When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi. Written by David Maraniss. Published in 1999 by Touchstone.
David Maraniss grew up as a Wisconsin native, got educated and headed out East in Washington D.C. to work in journalism. As fate will some times do, those two things, Wisconsin and "out East" would someday give Maraniss some good vantage points to do research into a certain football coach named Vince Lombardi. Now I am the kind of guy that can stick my nose in a
Mad Magazine or if I must, a court house law review. Maraniss' book about Lombardi reads like a finely tuned graduate school text book, but with a constant mystery thriller hook. Be prepared to read a thorough 500 page book with no unnecessary ballast.
Maraniss crafted his book in the late 1990s. Published in 1999, it came out 29 years after Lombardi died. Even 30 years after the Lombardi era, there was still time to find plenty of living people that had worked and lived with the coach.
Born in 1913 Lombardi grew up in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. His was the quintessential American experience - large tight knit Italian Catholic family, and busy eclectic consummate New York City burrow home town. God, football, family, and hard work set his foundation in life. And, coming of age in the Great Depression, either via his father's meat cutting business or coaching, Lombardi managed to stay working.
I grew up in Wisconsin as well and during the Lombardi era of the Green Bay Packers of the 1960s. Seeing only that snap shot of the coach, there is of course rich history of the man's life most Wisconsin people like myself may not know, or the rest of the country did not know for that matter. Maraniss introduces us to Lombardi's family, home town, and long relationship with football outside of the Green Bay days.
When other people Lombardi's age were grateful to get to eighth grade, Lombardi worked his way through Fordham University and got to play big time college football - back then Fordham was an elite football school. Through his football connections he ended up coaching high school football in the throws of the Depression and through World War II. Life-time lessons were acquired while coaching a short stint back at Fordham and then on to West Point as assistant coach for Army.
Wisconsin readers should appreciate that Lombardi coached offense and Tom Landry coached defense on the same New York Giants professional football team. Landry of course later coached the Dallas Cowboys and met Lombardi's Packers in the infamous "Ice Bowl" also known as the 1967 National Football League Championship. Lombardi won five NFL Championships in nine years with the Packers. Those years also included victories in the first two Super Bowls.
Maraniss captures Lombardi's long journey through the evolution of modern football into what it is today. Woven in the back story are Lombardi's ties to his childhood, Fordham, West Point, the Giants, of course the Packers, family, and his devotion to Catholicism. One could make a good academic case that this book is also about American life in the mid-Twentieth Century. And toward the end of Lombardi's football days and life, there was the tumultuous 1960s. Here was a man dedicated to rules, discipline, winning, law, and order. The 1960s generation that watched him master pro football in contrast, embraced change, rejected authority, and antagonized the status quo. It was a stunning generational juxtaposition. Maraniss navigates that paradox without becoming mired in the complexities of the era.
We also get a peek at a man of humble beginnings that became famous. He was courted by business, government, Army Generals, and even U.S. Presidents. Lombardi's myth took on a life of its own. Although he was driven with the goal of perfection, the image created of him by the media and fans often bedeviled his daily duties as coach. Lombardi was far from perfect, even sometimes hated by his players, and Maraniss wades through all the nuances of this man's life without passing judgement. Lombardi struggled with fitting football, God, and family in the same game plan. He struggled with his huge temper and even larger ego. All the way the media was both his best friend and worst enemy. Lombardi expected the highest standards and decisive perfection from his players and family. Yet, he himself never reached the pros as a player, in fact he was injury pron. And as well, he struggled with many career decisions, often agonizing over directions to take throughout his own life. Maraniss presents the facts; we are left to judge for ourselves as readers.
The book reads like a well researched mystery case, but most of us know the end anyway of course; Lombardi died too soon, succumbing to caner at just 57 years old after leaving the Packers to coach in Washington D.C. He only got to coach the Redskins one year, but his influence there lasted for years. His legacy in Green Bay to date is locked in granite. Ironic, considering when Lombardi played college football at Fordham, he and his fellow linemen were called "The Seven Blocks of Granite."
When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi is a must read for any aspiring football player or coach. It is also a pretty important presentation for anyone interested in Twentieth Century cultural history. If I were an academic administrator and hiring a new high school or college coach, my first question to the applicant would be....,
"Hey, you ever read this book?"
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
Marine Lance Corporal Jacob Alexander Meinert, 20, Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, died on Sunday, January 10th, 2010 in Helmand province, Afghanistan. Meinert was killed from injuries received the day before, when a roadside bomb was detonated near his position during combat operations. Lance Corporal Meinert was a radio telephone operator assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, out of Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. He served in Iraq from August 2008 to March 2009 and had been in Afghanistan since late 2009.
The Wisconsin State Journal notes that Meinert was born in Racine. He moved to Fort Atkinson around 2004. Jacob was remembered as being quiet, having a sense of humor, being a leader, and being well liked. He was a music enthusiast. He also liked to fish. Jacob graduated from Fort Atkinson High School in January 2007; he played lead trombone in the jazz band, was in the marching band, the pep band, and show choir accompanying combo. He started the enlistment process into the Marine Corps after finishing high school a semester early.
Meinert's military awards include the Purple Heart; National Defense Service medal; Global War on Terrorism Service medal; the Afghanistan Campaign medal; and, Iraq Campaign medal.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel mentioned that Jacob was also a member of the school chess club. Another Marine and British journalist Rupert Hamer of the Sunday Mirror were also killed in the incident that killed Lance Corporal Meinert. They were near the town of Nawa. The Journal Sentinel in a follow up article noted Jacob's fellow Marines had given him the nickname "Slim." He also played guitar, and earned a Black Belt in tae kwon do. Meinert was said to have had a plan to go to college and return to the Marines as an officer.
The Journal Times maintain Meinert had stepped on a landmine. In the Lake Michigan city of Racine, Jacob was remembered for his love of sailing. One of his grandfathers had also been a Marine.
The Daily Jefferson County Union notes Meinert was known as "Jake." The Union also noted the incident that killed Lance Corporal Meinert was due to a landmine and that it happened in Bastion, Afghanistan. He was said to have had a long interest in the military. His grandfather Richard Meinert had also served in the Marines.
The Website legacy.com posted an obituary via information from the Racine Journal Times noting Jacob was born June 24, 1989, in Racine. He attended Red Apple Elementary School and Jerstad-Agerholm Middle School in Racine. He later moved to Fort Atkinson where he graduated from high school. At the time of his death Jacob Meinert was survived by his father Brian Warzala; his mother Krista (Michael) Edquist; sister Randi Meinert; step-brother Mitchell Edquist; brother Larson Edquist; maternal grandparents Richard (Donna) Meinert; paternal grandfather Robert Warzala; paternal grandmother Darlene Warzala; three aunts, Michele (David) Breheim, Sheryl (Bob) Petersen, and Pam (Nathan Schulz) Warzala; his uncle Ben Warzala; and, family dog Bosco. Lance Corporal Jacob Meinert was the 17th Wisconsin Military service person to be killed in Afghanistan since October of 2001.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
101,060 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
9,950 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,457 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1582 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
892 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
1 American/Coalition casualty in Libyan "Operation Odyssey Dawn" since March, 2011
32,102 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
11,541 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
107 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
31 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
148 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
21 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
5 journalists (regional and independents) have been killed in Libya since March, 2011.
Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf; and, icasualties.org
