That First Season: How Vince Lombardi Took the Worst Team in the NFL and Set It on the Path to Glory

by John Eisenberg

On January 28, the Packer board convened in the Northland Hotel’s Italian Room, a fitting setting. The response wasn’t entirely positive when Ole said the executive committee wanted to hire Lombardi. Some directors wondered why the choice wasn’t Evashevski, a bigger name. Some wanted Lambeau. One board member, John Torinus, spoke for many in the room when he asked, “Who in the hell is Vince Lombardi?” Down the hall, newspaper and radio reporters filled a pressroom with cigarette smoke and wisecracks. At 2:15 P.M., three board members walked in and said Ole would have an announcement in forty-five minutes. Some directors had been unable to attend the hastily arranged meeting and were being polled by phone. In the end, twenty-six of forty-five members gave Lombardi the thumbs-up. One said no. Eighteen didn’t vote.