When Pride Still Mattered... and Diversity Was Accepted
There is a joke in my house (although it is sort of true) that to talk to my dad after work and on weekends you better know Lynn Dickey's latest stats or what weakness the Packers should address come the next draft. It is a sickness in my family we kid, so I might be a little biased...
However,
There was a great retrospective on the life of Vince Lombardi that ran on ESPN (A Football Life) on Christmas Eve and followed up on New Year's Eve... I encourage fans and non-fans alike to watch it.
I also found an article this morning because, in all my love of all things Green and Gold, I had not known this, and I was stunned at how much more than just a coach Vince Lombardi was--even though my father worshiped at the altar for years:
http://www.acmepackingcompany.com/2013/5/7/4307998/vince-lombardi-packers-acceptance-gay-athletes
snip-
Of course, the same was true of Lombardi's locker room in Green Bay, where he wouldn't let his Packers frequent any restaurant, bar or hotel that denied the same services to black players normally offered to white players. And when a black defensive end, Lionel Aldridge, revealed his plans to marry his white girlfriend, Lombardi blessed the union at a time when some around Green Bay, and around the league, were less than enthusiastic about it.
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He stood his ground with Rozelle when it came to Lionel Aldridge
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In his defining biography, "When Pride Still Mattered," author David Maraniss described the scene of Lombardi charging an assistant to work with one of the gay players, a struggling back named Ray McDonald. "And if I hear one of you people make reference to his manhood," Lombardi is quoted as saying, "you'll be out of here before your ass hits the ground."
Another moving quote is one given by Vince Lombardi, Jr. about his father and how he might react to the recent events:
"With [Jason Collins] coming out, I think my father would've felt, 'I hope I've created an atmosphere in the locker room where this would not be an issue at all. And if you do have an issue, the problem will be yours because my locker room will tolerate nothing but acceptance.' "
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At the point in the documentary that deals with the death of Coach Lombardi, Dave Robinson says it was the first time he ever cried at a white man's funeral because he had become a father figure to him.
We, even those of us who are not football fans, can learn a lot from Vince Lombardi.
As a fun side note, and an illustration as to how attitudes and salaries have changed, my father worked with several Green Bay Packer players during his two decades with Schlitz Brewing Company (they were larger than life for me as a little girl - I remember my hand being swallowed up during handshakes). During the strike of 1982, my white-collar father was sent down to work the line (this is before he became a strict pro-union guy and during the years of rousing arguments with my Teamster grandpa) in Memphis. It was dirty, sweaty, back-breaking work and he thought he would die. The very first day on the 12 hour shift, he looked up at his hi-lo driver and who could it be? Why... it was Dave Robinson handing off the kegs. They had a lot of laughs over that because my father is small in stature and Mr. Robinson, well he was a linebacker. Imagine a player today going out and having a "job" in the real world during the off-season.
I'll leave you here, with a rousing Go Pack GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
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Go Pack Go!!
Have fun tomorrow! Go Pack GOOOOOOOOOOOO! 