"Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile." -Vince Lombardi
Straight out of high school, in 1933, Vince Lombardi got accepted a football scholarship to Fordham University in the Bronx to play for the Fordham Rams. During Lombardi's four years at Fordham he played right guard in the "Seven Blocks of Granite". This was the nickname given to the team's offensive line. Moreover, Vince Lombardi was not just a player in this "Seven Blocks of Granite" line up, but he was a leader. He was the kind of guy that the others players looked up to for guidance. Some might say he was a natural born leader. In a very important game against the Pittsburgh Panthers Football Team, Lombardi obtained a severe gash inside his mouth and had several teeth knocked out. In result, he missed most of the game until he was called in on defense for a successful goal line stand that preserved a 0–0 tie. This is another example of Vince Lombardi showing great leadership. The Fordham rams were undefeated with a record of 5-0-2 before losing in the final game of the season, 7–6, to NYU. This loss destroyed any hopes for Fordham playing in the rose bowl but taught Vince a valuable life lesson that he would never forget - Never to underestimate your opponent. On June 16, 1937, he graduated from Fordham University. The economic times of the Great Depression offered him very little opportunities for a career. Despite the hard times he had found an assistant coaching job at a roman Catholic school in Englewood, New Jersey. After seeing that all of the head coaching jobs had been taken, Vince was hired as an assistant coach. On top of that, he also taught Latin, chemistry, and physics. He was hired in 1939. In 1942 and Lombardi became the head coach at St. Cecilia. Lombardi stayed a total of eight years, five as head coach. In 1943, St. Cecilia's was recognized as the top football team in the nation. In 1947, Lombardi became the coach of freshman teams in football and basketball at Fordham University. The following year he served as an assistant coach for Fordham's varsity football team. In, 1953 Lombardi, age 41, began his NFL career with the New York Giants. He accepted a job that would later become known as the offensive coordinator position under new head coach Jim Lee Howell. The Giants had finished the previous season under 23-year coach Steve Owens with a 3–9 record. By the third season, Lombardi, along with the defensive coordinator, former All-Pro corner back turned coach Tom Landry, turned the squad into a championship team.
After a couple years as assistant coach with the giants, Lombardi was desprate to find a head coaching job. He applied to be head coach for many pro teams and universities but never got the job. Lombardi worried that he was unable to land a head coaching job due to prejudice against his Italian heritage. Sometimes the universities that he applied to coach for never responded back. Finnaly, the Green Bay Packers pushed for Lombardi to become the new head coach and managers. So, in 1959, Vince Lombardi accepted the position of head coach and general manager of the Green Bay Packers. Lombardi created punishing training regimens and expected absolute dedication and effort from his players. The 1959 Packers were an immediate improvement, finishing at 7–5. Before Vince Lombardi took over, the packers season record was 1-10-1. This was the lowest record in packer history. This show how good of a coach and a leader Vince Lombardi was. As a result of showing such improvement, Vince Lombardi was Named Rookie head coach of the year. The fans appreciated what Lombardi was trying to do, and responded by selling out every game for the1960 season. Every Packers home game—preseason, regular season and playoffs—has been sold out ever since. In his second year, Green Bay won the NFL Western Conference for the first time since 1944. As you can tell, just in his fist and second years, Vince Lobardi is showing amazing improvement for the packers. Lombardi led thePackers to the1960 NFL Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Prior to the championship game, Lombardi met withWellington Mara and advised him that he would not take the Giants' head coaching job, which was initially offered after the end of the 1959 season. In the final play of the game, in a drive that would have won it, the Packers were stopped a few yards from the goal line. Lombardi had suffered his first, and his only ever, championship game loss. After the game, and after the press corps had left the locker room, Lombardi told his team, "This will never happen again. You will never lose another championship." What he said that turned out to become true. He would coach the Packers to win their next nine post-season games, a record streak not matched or broken until Bill Belichick won 10 in a row from 2002 to 2006. The Packers would defeat the Giants for the NFL title in1961 (37–0 in Green Bay) and1962 (16–7 at Yankee Stadium), marking the first two of their five titles in Lombardi's seven years.
Including postseason but excluding exhibition games, Lombardi went on to compile a 105–35–6 (.740 winning percent) record as head coach, and he never suffered a losing season. He led the Packers to three consecutive NFL championships — in 1965, 1966, and 1967— a feat accomplished only once before in the history of the league (by Curly Lambeau, Co-founder of the Packers, who coached the team to their first three straight NFL Championships in 1929, 1930, and 1931). At the conclusion of the 1966 and 1967 seasons, Lombardi's Packers would go on to win the first two Super Bowls. Lombardi coached the Green Bay Packers to championships in five of seven seasons.