When Pride Still Mattered : A Life Of Vince Lombardi

David Maraniss wrote a moving, heart-rending book about one of the greatest leaders of all time. Vince Lombardi was deeply admired and despised as the biggest S.O.B., many times by the same person. I was captivated by the circumstances of his life coming together at just the right time to build one of the greatest sports dynasties of all time. But so often, up to that point, he wondered when his chance would come and "why not me?" I was moved by his commitment to excellence and his concern that the abuse of freedom would one-day lead to the decay of our great country. But the part of the book that most moved me was his strained relationship with his son, Vincent. I can relate to being the son of a father who rarely showed affection as I was growing up. It's not any fault of his own, rather a cultural influence passed from generations of men before him. He did what they taught. Is it good or bad? That becomes a judgement and a trap. My dad's parenting tactics were perfectly what they were. Maraniss does and excellent job painting the picture of what it's like growing up in home where the father is dedicated to his life outside the home, but is missing in action inside the home. The pain and the sadness of being the spouse and children of a 60's era father is expertly woven into the retelling of the interaction between Vince and Vincent. Ultimately, the question is resolved by Vincent as one of forgiveness, not approval. I was moved by the tale of building the Green Bay Packers into a powerhouse. The play by play narrative is compelling and engaging without being overly dramatic or drawn out. Maraniss avoids the trap of most sports books and movies with a re-telling of the plays and championship moments while avoiding excessive detail. But my favorite part of the book was Maraniss' walk through the dying process of Vince Lombardi. I could see him lying in the hospital with uncharacteristically long hair and bushy eyebrows. I could hear his non-sensical yammering to players who were not there in the room with him. I could feel the air of desperation that accompanies a terminal diagnosis held against the will to live and "whip this thing." Maraniss walked me through the process of saying goodbye that I went through recently with my mother and one of my best friends from graduate school. I was brought back to the confusion of seeing someone you know well and love that only somewhat resembles who you knew. Sons and fathers, this is a must read about life, relationships and the perspective of growing up from each side. It's about celebrating the winners and the doers of great things. It's about life, excellence, and doing what you can, where you are with what you have. It's about doubt and perseverence. It's about resisting the unpleasantness of dying and the regret of unfinished business. Men, get this book. It's that good.

This is definitely one of the best biographies I have ever read. I knew little of Vince Lombardi before going in other than he was an exceptional coach and motivator. My interest in the NFL and desire to learn about the game lead me to this book and I can honestly say I got more than I bargained for with it.Not only is there great insight into the game at a time when the NFL was being formed but you also get a good feel for how Lombardi was such a great innovative coach and leader. I took from the book how the need for someone in a leadership role needs to maintain a strong authoritarian presence amongst those they oversee, easing up when needed but never falling in to being 'one of the boys' as I see happens all too often in the corporate world. There is a comparison in the book after Lombardi leaves Green Bay between him and his successor, who was not seen as being forceful or hard, and how this lax, easy-going attitude, caused the players to have a lack of respect for him and as a result play with almost half a heart, contrasting how Lombardi maintained strict order with players and in return made them play better and be better. Interviews relayed throughout the book from these players back up how this Lombardi attitude made them better players and people.As far as the writing style, it was great and the easy flow and attention to detail that was used just heightened the read all that much more.I recommend this book to any Football or biography fan as well as to anyone who enjoys reading about someone who made a difference. Five stars all the way.

Pro football's huge commercial success can be attributed in part to the life and times of Vince Lombardi, all richly detailed in David Maraniss' masterful biography of the great Green Bay Packer coach. Though a testament worthy of this American icon, the biography is also a fitting tribute to the author's artistry at the business of biographical writing; delve deep into the subject's life and times, sense him as a human being, respect the chronology of his life and its events, fill the book with anecdotes and quotes bringing a vivid recounting of his life to the pages thus justifying its length, and, thus holding the reader's attention and then write clear and creatively. Maraniss succeeds on all counts; he carefully relates Lombardi's Italian American upbringing, his Jesuit education at Fordham, his life long adherence to Catholic faith and that he lived his faith through all the days of his celebrity life to his untimely death from cancer. His times as the Packers head coach captures the essential of being the most beloved and successful coach in American professional football for a decade, or as Marie Lombardi, his wife, called "the era of the sixties was professional football's finest hour." Maraniss' writing of the 1967 Ice Bowl in which the Packers beat the Dallas Cowboys sends chills and thrills through the reader. Lombardi's hospitalization and death at Georgetown Hospital in September 1970 is so poignant; played out page after page that it might well bring tears to one's eyes. The epilogue mainly focusing on Marie Lombardi is equally touching. This is far more than a sports biography, this is a biography in the highest order.