« on: November 29, 2009, 10:23:42 AM »
November 28, 2009
EDITOR’S NOTE: In their new book “The Lombardi Legacy,” author Royce Boyles and former Packers linebacker Dave Robinson attempted to provide rare behind-the-scenes glimpses of Vince Lombardi. Boyles interviewed dozens of former players, coaches and others associated with the former Green Bay Packers coach and general manager who led the team to five National Football League championships in the 1960s. The following are excerpts from the book about Lombardi being a racial pioneer in Green Bay and the NFL.
History has not given Vince Lombardi credit for his masterful managing of race relations during a troubled time in America. Without fanfare, he met the issue head on. The landscape was rich with racial land mines in the 1950’s and ‘60’s, but there was not a hint of difficulty during his watch.
Without incident, he drafted and traded for black football players in ratios as high as or higher than any team in the league. Again, he was not going to let an issue undermine team unity or keep him from getting excellent players regardless of color.
Packers receiver Gary Knafelc (1954-62) recalls, “Before Coach Lombardi came, we would go to Winston Salem for two weeks, we’d play the Redskins (pre-season) and then play the St. Louis Cardinals. We stayed at the Oaks Motel and at that time, there was segregation, so the blacks could not stay with us. And maybe it was hard to believe this, but the blacks could hardly wait to get down there because they stayed by themselves. They had a ball.
“So when Coach Lombardi came in, we went down there one year and, in fact, that was the year we used to go to the Holiday Inn for our meals and meetings, and the black players weren’t supposed to eat with us. Coach Lombardi did a very intelligent thing. When he came from the Giants, he brought (veteran defensive back) Emlen Tunnell with him. Emlen Tunnell (who was black) was a leader; not only of all the whites on the Giants team, but all the blacks. Coach Lombardi knew we were going to have a lot more blacks in, so he brought Emlen Tunnell in to kind of help them along the way.
“Emlen was not only a great football player, but a great human being. He knew the right buttons to push on everybody. He never offended anybody, but he was such a high-caliber guy, everybody looked up to him: black, white, pink or purple. Whatever you want to say, he was just a great individual.
“He would be in charge of them, so we brought him in the back door of the Holiday Inn to eat, and a guy from the hotel says, ‘You can’t do that.’ Somebody told that guy, ‘Either he eats with us or your repair bills will be quite extensive.’ He said, ‘Are you serious?’ (The response): 'We’re serious.’ And from then on, they ate with us at all of our meetings.
“The next year, we went to the Army camp. We all stayed at Fort Bragg because we could all be together. Lombardi was going to have none of that nonsense.”
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At one time, the Packer Executive Board seemed to have a problem with Lombardi selecting black players with high draft choices. Packers linebacker Dave Robinson (1963-72) explains how the issues were resolved.
“He had drafted Herb Adderley for the first round in ‘61, then Earl Gros (white running back), then he had drafted me in ’63,” said Robinson. “They called him in and said, ‘Vince, you’re wasting draft choices. You don’t have to draft black guys in the first round; you did that two out of three years. Black guys are gonna be available on the third round.’
“Vince said, ‘I’m drafting football players, I’m not drafting white or black, I’m just drafting the best players out there. You guys run the business end of the thing, and I’ll run the Green Bay Packer football operation.’”
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Make no mistake, interracial marriage in 1965 was a very big issue for the National Football League, so much so that pressure was applied on Lombardi to stop the marriage between Lionel Aldridge and his fiancé, Vicki.
According to Vicki Aldridge Nelson, who is white, the message was delivered in person. “Yes, the commissioner (Pete Rozelle) came into town and tried to stop it,” Vicki said. “And Mr. Lombardi said (to Rozelle), ‘Absolutely not, this is my team. My team is who my team is and nobody can tell me what I can, and cannot do.'” Lombardi defied the commissioner on a critical social issue at an extremely sensitive time in our country’s history.”
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Lombardi was color blind in two ways, his physical eyesight literally had that handicap, and his character was blessed with the same condition. His racial and ethnic tolerance was real, not just convenient for building his dynasty. Lombardi friend and Packers board member Jack Koeppler initially saw it in Lombardi’s private life.
“The first illustration I got of that was at the Oneida Golf & Riding Course,” said Koeppler. “We had a lot of Indian (Native American) caddies, and when we would be out there in the spring, before golf carts, prior to the kids getting out of school, we all had Indians caddy for us. But once the kids got out of school, the Indians were kind of ignored, but not with him, and pretty soon all of us that played with him. He said, ‘If they’re good enough to caddy in the spring and the fall, they’re good enough to caddy in the summer.’ And we would all have Indian caddies, and from time to time, when the Indians needed extra money—their wife or their youngster—would be back at the 18th green when we finished, and he was pretty generous with them.”
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Lombardi was high strung, however he had a talent for defusing sensitive situations, as Packers tight end Marv Fleming (1963-69) explains.
“I remember one time the ‘N’ word was brought up,” said Fleming. “Yes, the ‘N’ word—and he just went over the top. He says, ‘There are only three colors on this team,’—three colors in which I think, ‘Three colors? What are the others? There’s green and gold, and… then maybe black stripe or white stripe? And he says, ‘Green, gold and Italian.’ And I thought that was great, I totally agreed.”
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Said Packers Hall of Fame defensive end Willie Davis (1960-69): “I tell you right now, Green Bay would be totally, totally misled if they felt for a minute that Lombardi didn’t blaze the way, open the way for black players. Not only in Green Bay, but for the rest of the league, because as he took black players and built us into champions. I think the league started to look around and see these black players make a difference in Green Bay. You saw ‘em pop up more frequently in other places, and I think, to that extent, it was definitely driven by him.”
Information on the new book about Vince Lombardi by Dave Robinson and Royce Boyles can be found at www.thelombardilegacy.com. On Sunday, Dec. 6, Robinson and Boyles will appear at a book signing at the Packer Hall of Fame from 2 to 4 p.m. with former Packers Boyd Dowler and Bob Long, along with former Lombardi secretary Lori Keck.
