Jerry Kramer on Vince Lombardi:I think the thing that’s been missed the most about him was his positive impact on the players. He’s usually represented as a mean, demanding, screaming SOB. A lot of coaches think that was his secret, and they try to emulate him. They assume that’s what he was like all the time.
But what they don’t know is that he was a very, very sensitive man. He could tear you apart, but he also had the knack of saying or doing just the right thing to bring you back up and make you believe you could be a lot better than you really were.
I remember a time when we had a goal-lime scrimmage early in training camp. It had to be 90 degrees, and the defense was just busting our ass in the awful heat. One play I missed a block. The next one I jumped offside. He jumped in and just reamed me out. He had me looking down, checking by shoeshine. I felt awful.
After practice, I went to the locker room and I was really thinking about packing it in. I really thought it was time for me to do something else. I had been there quite a while when Vince finally came into the locker room and saw me sitting there. He came over and patted me on the back. Then he tousled my hair. “Son,” he said, “don’t you know that someday you’re going to be the best guard in football?” That really got something started inside me.
At the time, I didn’t get what he was doing. But when I looked back years later, I asked myself, “How did you miss that?” He knew exactly what he was doing. Praise means a lot more if you haven’t heard it before. He treated each one of us separately and differently, but in a way that didn’t piss the rest of the team off.
But what they don’t know is that he was a very, very sensitive man. He could tear you apart, but he also had the knack of saying or doing just the right thing to bring you back up and make you believe you could be a lot better than you really were.
I remember a time when we had a goal-lime scrimmage early in training camp. It had to be 90 degrees, and the defense was just busting our ass in the awful heat. One play I missed a block. The next one I jumped offside. He jumped in and just reamed me out. He had me looking down, checking by shoeshine. I felt awful.
After practice, I went to the locker room and I was really thinking about packing it in. I really thought it was time for me to do something else. I had been there quite a while when Vince finally came into the locker room and saw me sitting there. He came over and patted me on the back. Then he tousled my hair. “Son,” he said, “don’t you know that someday you’re going to be the best guard in football?” That really got something started inside me.
At the time, I didn’t get what he was doing. But when I looked back years later, I asked myself, “How did you miss that?” He knew exactly what he was doing. Praise means a lot more if you haven’t heard it before. He treated each one of us separately and differently, but in a way that didn’t piss the rest of the team off.
From, "Lombardi and Me" by Paul Hornung with Billy Reed
