The Best Football Coach: Vince Lombardi

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Vince Lombardi is known as one of the best football coaches of all time. He was born in Brooklyn, New York on June 11, 1913 (Philips, 2001). Lombardi was the eldest of five children of two very devote Catholic parents (Philips, 2001). Throughout his childhood Lombardi was involved in many sports but football was his true passion (Philips, 2001). During his senior year of high Lombardi won a football scholarship to St. Francis Prep School in Brooklyn (Philips, 2001). During his time at St. Francis Prep School Lombardi was not a very strong football player but was known for his dedication and hard work (Philips, 2001). After college Lombardi had a hard time settling and finding a job that he liked (Philips, 2001). Lombardi did everything from playing semipro football to trying to enlist in the Army (Philips, 2001). Five years after graduation Lombardi wanted to marry his girlfriend so he accepted a job at St. Cecilia High School teaching various subjects (Philips, 2001). During his time teaching at St. Cecilia Lombardi was offered his first coaching job of basketball and football (Philips, 2001). He was a very successful coach at St. Cecilia and went on to be an assistant football coach at the United States Military Academy (Philips, 2001). After five years at West Point he was offered an assistant coaching job with the New York Giants (Philips, 2001). While with the Giants Lombardi helped coach the team to winning a National Football League Championship in 1956 (Philips, 2001). Lombardi left the Giants in 1959 to be the head coach of the Green Bay Packers (Philips, 2001). During his time with the Green Bay Packers Lombardi showed his true leadership and coaching ability. Before Lombardi came to the Green Bay Packers they...

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...bardi passed away on Sept 3, 1970 from colon cancer (Maraniss, 1999). During his time as a coach in the National Football League he led teams to win five championships and Super Bowl I and II (Philips, 2001). Lombardi had an overall winning percentage of .758 and never had .500 season or lower (Philips, 2001). He was the coach of the year four times (Philips, 2001). Lombardi is a role model for leadership in any type of organization.

References
Lombardi, V. and Lombardi Jr., V. (2012). What it takes to be number one. Tennessee: Thomas Nelson.
Maraniss, D. (1999). A life of Vince Lombardi: When pride still mattered. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Northouse, P. G. (2012). Introduction to leadership: Concepts and practice. 2nd edition. California: Sage.
Philips, D. T. (2001). Run to Win: Vince Lombardi on coaching and leadership. New York: St. Martin’s
Griffin.

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