blue Cross Blue Shield Arizona
Boeing
City Of Glendale
Community Foundation for Southern Arizona
Cox Charities
Downtown Tucson Partnership
Enterprise Holdings Foundation
Ford Motor Company Fund
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Foundation
JPMorgan Chase
John and Helen Murphy Foundation
National Endowment for the Arts
Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture
PICOR Charitable Foundation
Rosemont Copper
SRP
Stonewall Foundation
Target
The Boeing Company
The Donald Pitt Family Foundation
The Johnson Family Foundation, Inc.
The Lovell Foundation
The Marshall Foundation
The Maurice and Meta Gross Foundation
The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation
The Stocker Foundation
The William L. and Ruth T. Pendleton Memorial Fund
Tucson Medical Center
Tucson Pima Arts Council
Wells Fargo
Introduction to the Play
Lombardi
By Eric Simonson
Based on the book When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi by David Maraniss
Directed by Casey Stangl
Bob Ari as the legendary Green Bay
Packers coach Vince Lombardi.
Photo by Roger Mastroianni/Arizona Theatre Company.
Vince Lombardi, icon of professional football and the namesake of the Super Bowl trophy remains
one of the most legendary names in American sports history. Most famous for the time he spent in
the 1960s as head coach to the Green Bay Packers, Vince Lombardi revolutionized the team, the sport,
and the future of American football. Remembered for the image he presented stalking the sidelines,
program in hand, few people know the real story of Vince Lombardi the man – his
passions, his inspirations, and his remarkable ability to spur people to new heights of achievement
that had never been dreamed of before. Based on David Maraniss’ book When Pride Still Mattered:
A Life of Vince Lombardi, this new American play explores the complexity and the relationships of the
man behind the team and the trophies, who turned a losing team into one of the most successful and
longstanding organizations in professional sports.
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Synopsis
It is 1965 and Michael McCormick, a young and aspiring sports writer for Look Magazine,
has arrived in Green Bay to profile the legendary Vince Lombardi, and discover what exactly
makes him win. Hoping to improve his image in the press, Lombardi invites Michael to stay
at his home for a week of reporting and to observe his Packers in their home territory.
Michael (right, Nick Mills) is a young reporter with
sideline access to Coach Lombardi (Bob Ari).
Photo by Roger Mastroianni/Arizona Theatre Company.
Michael accompanies Lombardi to the Packers’ practice field where the team is being doggedly conditioned after two years’ failed efforts to make it to the championship. Attempting
to delve into the myth that is Lombardi, Michael first approaches linebacker Dave Robinson.
He is stopped by Lombardi himself, who informs him which players he may and may not
speak to, sending him to the business-minded and image-conscious Paul Hornung instead.
His access to the players restricted by Lombardi, Michael alters his tactic to discover the real Vince Lombardi. At home, from Lombardi’s
wife Marie, Michael learns the facts about the beginning of Lombardi’s relationship with the Packers, and the past that brought Lombardi to
coaching.
Michael later approaches the players in the practice field locker room, who relate to him the
early days of Lombardi’s career with the Packers. Upon his arrival, Lombardi immediately
insisted upon maximum effort, subsequent winning, and the termination of discrimination
among his players on and off the field, despite the civil rights battles still being confronted
in general society. Lombardi teaches his famous Packers Power Sweep in a flashback.
Marie Lombardi (right, DeeDee Rescher) shares a
story with a young reporter (Nick Mills) writing
about her husband Vince Lombardi.
The next day at practice, Michael witnesses Lombardi experience an attack of stomach
pain, and is treated to a lecture about the purpose of integrity and intelligence in reporting.
Michael tries to snag fullback Jim Taylor for an informal interview, and is roundly chastised
by Lombardi before being ordered off the field.
Later that night at the Lombardi house after some drinks with the players, Michael finds
Lombardi up late, watching game footage. Lombardi apologizes for his temper and his
behavior, and reveals that he has an agreement with Michael’s editor that all press coverage of the Packers must be reviewed and approved
by him before publication. Enraged, Michael refuses to comply and Lombardi grudgingly respects his integrity.
Photo by Roger Mastroianni/Arizona Theatre Company.
Michael narrates the Packers winning game the next day, writes his article,
and hands it to Lombardi with the qualification that it will be his only draft –
he has quit Look Magazine. Lombardi, Michael and Marie celebrate together,
for both victories: Lombardi’s over a rival football team, and Michael’s over a
courageous exit from a hollow institution.
In the epilogue, Lombardi gives his final speech to his 1965 championship
team, congratulating them for their win, and for embracing one another’s
imperfections in order to achieve success.
Coach Lombardi (left, Bob Ari) reacts to fullback Jim Taylor (David
Hardie) while discussing the player’s contract.
Photo by Roger Mastroianni/Arizona Theatre Company.
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Meet the Characters
The Lombardi period of 1959-1967 is fondly remembered in Packer history as a time of great glory. Under head coach Vince Lombardi, the
Green Bay Packers won five out of seven world championships, turning what had been a losing tradition into a winning one, and initiating the
momentum that has won the Green Bay Packers more NFL titles than any other team in history.
In Lombardi, the Packers are in mid-season 1965 as they attempt to win their way to the NFL championship for the first time since 1962.
“Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.” – Vince Lombardi
Most of the characters in Lombardi are based on real people, with the exception of Michael McCormick.
Actor Bob Ari
plays Vince Lombardi
in ATC’s production of
Lombardi.
Actor Nick Mills
plays Michael McCormick
in ATC’s production of
Lombardi.
Actress DeeDee Rescher
plays Marie Lombardi
in ATC’s production of
Lombardi.
Actor William Oliver
Watkins plays Dave
Robinson in ATC’s
production of Lombardi.
Vince Lombardi (1913-1970) - One of the most celebrated names in NFL coaching history,
Vince Lombardi led the Green Bay Packers to five world championships, including the first two
Super Bowls, demanding excellence, pride, and equality from his team on and off the field. His
name endures on the Lombardi Trophy, awarded to the Super Bowl championship team each year,
and a 14-foot statue of him continues to watch over Lambeau Field, home of the Packers, in
Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Michael McCormick – A young, enthusiastic sports writer on assignment from Look
Magazine to report on Coach Lombardi’s winning methods.
Marie Lombardi (1915-1984) – The wife of Vince Lombardi, Marie was the strength and the
driving force behind the coach. Recognized as one of the few people who could return Vince
Lombardi’s bark and control his bite, she was the support on the sidelines that propelled her
husband, and his team, to success.
Dave Robinson (b. 1941) - Richard David Robinson was the starting left side linebacker and
representative to the Players’ Association, the labor organization representing professional football
players, for the Green Bay Packers, where he was part of one of the most formidable starting units
of linebackers in the history of the NFL. Drafted by the Packers in 1963, he remained in Green Bay
for ten seasons and finished his career with the Washington Redskins in 1975. Robinson was
inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame in 1982, and alongside Royce Bowles is the co-author of
the book The Lombardi Legacy: Thirty People Touched by Greatness (2009).
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Actor Branton Box
plays Paul Hournung
in ATC’s production of
Lombardi.
Actor David Hardie
plays Jim Taylor
in ATC’s production of
Lombardi.
measure of a man is
“ The
not in how he falls down,
but how he pulls himself
up off the ground.
-Vince Lombardi, Lombardi
”
team was so well
“ His
prepped that once the
game had started, [Vince
Lombardi] was the most
useless man on the field.
-Michael McCormick, Lombardi
”
family, and the
“ God,
Green Bay Packers are
the three most important
things in [Vince’s] life.
And not necessarily in
that order…
”
-Marie Lombardi, Lombardi
Paul Hornung (b. 1935) – One of the most versatile players ever to play professional football
and selected first overall in the 1957 NFL draft, Paul “The Golden Boy” Hornung played for the Green
Bay Packers from 1957-1966. He played under Lombardi as a halfback, won four league championships with the Packers, and was twice voted the league MVP. His career was occasionally
interrupted as he was called to active duty in the U.S. Army during the 1961 season, though Coach
Lombardi secured a pass from President Kennedy to allow him to play on weekends, and he was
suspended for gambling indiscretions during the 1963 season. Hornung returned to the field in 1964
but injuries forced him to effectively retire two years later, after which he became a real estate
investor and sports commentator. He was inducted into both the Packers and the Pro Football Halls
of Fame and in 2004 his autobiography, Golden Boy, was published, followed by his book Lombardi
and Me: Players, Coaches and Colleagues Talk About the Man and the Myth in 2006.
Jim Taylor (b. 1935) – Jim Taylor was a running back for the Green Bay Packers from 19581966, selected fifteenth overall in the 1958 NFL draft. He won four championships with the Packers,
including Super Bowl I, and still holds many Packer records, including those for career touchdowns
and touchdowns in a single season. Teamed in the backfield with fellow Packer Paul Hornung, the
duo became known as the “Thunder and Lightning Pair,” and were largely responsible for the massive
success of the Packer Power Sweep (also known as the Lombardi Sweep). Taylor spent a single
season with the New Orleans Saints in 1967 before retiring with an exceptional professional record,
fumbling only 34 times in his entire career. He was inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame in 1975,
and into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1976.
we start training
“ Then
camp and I think, Why is
this guy all over me? He is
ranting and raving and he
just won’t let up. Then …
I get it. It’s when he leaves
you alone is when you
should start worrying.
-Dave Robinson, Lombardi
”
through
“ Freedom
discipline…All I know is we
were losing before Coach
came, and we’re winning
now.
”
-Paul Hournung, Lombardi
fight to win like we
“ We
always do – you made us
that way, Coach. ”
-Jim Taylor, Lombardi
Meet the CREATORS
Eric Simonson (Playwright) is a director, writer and ensemble member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in
Chicago, IL. Born in Milwaukee, WI, Simonson grew up on a farm in the small nearby town of Eagle, WI. His plays
have been produced throughout the country and include Nomathemba (written with Ntozake Shange and Joseph
Shabalala), Carter’s Way, Fake, The Last Hurrah, Work Song: Three Views of Frank Lloyd Wright (with Jeffrey
Hatcher), Edge of the World, and Speak American. His adaptation of Moby Dick was chosen as one of Time
Magazine’s top ten productions of 2002. In addition to his writing, Mr. Simonson is also an accomplished director in
theater, film, and opera. His production of The Song of Jacob Zulu at Steppenwolf Theatre Company garnered six
Tony Award nominations, including one for Best Direction, and he was the recipient of a 2006 Academy Award for
his documentary, A Note of Triumph.
David Maraniss (Author) is an associate editor at The Washington Post. He has authored several criticallyacclaimed books on Bill Clinton, Vince Lombardi, Roberto Clemente, Vietnam, and the 1960 Rome Olympics as well
as Out of This World, a multigenerational biography of Barack Obama. He is the recipient of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize
for National Reporting, shared The Washington Post’s 2008 Pulitzer for coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings, and
served as editor for a series on Walter Reed that received the Pulitzer Gold Medal in 2008.
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Interview with Eric Simonson
Reprinted from the Study Guide for the Broadway production of Lombardi.
Why is Vince Lombardi such a fascinating character?
Eric Simonson: I grew up in Wisconsin, so he was always part of
the ether. I have always been fascinated with people in our culture,
American culture, who have such a force of personality that they’ve
somehow made themselves part of the cultural landscape. Vince
Lombardi is one of those people. You could also say that about
folks like Theodore Roosevelt, Frank Lloyd Wright…any number of
people. Take a famous musician like Count Basie. These people have
not only influenced the cultural landscape, they also had fascinating lives. For me, Vince Lombardi was a football coach, but he was
Coach Lombardi (Bob Ari) watches team practice.
much more than that. He was a philosopher, he was a teacher, he
Photo by Roger Mastroianni/Arizona Theatre Company.
inspired a lot of people through what he said and the way he said it.
David Maraniss had written this great book, When Pride Still Mattered. He really brought to light the things that I was just talking about. So
when I started doing a play on him, it was not just to recount a famous man’s life story, it was really to find out and unearth the reasons
why this man was famous. He’s a fully dimensional man, a complicated man, more complex than people realize.
What was your process for turning the book into a play?
E.S.: Well, it’s a 500 page book, so it’s kind of impossible to put that on stage. All of it. Dramatically speaking, when you do something that
has a huge backstory and is a long story to tell, you try to condense the time in which the dramatic event takes place. So that’s what I did
here. That’s the first thing. It’s to try to come up with an idea of how to get the characters to open up. The way I did that was by using
this tool of a character, the reporter called Michael McCormick, who comes to the Lombardis’ house and lives with them during a week of a
season of football, when everything is on the line. There’s so much research already done, and I know so much about the characters, except
for Michael of course, who’s invented. As the characters go through their everyday actions, all the other information – facts about their lives,
their desires, their goals, and their obstacles – all of that tends to come out in the drama. You hope, anyway.
What led you to structure the play as you did, with Michael McCormick narrating the piece for us as a visiting writer in
1965?
E.S.: The problem with dramatizing Vince Lombardi’s life is that there is really never one moment in his life that was a turning point. He’s
kind of lived his life like a steamroller, with his ideals and his own personal philosophy. Nothing really ever got in the way. There was a
15-year-long slow burn where he was frustrated that he was an assistant coach and not a head coach, but you can’t dramatize that on stage.
So what I did was, I looked at his football career, and I picked a year in which he was really struggling. He was obsessed with winning and
he had spent the previous two seasons coming in second, which to him was just like coming in last. So in this particular time, there’s a week
in that year when everything is on the line. He has a chance to get back to first place or to be in second place again, which probably would
have killed him. So that was why I chose that particular moment. There are also a lot of things going on in professional football at the time:
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new kinds of players coming in, the Players Association speaking with the owners, football is starting to make a lot of money for a lot of
people and be televised. This is when football is starting to become America’s game so the sport itself is in a transitional phase.
It was interesting that you included the fact that Lombardi enjoyed reading cookbooks.
E.S.: David Maraniss asked if we could sneak that in some way. It’s charming, isn’t it?
What inspired you to get into playwriting?
E.S.: I was a director. I had a couple of bad experiences where the rights to a certain play that I wanted to direct were sort of pulled out
from under me. I was also at the same time around a lot of peers who were writing plays. When I saw that they could write a play, it
demystified the whole process for me. Because when you’re directing, getting a job is really all about getting the phone call, knowing the
right people, forming relationships, that sort of thing. In the meantime, I thought, why not write a play? So I started to do that and pick
projects; stories that I wanted to see on stage. It’s really about having more of an idea of what you want to see and then pursuing it. I could
tell you, “I want to direct a play about Vince Lombardi, would you please write it for me?” If you’re a playwright, and you’re not interested in
Lombardi, that play is never going to happen. So you take the initiative and you do the play yourself.
What advice do you have for students aspiring to be writers?
E.S.: I’d say, “Write every day and never stop, because the more you write the better you get.”
Vince Lombardi Biography
Vince Lombardi is perhaps one of the greatest American football
coaches ever to grace the professional circuit. He is best known
for his time as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers during the
1960s, and for turning the previously mediocre Packers into the
powerhouse that has won more titles in professional football than any
other team.
Vincent Thomas Lombardi was born in Brooklyn, on June 11, 1913
to Enrico “Harry” Lombardi and Matilda “Mattie” Izzo, both secondgeneration Italian immigrants. The oldest of five children and both of
his parents coming from large Italian families, Vince grew up with a
Bob Ari as the legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi.
Photo by Roger Mastroianni/Arizona Theatre Company.
large family clan in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, in a diverse, middleclass neighborhood. Harry owned a butcher shop in the Meatpacking District which afforded his family a comfortable living even through the
depths of the Great Depression, and raised his family in a strict Catholic tradition. Outside of the Lombardis’ forward-thinking neighborhood,
Vince’s childhood was touched by the intense racism toward Italian immigrants that existed in the early 20th century. He began to help
his father at his butcher shop when he was young, but found it distasteful, and at the age of 12 he began to play in an uncoached football
league in Sheepshead Bay.
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In 1928, at the age of 15, Lombardi entered a six-year secondary school program at the Cathedral
College of the Immaculate Conception, intending to become a priest. Contrary to the rules of the
school, he continued to play off-campus football, and he left the program early to enroll at St.
Francis Preparatory school in 1932 where he joined the school team.
After high school, Lombardi was awarded a football scholarship to Fordham University in the Bronx
where he played under Coach Jim Crowley, one of the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame in the 1920s.
Though undersized for the position, by the beginning of his sophomore year Lombardi was slated to
become a starter at tackle. In 1936, during his senior year at Fordham, he became the right guard
in the “Seven Blocks of Granite,” a nickname given to the team’s offensive front line by a publicist at
the University. That season his team went 5-0-2 before a disappointing loss in the final game of the
season to NYU with a score of 7-6. Lombardi credited this experience with one of the major lessons
of his football career: to never underestimate the opponent.
Lombardi graduated from college in 1937 and after some failed career attempts at semi-professional
football and debt collection, he enrolled in Fordham Law School in September, 1938. He left after
one semester, explaining much later in his life that his desire to have a family forced him to leave
law school for the working world. In 1939, Lombardi became an assistant football coach at St.
Cecilia, a Catholic high school in New Jersey. In addition to his coaching duties, he taught Latin,
chemistry, and physics at the school for an annual salary of under $1,000. In 1942, Lombardi
became head coach of St. Cecilia’s where he remained for the next five years, earning St. Cecilia’s
recognition as the top high school football team in the nation in 1943.
While at St. Cecilia’s, Lombardi finally had the steady employment that would allow him to start a
family and he married his longtime girlfriend, Marie Planitz, in August of 1940, despite her family’s
anti-Italian attitudes. They lost their first child in a miscarriage; the traumatic experience led Marie
to alcohol, a problem she would struggle with for the rest of her life. In 1942, she gave birth to their
son, Vince Jr. and the couple had one more child, a daughter Susan, in 1947.
In 1947, Lombardi left St. Cecilia’s to return to his alma mater where he coached the freshman football and basketball teams, and served as the assistant coach for Fordham’s varsity football team the
following year. In 1949 he accepted an assistant coaching job at the U.S. Military Academy at West
Point as offensive line coach. His time there under head coach Earl “Colonel Red” Blaik would greatly
influence his own future coaching style: the melding of his own spiritual discipline with Blaik’s military
discipline, with a strong emphasis on execution.
In 1954 Lombardi broke into the NFL as offensive coordinator for the New York Giants, turning the
team with a 3-9 record in 1953 into a championship team in 1956 when they defeated the Chicago
Bears for the league title. While at New York, Lombardi introduced a new strategy into the NFL
called rule blocking. In rule blocking, the offensive lineman blocks an area of the field rather than a
particular defensive player, leaving the running back to run toward any hole on the field that he could
find – something Lombardi referred to as “running to daylight.”
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Four Horsemen of
Notre Dame
The Four Horsemen of Notre
Dame was a nickname given
to the four backfield players
of Notre Dame’s 1924 football team: Harry Stuhldreher,
Don Miller, Elmer Layden,
and Jim Crowley. Crowley
was the future head football
coach at Fordham University
where he would coach Vince
Lombardi and the formidable
offensive line known as the
Seven Blocks of Granite.
The recognition as best high
school football team in the
nation was largely due to
St. Cecilia’s victory over
Brooklyn Prep, one of the
best teams on the eastern
seaboard, led that season by
quarterback and cornerback
Joe Paterno who would later
become head coach for the
Penn State Nittany Lions
from 1966-2011.
Lombardi coached at West
Point for five total seasons:
1949-1953. However, in the
spring of 1951 a cadet cribbing scandal was revealed,
resulting in the discharge of
43 of the football team’s
45 members and destroying
the 1951 and 1952 seasons.
Lombardi later revealed that
Blaik’s decision not to resign
taught him another of his
core coaching values:
perseverance.
Finally in 1959, Lombardi got his shot at head coaching in the NFL for the Green
Bay Packers, whose disastrous previous season with a record of 1-10-1 had left
the team, the shareholders, and the community hostile, dispirited, and
questioning the financial viability of supporting such a team. Lombardi arrived
forcefully in Green Bay demanding intense training regimens, absolute
dedication, and unyielding effort from his players. Finishing the 1959 season with
a 7-5 record, Lombardi was named Coach of the Year in his rookie debut.
Bob Ari as the legendary Green Bay Packers coach
Vince Lombardi.
Photo by Roger Mastroianni/Arizona Theatre Company.
The following year, Lombardi led the Green Bay Packers to their first NFL
Championship game since 1944, earning him the nickname of “The Pope” in the
Green Bay community to coincide with his strong religious convictions. In the
Championship, the Packers were stopped a few yards from the goal line in the final
play of the game, relinquishing the title to the Philadelphia Eagles. They then won
their next 9 post-season games – a record that remained undefeated until 2006.
The Packers went on to win the NFL title in 1961 and again in 1962, the first two
of the five titles Lombardi would lead them to in his seven seasons as head coach.
Including postseason but excluding exhibition games, Lombardi earned a 105-35-6
record as head coach and never suffered a losing season, even winning the first
two Super Bowls following the 1966 and 1967 seasons.
After the 1967 season Lombardi gave up his head coaching position with the Packers, staying on one more season as the team’s general
manager, resulting in a 6-7-1 season and missing the playoffs. In 1969 he returned to coaching with the Washington Redskins, where he
once more broke a losing streak, this time of 14 seasons.
On June 24, 1970, Lombardi was admitted to Georgetown University Hospital after suffering from digestive tract pains for several years.
He was revealed to have fast growing malignant colon cancer, and he was readmitted to the hospital on July 27 of that same year to
undergo exploratory surgery. It was discovered that his illness was terminal, and he passed away on September 3, 1970, at the age of 57, a
premature end to one of the greatest coaching minds of the 20th century.
After his sudden death in 1970, the Super Bowl trophy,
originally called the World Professional Championship Trophy,
was renamed the Lombardi Trophy to honor his legendary
coaching accomplishments and commemorate his victories in
the first two Super Bowls. In 2003 as part of a renovation of
Lambeau Field, the home of the Green Bay Packers, a 14-footstatue of Vince Lombardi was placed outside the stadium,
wearing an overcoat and clutching a program as he often did
in life, overlooking the game that fueled his passion, brought
him fame, and won him an eternal place of honor in American
sports history.
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The Green Bay Packers:
A Short History
In August, 1911, Curly Lambeau and George Calhoun gathered twenty or so
young athletes of the Green Bay, Wisconsin, area into the editorial room of the
Green Bay Press Gazette building, not knowing that they would come to be
known as the force that organized one of the most successful teams in
professional football.
What started as a casual conversation began to pick up steam as Lambeau, a shipping clerk at the
Indian Packing Company, persuaded his employers to donate $500 for team jerseys (then blue and
gold), and acquired permission to play on the company-owned athletic field. In honor of their
benefactors, the loosely organized community of football enthusiasts took on the name of the
Green Bay Packers, and went 10-1 in their inaugural season against teams from Wisconsin and
Upper Michigan. Games were held on an open field with no markings, no bleachers, and no price
of admission as the burgeoning organization accepted freewill donations by the passing of a hat
through the spectators.
In 1921, the Acme Packing Company purchased several assets from the Indian Packing Company,
including the new football team, and with these new backers Lambeau obtained a franchise in the
new American National Football Association, established in 1920 (and renamed the National
Football League two years later). After a single season, the cash collections from spectators failed
to cover the cost of the franchise and the team was disbanded. But Lambeau persevered, collecting
additional community backers and repurchasing the franchise in 1922 for $250, which included
$50 of his own money – a modern day equivalent of nearly $3,400.
Despite the triumph of the repurchased franchise, financial troubles continued to plague the team
during their early days as the unpredictable weather of the Upper Midwest cancelled several games,
costing the team the spectator contributions upon which it still heavily relied.
Eager to keep their team, a group of Green Bay businessmen including Green Bay Press Gazette
general manager A.B. Turnbull gathered together to back the team financially, and formed the
Green Bay Football Corporation. The businessmen, deemed “The Hungry Five” because of their
constant calls for money, raised funds, promoted the franchise, and incorporated the team as a nonprofit organization, building
the young team that would
come to win more
professional championships
than any other team in NFL
history – 13 at last count –
and leading to the colloquial
designation of Green Bay as
12
Most World
Championships
13 Green Bay Packers
9 Chicago Bears
8 New York Giants
6 Pittsburgh Steelers
5 Dallas Cowboys
San Francisco 49ers
Washington Redskins
4 Cleveland Browns
Detroit Lions
Indianapolis/Baltimore Colts
Green Bay’s Five
Super Bowls
Super Bowl I, Jan. 15, 1967
vs. Kansas City Chiefs at Los
Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Won 35-10. QB: Bart Starr
Super Bowl II, Jan. 14, 1968
vs. Oakland Raiders at Miami
Orange Bowl. Won 33-14. QB:
Bart Starr.
Super Bowl XXXI, Jan. 26,
1997 vs. New England Patriots
at Louisiana Superdome, New
Orleans. Won 35-21 QB: Desmond Howard.
Super Bowl XXXII, Jan. 25,
1998 vs. Denver Broncos at
Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego.
Lost 31-24. QB: Terrell Davis.
Super Bowl XLV, Feb. 6, 2011
vs. Pittsburgh Steelers at Cowboys Stadium, Arlington. Won
31-25. QB: Aaron Rodgers.
“Titletown,” USA. The Green Bay Packers remain the only publicly owned team in professional sports, and the oldest
remaining team name in the NFL. Fiercely loyal to their football team, Packer fans – lovingly referred to as “Cheeseheads” – make up one the largest fan bases in professional football and despite the team’s rough financial past, every
Packer game at Lambeau Field has been sold out since 1960.
1960s Timeline
The 1960s were a time of change, of progress, and of cultural shift for the United States of America. As Vince Lombardi redefined what it
meant to be a Green Bay Packer, the United States redefined what it meant to be an American as civil rights, foreign policy, and the space
race propelled the country into a previously unexplored social, political, and cultural identity.
Lombardi and the Packers
The Green Bay Packers
become the NFL’s
Western Conference
Champions
1960
Green Bay Packers
defeat the NY Giants in
the NFL Championship
1961
Packers again defeat
the NY Giants in the
NFL Championship
1962
Peace Corp established by Cuban Missile Crisis
executive order from JFK
Bay of Pigs invasion
JFK elected to Presidency
First birth control pill
approved for sale by the
FDA
Sit-in at Woolworth’s
lunch counter in
Greensboro, NC protests
segregation in service
Ray Kroc establishes the
first McDonald’s
John Glenn becomes the
Construction of the Berlin first American in orbit
Wall begins
James Meredith becomes
the first black student at
the University of
Mississippi, as 3,000
troops quell related riots
1963
1964
Alcatraz, the island prison The Civil Rights Act
of 1964
in San Francisco Bay, is
closed
Muhammed Ali
wins Heavyweight
Championship in boxing
Freedom Summer begins
I Have a Dream speech
delivered in Washington,
DC by Martin Luther
King, Jr.
JFK assassinated in
Dallas, TX
50-star U.S. flag debuts
The Beatles first appear
on The Ed Sullivan Show
The Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution passed
The Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee
(SNCC) formed in
Raleigh, NC
America and the World
13
Lombardi and the Packers
Packers become NFL
Champions in the
“Ice Bowl” against
the Dallas Cowboys
Green Bay wins
NFL Championship
by defeating the
Cleveland Browns
1965
(Play is set in this year)
National Voting Rights
Act of 1965
Green Bay wins Super
Bowl I by defeating the
Kansas City Chiefs
1966
American bombing of
North Vietnam begins
1967
Green Bay Packers defeat
the Oakland Raiders to
win the Super Bowl.
Vince Lombardi resigns
as Head Coach, staying
in Green Bay as General
Manager of the team
1968
Lombardi accepts Head
Coaching position with
the Washington Redskins
1969
”Summer of Love” in San Martin Luther King, Jr is
assassinated
Francisco
Race riots plague U.S.
cities
Presidential candidate
Robert Kennedy is
assassinated
Malcolm X assassinated
Sgt Pepper’s Lonely
Hearts Club Band by the
Beatles is released
Apollo 11, and Neil
Tet Offensive launched in Armstrong, land on the
Vietnam
moon
Draft card burnings in
Berkeley, CA to protest
the Vietnam War
Thurgood Marshall
becomes first black
Supreme Court Justice
My Lai Massacre
The Watts race riots in
Black Panther Party
Los Angeles kill 34 people founded in Oakland, CA
and destroy $200 million
Medicare established
in property
First black U.S.
Senator, Edward Brooke,
is elected to Congress
The Internet, originally
called Arpanet, is invented
Hair opens on Broadway by the Advanced Research
Projects Agency of the
U.S. Department of
Defense
Woodstock music festival
in New York
National Organization for
Women is founded
Richard Nixon elected
President of the United
States
Star Trek debuts
Sesame Street debuts
Strategic Arms Limitation
Talks (SALT) begin
America and the World
14
The NFL and the Super Bowl
The American Professional Football Association was formed by agreement with eleven teams in 1920, becoming known as the National
Football League (NFL) in 1922. In 1960, another professional football
organization was formed, known as the American Football League
and consisting of ten teams. The Super Bowl was established in
1967 to determine the national champion in a showdown between
the NFL’s and the AFL’s respective champions. Although the NFL
regarded the new American League as inferior, the new organization operated in direct competition with the older one and a massive
rivalry ensued, resulting in the merging of the two organizations in
1970. At the time of the merge, all ten former AFL teams as well as
three from the former NFL became identified as the American Football Conference (AFC), while the remaining 13 teams became known
as the National Football Conference (NFC). The two champions of
the respective conferences continue to compete in the Super Bowl,
though all are technically united under the NFL banner.
Legendary players on the 1965 Green Bay Packers team Dave Robinson
(left, William Oliver Watkins), Jim Taylor (David Hardie) and Paul Hornung
(Branton Box). Photo by Roger Mastroianni/Arizona Theatre Company.
Race in the NFL
In 1960, race was still a much contested topic in the United States,
and the NFL was no exception. However, Vince Lombardi and Jack
Vainisi, the Scouting Director for the Green Bay Packers, were determined that they would search avidly for the most talented players,
ignoring the racial prejudice still prevalent in the NFL and in the nation
as a greater whole. Lombardi was quoted as saying that he “…viewed
his players as neither black nor white, but Packer green.”
Lombardi was fiercely dedicated to racial equality on his team, perhaps
due to the discrimination he faced growing up as an Italian-American,
and enforced a strict zero tolerance policy on and off the field. He also
made it exceedingly clear to Green Bay establishments as well as to
lodging establishments on the road that if they did not accommodate
all of his players, black as well as white, those businesses would be
off limits to the entire team.
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Professional football was first
introduced in the U.S. in 1892. Not
long after, in 1902, Charles Follis
became the first African-American
football player, nicknamed “The
Black Cyclone,” and setting an early
example for the racial integration of
the sport. However, in 1933, racial
segregation became the official
policy of American football, and
African-Americans were banned
from participating. After WWII,
these racial barriers began to
disintegrate, and by 1944 there
were four African-Americans in
professional football – three years
before Jackie Robinson joined the
Brooklyn Dodgers.
Lombardi Sweep
The Lombardi Sweep (also called the
Packers Power Sweep), was head coach Vince
Lombardi’s signature play, and it dominated
professional football for most of the 1960s.
Lombardi openly discussed the theoretical
simplicity of the play, declaring it to be a “just
a yard gainer.” But as a militant proponent of
teamwork and an unfailing demander of effort
and dedication, Lombardi adopted the Sweep
as his number one play because “it requires all
eleven men to play as one to make it succeed,
Bob Ari as the legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi.
Photo by Roger Mastroianni/Arizona Theatre Company.
and that’s what ‘team’ means.” Lombardi
attributed the success of the play and, subsequently, the team, to endless drilling, repetition, and the constant expectation that only the
absolute best effort – from individual players and from the Packers as a team – would be allowed to grace the field.
The Lombardi Award
The Rotary Lombardi Award was established in 1970, shortly after the death
of Vince Lombardi from colon cancer. It is awarded annually to the best
college football lineman or linebacker according to the following criteria: the
player must be a down lineman on either side of the ball, or a linebacker who
lines up no further than five yards deep from the ball. The main part of the
trophy itself consists of a block of granite to commemorate Vince Lombardi’s
days at Fordham University as an offensive lineman, when his formidable
offensive line was designated “The Seven Blocks of Granite.” Nominees must
also demonstrate the qualities that Vince Lombardi displayed in his coaching
Bob Ari as the legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi.
and cultivated in his players: leadership, desire, respect for authority, courage,
and discipline.
Photo by Roger Mastroianni/Arizona Theatre Company.
16
A Quotable Man
Memorable Vince Lombardi Quotes:
•There is no substitute for work; it is the price of success.
•Fatigue makes cowards of us all; high physical condition is vital to victory.
•Two or three plays in a game spell victory or defeat; you never know when that play is coming up.
•A winning football team must avoid mistakes with a passion; treat mistakes with a vengeance.
•The harder a man works, the harder it is to surrender.
•The goal line is the moment of truth; there is no room for a timid person there.
•Every play must be considered a game breaker.
•Physical pressure on an opponent is necessary; mental pressure will make him crack.
•Football is a game of inches and inches make a champion.
•Defeat must be admitted before it is reality.
•If two teams are the same in physical ability, it is the team with pride that rakes in the chips.
•Desire is cold fury burning within a man.
•Every man must leave the field with the feeling that every spectator is convinced they have seen the best player in the country.
•Maybe winning isn’t everything, but it sure comes way ahead of whatever is second.
•On the goal line, the defense must attack.
•Pursuit is an all-out effort on defense.
•Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. If the defense is
scattered all over the field, it means that they are either confused, tired, or without desire.
•Want it; desire it; earn it; take it.
•Anything is ours providing we’re willing to pay the price.
•You must forget about being cautious or you are licked before you start.
•Mental attitude is 75 percent of winning.
•You need fear nothing as long as you are aggressive and keep going.
•Football desire is built on pride and effort forged by raw combat.
•We have been accused of playing mean, vicious, hungry football. It has been said we only play
to win. How else is there to play?
•You never lose a game if your opponent doesn’t score.
•Winning is a habit.
•Covering kicks is football’s biggest test of courage.
•Good fellows are a dime a dozen; aggressive leaders are priceless.
•You must force things to happen; you must grab the initiative.
•You win games with aggressiveness and precise execution, not gimmicks.
•Desire is a constant thing.
•Confidence is contagious; so is a lack of confidence.
Bob Ari as the legendary Green Bay Packers
•Pursuit is the shortest course to the ball carrier and arriving there in bad humor.
coach Vince Lombardi.
•You will find the extent of a man’s determination on the goal line.
Photo by Roger Mastroianni/Arizona Theatre Company.
17
Discussion Questions
and Activities
Discussion Questions
1. Michael McCormick is the only fictional character in the play. Why do you think the playwright wrote him in? What was his purpose?
2. What is it about Lombardi that makes him so iconic? And further, what is it about Vince Lombardi - a sports personality - that makes
him so appropriate for the stage? Would his style of leadership produce the same results outside the world of sports?
3. Michael makes a big decision at the end of the play. Do you think he made the right decision? What motivated him to choose the
way he did? Why does Lombardi admire him for that decision?
4. What are some of the similarities or common traits between sporting and artistic personalities?
5. The play is set for the most part in 1965. The 1960s was an incredibly tumultuous decade, not only in the life of Vince Lombardi,
but across America. Are there any parallels in the leadership of the Packers and the leadership of the United States during this decade?
Would Lombardi’s style of leadership work coming from a political figure?
6. Professional sports are one of the highest grossing forms of entertainment in our country today. What do you think is it about sports,
and about football in particular, that is so appealing and uniting? Why do we as a society place so much value on professional athletes
and pay such close attention to them?
Activities:
1. Eric Simonson, the playwright for Lombardi, said that to come up with a setting for the play he did the following: “… I looked at his
football career, and I picked a year in which he was really struggling.” Why do you think this period of Vince Lombardi’s life and career
would be particularly interesting to a playwright?
2. Think of a character in history that inspires you, and try to pinpoint a time in their life that was particularly challenging for them.
Imagine that that time in their life is the subject of a new play. Write a short play proposal of your idea with detailed explanation of the
importance of the character you have chosen and the period of time that you have set it in.
3. Look at the list of Vince Lombardi quotes from earlier in this Play Guide. Choose one that interests you and think of a time or an
incident in your life that is related to that quotation. Using the quote as the title, write a short story about that time in your life and what
the quote means to you.
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4. Theatre often requires the same qualities demanded of recipients of the Rotary Lombardi Award: leadership, desire, respect
for authority, courage, and discipline. Theatre games especially require strong team work and collaboration, as in the following
example:
Minefield (From ‘Theatre, Community, Conflict and Dialogue’ by Michael Rohd)
Number of people: 10 or more
Age Level: All ages
Time: 10-30 minutes
The Basic Idea: Everyone stands in a circle and tosses any objects they can find that aren’t breakable or sharp (shirts, jackets, books
etc.) into the center. Spread the objects out so that the whole center space is evenly covered, but leaving walkable pathways. Find a
volunteer and have them close their eyes. The rest of the group, using their voices, tries to navigate this volunteer to a point directly
across the circle from where they currently stand. If the volunteer touches any of the objects during the navigation, KABOOM, instant
obliteration! You, the leader, watch for fatal contact. The trick is that all participants are trying to lead the volunteer at once. They cannot speak to each other or designate one speaker. They cannot call the volunteer or each other by name. They must fight through the
chaos and lead the blind volunteer together.
Wrap-up: Have a few minutes of discussion after this game to assess how the group did or did not work together as a team to achieve
the desired result (safe passage of the blind volunteer). If the volunteer failed to make it to the other side safely, what went wrong
within the group? Finally, how were each of the traits mentioned above present in this game?
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