When Vince Lombardi Became a Redskin

When we see a legend somewhere else in sports, it seems odd Jordan playing with the Wizards, Joe Montana with the Kansas City Chiefs. These are times we forget about, and one of the most forgotten ones is Vince Lombardy, who we named the Super Bowl Trophy after he won. The first two Super Bowls. But after he did that, he resigned as the Packers' head coach to become the general manager. And after one season as just the general manager, he decided he wanted something more and one franchise offered him everything they could, money, ownership, everything to get him to leave the Packers come turn their fortunes around. That was the Washington Redskins, and almost no one remembers what happened when he took over the Redskins and what could have been before his untimely death. Join us today as we see this historic figure leave his team and start to turn around to another franchise. For tragedy strikes today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide, because honestly, I would take the money and run. I mean, you went off from my bucks. I'll put it link in the description go buy me a coffee. I'll take that money and run. Just tell me what you want. So Vince Lombardi started actually coaching football back in nineteen thirty seven. Nineteen thirty seven, that seems so long ago for a guy we watched clips of still to this day saying what the hell is going on out here? He was an assistant at Salesanarium's coach, had a couple other high schools before making it to an assistant at Fordham, then made it to assistant at Army, where he was able to become the offensive coordinator for the New York Giants, which led him to become the head coach and general manager of the Green Bay Packers. What we know him and love him for to this day. He started there in nineteen fifty nine and he took this franchise to New Heights. He ended up winning five total championships, three NFL Championships and two Super Bowls. Was the Coach of the Year two times, and was so good that we named the Super Bowl Trophy after him. But what happened after that second Super Bowl, Well, he started to defuse. As a former college coach, I kind of can understand this. The grueling demands of coaching and of course being a GM that's two jobs completely for some teams is crazy. It is stressful, It is never ending. You take your work home with you. It is a twenty four to seven job three hundred and sixty five. You don't get a break from this type of job. You can, but if you do, you get fired. Just looking around the league or any college, if you struggle, even just one season, even if you were a Super Bowl winning coach, you can get fired for almost anything. So that developed stress. Now, back then, in the nineteen sixties, it wasn't as stressful as. It is today. There wasn't as much money in it. There was still a growing league, but it was getting bigger. And you know it's something you love, you want to be. The best at. You can see where stress comes from. So ulcers really started to flare up for him. Smoking worsened everything. He was hard for him to breathe. So following his second Super Bowl win, he actually took a step back and said, I'm going to resign from the coaching part, but I'll still be the GM, giving the job to his successor, Phil Bingston, who didn't do very well. They went six seven and one missing the playoffs and showing that there was a rift and there's issues with the team. Then in October that year, George Preston Marshall died. George Preston Marshall owned the Washington. Redskins, who went two to twelve the year before had had thirteen losing seasons, and new majority owner Edward Bennett Williams, who was known to be a ruthless attorney, saw his savior and one of the best coaches at the time who wasn't coaching, so he offered him five percent ownership in the team. This is unheard of at the time, still unheard of. Offering ownership in the team is huge because that just continues to grow. If you have five percent ownership in the sixties and still had it today. You'd be a millionaire. It's huge. Also, a one hundred and ten thousand dollars salary, which is just under a million dollars today, huge amount back then, though I know coaches are making closer to ten million today, but it still was a crazy amount for the time. To go along with the fact that he was also getting ownership and would be the head coach. The GM the VP have total control of the team in every single way, and Vincent Barty, who was a control freak, could not pass this up. He loved the Packers everything he did, their success, but there's an opportunity he couldn't pass up. And his health had been getting a little bit better because he was less dressed, so he decided to dive into it, and on February second, he talked the Packers into releasing him from his current contract so he could sign with the Washington Redskins, and they had a press conference in front of over five hundred reporters. As this was one of the largest signings for player coach owners ever. Vincel Barti was a household name as a coach, and the Redskins had sucked for so long. It was timed and everyone wanted to see what was going to happen. Everyone decided to see what happened. Redskins fans were excited, the team was excited until the players actually came to camp and got destroyed. Basically, Vinceilbarti was turning everything around. They held their camp at Dixon College in Pennsylvania, and veterans like Sunny Jurgen, who was a good quarterback but kind of a slacker in the athletic department was amazed. This was the brutal tie of training camp that we all imagined that when we played, it was probably worse. Everyone was vomiting day one. They made cuts to players that were not trying. This was a man's game and they were going to have the hardest men on the field. It was six weeks of just hell, as everyone says, But what happened it changed everyone on the team. This two and twelve team year before came out of that training camp with a new sense of foundation. Without making any big signings or changing the team in so many ways. They went seven five and two, an amazing turnaround, the first winning season since nineteen fifty five, thirteen years previously. And they were heart reaching games. They were close games that battled through to win. They weren't blowing teams out, they weren't doing anything innovative on offense. It was I'm tougher than you. But unfortunately, in the final game of the season against the Dallas Cowboys, they would go on to lose thirty three to thirty and that one game kept them out of the playoffs, and unfortunately, Vince's health started to deteriorate. Shortly after. In June nineteen seventy, he would finally get diagnosed with colon cancer that's what those ulcers were all from, and he wouldn't survive much longer, passing away in September third at the age of fifty seven. The funeral draws over a thousand warners from all walks of. Life, including the President Nixon. This one season with the Washington Redskins showed that Vince was impressive. He could turn around a team quickly. His no nonsense, grind out style was special. It was hard to be a part of, but it meant a lot to the team. They stood up for him, they fought for him, and they did everything they could. Unfortunately, his predecessor, Bill Austin would take over the team and they would again have a losing season that following year, But two years later they would finally make the playoffs and eventually they were in the eighties. They would have one of the best teams in the league, winning three Super Bowls, and a lot can be contributed to Vincembardy, who changed the culture in Washington. The Washington Redskins since coming to Washington had not had a lot of success but Vince changed that. He got the city excited for football, and that city became in love with football. It only took one year from one of the greatest coaches of all time to change that. I just wish we could have seen what he could have done with a few more years. Would he won more Super Bowls? Would he have changed everything around the league? We never will never know. Unfortunately, it happens in life. Some guys lived to one hundred, some guys lived to be fifty seven. Scary time, but it also encourages us to take care of ourselves. He took a break as he wasn't feeling good enough, but the love of football drew him back and may have in fact killed him. We'll never know, but hug your loved ones. Time is short, even if you're one of the greatest coaches ever. I want to thank you for listening to today's day's sports history. Is this one of the greatest what if stories that you've heard? Let me know your favorite what if? Hit me up on social media Twitter, Facebook, Instagram at Daily Sports History. Links are in the description. I love to hear from you, and I love to hear from you and maybe cover your what if story? In the future, and I'll see you on the next one.