When Pride Still Mattered : A Life Of Vince Lombardi
by David Maraniss
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Book Summary Information
Author: David MaranissEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2000-09-03
ISBN: 0684870185
Number of pages: 544
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Book Reviews of When Pride Still Mattered : A Life Of Vince Lombardi
Book Review: Good, honest look at a great man
Summary: 5 Stars
Maraniss approaches Lombardi in an honest, nuanced way by presenting him as more complex and less mythological than is typical.
The reader learns that Lombardi, for his genius, was flawed in many ways. Also, Maraniss frequently points out the mistake one makes when presuming innocence on any athlete from the "good old days."
By taking an approach void of awe-inspired worship, Maraniss actually gets more to the heart of what made Lombardi successful. For example, instead of just talking about how Lombardi was larger-than life, Maraniss examines how Lombardi was able to connect psychologically to his players. And, instead of just talking about how Lombardi was a football genius, Maraniss examines Lombardi's appreciation for the minutiae of the game and the pedagogical methods he employed.
Where most authors merely praise Lombardi's greatness, Maraniss is interested in what caused it. This makes his book very valuable to any coach or leader. Highly recommend.
Summary of When Pride Still Mattered : A Life Of Vince Lombardi
More than any other sports figure, Vince Lombardi transformed football into a metaphor of the American experience. The son of an Italian immigrant butcher, Lombardi toiled for twenty frustrating years as a high school coach and then as an assistant at Fordham, West Point, and the New York Giants before his big break came at age forty-six with the chance to coach a struggling team in snowbound Wisconsin. His leadership of the Green Bay Packers to five world championships in nine seasons is the most storied period in NFL history. Lombardi became a living legend, a symbol to many of leadership, discipline, perseverance, and teamwork, and to others of an obsession with winning. In When Pride Still Mattered, Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss captures the myth and the man, football, God, and country in a thrilling biography destined to become an American classic.
As coach of the Green Bay Packers from 1959 to 1967, Vince Lombardi turned perennial losers into a juggernaut, winning back-to-back NFL titles in 1961 and 1962, and Superbowls I and II in 1966 and 1967. Stern, severe, sentimental, and paternal, he stood revered, reviled, respected, and mocked--a touchstone for the '60s all in one person. Which adds up to the myth we've been left with. But who was the man? That's the question Pulitzer Prize-winner David Maraniss tackles. It begins with Lombardi's looming father, a man as colorful as his son would be conservative. Still, from his father Vince Lombardi learned a sense of presence and authority that could impress itself with just a look. If a moment can sum up and embrace a man's life--and capture the breadth of Maraniss's thoroughness--it is one that takes place off the field when the Packers organization decides to redecorate their offices in advance of the new head coach's arrival: "During an earlier visit," Maraniss reports, "he had examined the quarters--peeling walls, creaky floor, old leather chairs with holes in them, discarded newspapers and magazines piled on chairs and in the corners--and pronounced the setting unworthy of a National Football League club. 'This is a disgrace!' he had remarked." In one moment, one comment, Lombardi announced his intentions, made his vision and professionalism clear, and began to shake up a stale organization. It reveals far more about the man than wins and losses, and is the kind of moment Maraniss uses again and again in this superb resurrection of a figure who so symbolized a sporting era and sensibility. --Jeff Silverman
Lombardi, Vince Books
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