When Pride Still Mattered

by David Maraniss

  Among the pleasures of researching this book was the chance to spend time with older and wiser people. Fred Russell, the sportswriting sage of Nashville, showed remarkable recall more than sixty years later of a Vanderbilt road game against Fordham at the Polo Grounds in 1934. I found a new writing hero in the process, W. C. “Bill” Heinz, who wrote the first book about Vince Lombardi, Run to Daylight!—the coach’s memoir of a week during the 1962 season. From the moment I met Heinz at his hilltop home in Dorset, Vermont, and he showed me his old Remington typewriter and shared notes from interviews he conducted with Lombardi thirty-seven years ago, I realized that I was in the presence of a true pro.

  For the winter of 1996-97 my wife and I moved to Green Bay to research the book. We will long remember the clear northern winter, the amazing run of thePackers to the Super Bowl under coach Mike Holmgren and general manager Ron Wolf, and the warm people we met during our stay. Our deepest thanks to Gary and Donna DeBauche, our local guides; to Ron and Helen Desotel, who provided us with a wonderful home in the bayside woods of rural Brussels; to Jack and Rita Earp, our friendly neighbors (Jack, great-grandnephew of Wyatt Earp, rode his tractor snowplow like a horseman); to Judy, the postmistress who delivered our mail through blizzards; to the irrepressible Johnny Maino and Larry McCarren, Michael Bauman, Bud Lea and Art Daley, who welcomed me into the Packer media tribe; to Lee Remmel and his skilled staff at Lambeau; to Vernon Biever, the great photographer; and to Mary Jane Herber at the Brown County Library, whose research assistance was invaluable.

  Our two summers of research in New York City were made possible by Robin Becker, the graceful dancer of West 107th Street, and Tom Chulak, my loving cousin. Researchers Gloria Riviera, Ben Maraniss and Libby Estelle were quick and efficient. It was a pleasure to deal with Allen Aimone, the skilled special collections librarian at West Point, Suzanne Christoff, the USMA archivist, and Pat Hanlon, media relations director for the New York Giants. Vic Del Guercio taught me about the Depression-era Fordham. Don Crane and the McPartland brothers brought back the Saints. Tim Cohane Jr. provided me with two blue tubs full of his father’s papers. And Joe Lombardi, the Old Man’s sweet-natured little brother, showed me around Sheepshead Bay. Michael and Beth Norman, Blaine Harden and Jessica Kowal, Chip Brown and Kate Betts gave us plenty of happy diversions, and Beth, a professor of nursing, also helped as a medical adviser, along with Dr. Dorothy Scott.

  Although this was not an authorized biography, the Lombardi family welcomed my project and provided a balanced perspective on St. Vince. His son, Vincent, daughter-in-law, Jill, and daughter, Susan, were open and honest, and I will never forget their generosity. Cousin Clara Parvin and niece Michelle Walden went out of their way to find family photographs. Among the old Packers, special thanks to Bob Skoronski for his incisive comments and to Paul Hornung, who tracked me down in a Louisville hotel room one night and showed that the Golden Boy is a helluva guy.

  Vincent H. Lombardi, representing management, and David Meggyesy, representing the union, once almost came to blows on opposite sides of an NFL bargaining table, yet I admire them both greatly. Meggyesy’s thoughts on the meaning of football in American culture are always interesting. Thanks to Jim Warren for introducing me to Meggyesy and for providing a clear reading of the manuscript. Preliminary readings by Richard Cohen, Valerie Strauss and Maralee Schwartz gave me an early boost, as did Andrea Dettelbach’s energetic research and the art history exuberance of Paul Richard. I am always lucky to have Bob Woodward, Elsa Walsh, Michael Weisskopf, Judith Katz, Frank Roloff, Neil Henry and John Feinstein looking out for me. The memos that Dick Harwood wrote after reading the manuscript were always insightful.

  The Washington Post was extraordinarily accommodating throughout this project. Don Graham, Leonard Downie Jr., Robert Kaiser, Steve Coll, Karen DeYoung and Bill Hamilton let me keep going on Lombardi even as my former subject, Bill Clinton, found new (or old) ways to make news. George Solomon, the sports editor, generously allowed me to cover the Packers during their 1996 championship run.Post researcher Bobbye Pratt once again was a lifesaver. Rafe Sagalyn, my agent, believed in this book from the beginning and was greatly helpful, as were his assistants, Ethan Kline and Dan Kois. This is my fourth book for Alice Mayhew at Simon & Schuster, our first sports book. She can be as tough as Lombardi, and as smart and loving. Thanks also to Carolyn Reidy, David Rosenthal, Victoria Meyer, Kerri Kennedy, Jennifer Thornton, Charlotte Gross, Roger Labrie and Layla Hearth. Near the end of any book, my absentmindness turns to outright carelessness. This time I lost a computer disk with the entire book on it while riding the Metroliner from Washington to New York. Amtrak’s Cliff Black to the rescue. He sent a team of employees onto the empty train hours later and miraculously found the disk.

  There is nothing that means more to me than having my parents, Mary and Elliott Maraniss, serve as the first readers and editors for my two biographies, and this time they were joined in the process by the Maraniss family’s adopted big sister, Whitney Gould, whose comments were all the more valuable because she has no use for football. And thanks finally to Linda, Andrew and Sarah. Linda lived this book as much as I did, moving to Green Bay in the dead of winter and to New York in the brutal summer, and everything I did depended on her incredible support and invariably correct editorial advice. As I wrote once before, paraphrasing the old coach, and say again at the end of my obsession with Lombardi, she and our children are not everything, they are the only thing.

  Index

  ABC

  Adamany, Wally

  Adderley, Herb

  Agnew, Spiro

  Air Force Academy

  Alabama, University of

  Alda, Alan

  Aldridge, Lionel

  Allen, George

  Allouez, Claude

  Ambury, James

  Ameche, Alan “The Horse,”

  Amen, Paul

  America

  America First

  American Football League (AFL)

  American Management Association

  American Medical Association

  American Professional Football

  Association

  Anderson, Dave

  Anderson, Donny

  Anderson, Jackie

  Anderson, Lewis B.

  Andrie, George

  Angell, James Rowland

  Anthony of Padua, Saint

  anticommunism

  Antil, Mary

  Antil, Mary Jo

  Antil, Ray

  Antiquarian Society

  antisemitism

  Appley, Lawrence A.

  Arbanas, Fred

  Arcade

  Arkansas, University of

  Army, U.S.

  Corps of Engineers of

  896th Engineer Floating Bridge Company of

  Signal Corps of

  Third Army of

  Twelfth Infantry Regiment of the Fourth Division of

  Army Athletic Association

  Army football team:

  Blaik as head coach of

  Columbia vs.

  glory days of

  impact of honor code scandal on

  Navy vs.

  rough playing reputation of

  VL as assistant coach of

  Arnett, Jon

  Aronson, Harry

  Arps, Milton

  Arrowhead Inn

  Assmuth, Joseph

  Associated Press (AP)

  Atkins, Doug

  Atkinson, Jerry

  Atlanta Falcons

  Austin, Bill

  Babartsky, Al

  Bachman, Dorothy

  Bald, Cannonball

  Ballweg, Larry

  Baltimore Colts

  Green Bay Packers vs.

  New York Giants vs.

  Bamfield, Landon

  Baptista, Sister Louise “the Bap,”

  Barnes, Erich

  Barris, John

  Barthes, Roland

  Bartlett, B. W.

  Baughan, M
axie

  Baum, Bernie

  Baum, Henry

  Baum, Robert

  Beacon Hill Country Club

  Bealmear, Austin

  Bear, Ray

  Bear Mountain Inn

  Bednarik, Chuck

  Bell, Bobby

  Bell, deBenneville “Bert,”

  Bell, Tommy

  Bengston, John Philip “Phil,”

  VL succeeded as Green Bay coach by

  Bergen Evening Record

  Berlin wall

  Berra, Yogi

  Berry, Raymond

  Bettis, Tom

  Bickham, Margaret Ann (granddaughter)

  Bickham, Marie Ann (granddaughter)

  Bickham, Paul (son-in-law)

  Bickham, Paul, Jr. (grandson)

  Biever, John

  Biever, Vernon

  Big Elroy

  Bilotti brothers

  Blackbourn, Lisle

  Blaik, Bob

  Blaik, Earl H. “Red,”

  Army football team coached by

  Bull Pond fishing vacations of

  character and personality of

  coaching style and strategy of

  criticism of

  honor code scandal and

  MacArthur and

  retirement of

  Ten Football Axioms of

  two-platoon system of

  VL influenced by

  VL’s relationship with

  Blaik, Merle

  Blair Motion Pictures Inc.

  Blanchard, Doc

  Blasco Ibáñez, Vicente

  Bledsoe, Terry

  Blindauer, Howie

  Boston College

  Bosworth, Brian

  Bouche, Bruce

  Bourguignon, Dick

  Bourguignon, Lois

  Bowman, Ken

  Boyd, Bob

  Boyle, Connie

  Brackins, Charlie

  Bradlee, Ben

  Bradlee, Dino

  Bradley, Hugh

  Bradley University

  Braisher, Dad

  Brandt, Ben

  Brandt, Gil

  Bratkowski, Zeke

  Brecht, Bertolt

  Breslin, Eddie

  Broder, David

  Brodie, John

  Bronx Buick Company

  Bronx Zoo

  Brooklyn Dodgers

  Brooklyn Eagle

  Brooklyn Eagles

  Brooklyn-Long Island Social Club

  Brooklyn Prep high school

  Brooklyn Tech high school

  Brookshier, Tom

  Brosnan, Jim

  Brown, Ed

  Brown, Jim

  Brown, Larry

  Brown, Paul

  Brown, Roger

  Brown, Roosevelt “Rosie,”

  Brown, Tim

  Brown, Tom

  Brown, Wilburt S. “Bigfoot,”

  Brown University

  Brusky, Eugene

  Bryant, Paul “Bear,”

  Buchwald, Art

  Buck, Jack

  Budde, Ed

  Buffalo Bills

  Buffone, Doug

  Bunn, Edward

  Buol, Vern

  Burk, Adrian

  Burke, Dennis

  Butler, Billy

  Cabrera, Jim

  Caesar, Sid

  Caffey, Lee Roy

  Calhoun, George B.

  California, University of, at Los Angeles (UCLA)

  Callahan, Charlie

  Camp, Walter

  Camp Alverno

  Canadeo, Tony

  VL and

  Canadian Football League

  Cannon, James

  Carberry, Judge

  Carey, Hugh

  Carley, David

  Carmelite fathers

  Caroline, J. C.

  Carpenter, Lew

  Casares, Rick

  Cathedral Annual

  Cathedral College of the Immaculate Conception

  VL as student and athlete at

  Catholic Herald Citizen

  Caulkin, Francis

  Cavanaugh, Frank

  CBS

  Cerutti, Hooks

  Chandler, Don

  Chicago, Ill.

  Chicago, University of

  Chicago Bears

  Green Bay Packers vs.

  New York Giants vs.

  Chicago Cardinals

  Chicago Tribune

  China, People’s Republic of

  Chomsky, Noam

  Christian Mothers Society

  Christian Science Monitor

  Church of Our Lady of Refuge

  Cincinnati, University of

  Clark, DeDe

  Clark, Jack

  Clarke, Frank

  Clay, Cassius

  Cleveland Browns

  Green Bay Packers vs.

  New York Giants vs.

  Cochran, John Thurman “Red,”

  Cochran, Pat

  Coffey, Jack

  Coffey, Robert

  Cohane, Margaret

  Cohane, Mary Therese

  Cohane, Timothy

  character and personality of

  family life of

  sportswriting of

  VL’s relationship with

  Cold War

  College All-Star Games

  College All-Star teams

  college football:

  criticism of

  decline of

  overemphasis and glorification of

  physical and mental challenge of

  press coverage of

  pro football vs.

  questionable recruiting methods in

  Collier, Blanton

  Collier, Jim

  Collins, Arthur S., Jr.

  Collins, Mary Ann

  Colo, Don

  Colorado College

  Columbia Military Academy

  Columbia University

  School of Journalism at

  Columbia University football team

  Army vs.

  Committee to Re-elect the President

  Commonweal

  Conerly, Charlie

  Congress, U.S.

  see also Senate, U.S.

  Cooke, Terence Cardinal

  Corcoran, Mickey

  Cordileone, Lou

  Cornell University

  Corum, Bill

  Cosell, Howard

  Cosmopolitan

  Coughlin, Charles

  Cox, Ignatius Wiley

  Crane, Don

  Crane, Jack “Jocko,”

  Creighton University

  Crow, Lindon

  Crowley, Agnes Sweeney

  Crowley, James H., “Sleepy Jim,”

  character and personality of

  football playing career of

  Fordham football team coached by

  Cuozzo, Gary

  Currie, Dan

  Curry, Bill

  Cvercko, Andy

  Dale, Carroll

  Daley, Art (Green Bay Press-Gazette)

  Daley, Arthur (New York Times)

  Daley, Richard

  Dallas Cowboys

  Doomsday Defense of

  Green Bay Packers vs.

  Landry as coach of

  Dallas Rangers

  Dallas Texans

  Dallas Times-Herald

  Danowski, Edward F.

  Danzig, Allison

  Dartmouth College

  Davey, Martin L.

  Davis, Al

  Davis, Glenn

  Davis, Willie

  Dawson, Len

  Dean, Ted

  Death of a Salesman (Miller)

  DeGasperis, John “Gassy,”

  Del Greco, Al

  Del Guercio, Vic

  Democratic Party

  Dempsey, Jack

  Depression, Great

  Detroit Lions

  Green Bay Packers vs.

  Devore, Hugh

  Dewane, Tom

  Dickson, George

 
; Dinius, Duane

  Direct Selling Association

  Disegni, George

  Dobie, Gil

  Doheny, Dick

  Doll, Don

  Dolson, Frank

  Dooley, Edwin B.

  Dorsey, Tommy

  Dowler, Boyd

  Draper, Phil

  Draper, Stephen

  Druze, Johnny

  Duke University

  Dulkie, Joe

  Dumont Television Network

  Duncan, Randy

  Dunney, Howard

  Dupre, L. G.

  Eastern College Athletic Association

  East-West Shrine Game

  Ebbets Field

  Ebert, John

  Ed Sullivan Show, The

  Egan, J. P.

  Eisenhower, Dwight D.

  elections:

  of 1952

  of 1960

  of 1968

  Ellis Island

  Englewood, N.J.

  juvenile delinquency in

  MacKay Park in

  Englewood Dwight Morrow High School

  Englewood Press

  E. P. Dutton

  Equitable Insurance Company

  Erasmus Hall

  ESPN

  Esquire

  Evashevski, Forrest

  Ewbank, Weeb

  Facenda, John

  Fair Haven, N.J.

  Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

  Federation Bank and Trust

  Ferguson, Howie

  “Fern Hill” (Thomas)

  Ferry, Lou

  Filipski, Gene

  Fitzsimmons, Sunny Jim

  Fleming, Marv

  Flynn, George

  Ford, John

  Ford, Richard

  Ford, Whitey

  Fordham Glee Club

  Fordham Ram

  “Fordham Ram, The,”

  Fordham University

  baseball team of

  boarding vs. day students at

  demanding curriculum and discipline of

  Jesuit faculty and administration of

  Law School of

  Purdue vs.

  Ratio Studiorum curriculum of

  Rose Hill campus and buildings of

  St. Mary’s vs.

  social life and dating at

  VL honored by

  VL’s academic career at

  Fordham University football Rams:

  Crowley as head coach of

  discontinuation of

  national reknown of

  New York University vs.

  press coverage of

  publicity department of

  radio broadcasts of

  Rameses VII, team mascot of

  semipro ball played by members of

  Seven Blocks of Granite of

  Seven Samsons of

  University of Pittsburgh vs.

  VL as assistant coach of

  VL’s playing career for

  wartime suspension of

  Forester, Bill “Bubba,”