The Captain Class: A New Theory of Leadership

by Sam Walker

he’d also picked up on something else—the kind of hunger that comes from being counted out. This was a quality Lombardi could feel in his own bones. As a highly regarded offensive coordinator for the New York Giants from 1954 to 1958, he’d seemed destined to be a head coach, but the calls never came. Lombardi suspected his Italian surname was an issue, especially when it came to positions with prominent college programs. The only reason he’d ended up in Green Bay was because nobody else would have him. “Coach Lombardi felt as if he had been denied, he had been looked over, passed over,” Davis said. “When he got to Green Bay he was determined that this was his opportunity. This was his chance to show that he simply could not be denied.”