Just weeks into my first job as professional sports writer 27 years ago, an arrogant high school football coach hurt my feelings as I interviewed him for a season preview. He told me his team would be running the Delaware Wing T offense and I asked him to elaborate. "Oh, honey,” he said “Anyone who knows [...]
Category: Packer Alumni
Lombardi built champions and friends
Of all the lessons Coach Lombardi taught his players -- pursue excellence, never settle, honor the uniform, respect god, eat nutritionally, prepare thoroughly -- one of the richest remains this: value friendship. Honored residents of Titletown, Lombardi's Packers bonded in the singular pursuit of championships and collective respect for their coach. That kind of high-fiving, [...]
The jersey boys: a circle of Lombardi inspired friendship
A late and unexpected Christmas gift celebrated two key factors in my father's life -- football and friendship. The gift, given to my son Vinnie this week by his godfather, John Olson, mirrored an equally sentimental gift "Ole" gave me nearly 30 years ago. Back then I found one last package addressed to me and [...]
Lombardi’s defensive captain for life
When he described a true friend as someone who "advises justly, assists readily, adventures boldly, takes all patiently, defends courageously, and continues a friend unchangeably," William Penn might have been describing a fellow William, former Packer great Willie Davis. Davis, a Hall of Fame football player and a defensive lineman for the Green Bay Packers [...]
With this Super Bowl ring I thee…briefly panic
With an impressive combination of German precision, Irish luck and Catholic fertility, my parents managed to produce exactly four NFL championship rings and exactly four children. For most of my childhood, the rings rested unceremoniously on a plaque in our family room, just a few feet from an unlocked side door. Though he valued them [...]