Lombardi--A Tough Act to Follow

When Vince Lombardi retired as the coach of the Green Bay Packers, did he really think that his successors would carry on the same kind of winning tradition?

Former Green Bay receiver Max McGee, now a radio commentator for Packer games, told Gary Pomerantz of the Washington Post: “I know that Vince did not want anyone to succeed after him. He was very egotistical. How would he have felt if Phil Bengtson had won the Super Bowl?

“Don’t get me wrong, Vince liked all of the publicity and he deserved it. He could have continued to win consistently, but he couldn’t have continued to win championships.

“We all got old together and you can’t keep winning, drafting 28th every year. I’m not sure that Vince didn’t know all of this.”

Add McGee: Lombardi once fined him $500 for breaking curfew a second time, after fining him $250 the first time.

“And the next time it’ll be $1,000,” Lombardi said. “And if you find anything worth $1,000, let me know and I may go with you.”

Trivia Time: Who did Notre Dame play in its last game under Ara Parseghian? What was the score? (Answer below.)

Tom Lasorda won’t believe it. According to Army Archerd of Variety, when they taped an upcoming CBS special on President Reagan, Frank Sinatra introduced Vin Scully as the “voice of the L.A. Angels.”

What does a basketball coach look for when hiring assistants?

Bradley Coach Dick Versace told the Chicago Tribune: “I learned a long time ago that you want to hire somebody with three kids. He’ll be in the office working at 8 every morning so he doesn’t have to deal with getting the kids off to school.”

New England Patriots publicist Jim Greenidge, on the difference between Raymond Berry and the man he replaced as head coach, Ron Meyer: “Meyer led the league in combing his hair. The players didn’t think he knew his Xs and Os. Meyer picked out his clothes three days ahead of time. He wore a brown suit the day he was fired. He didn’t like brown, but he wore it because he thought it would be an ugly day.

“Berry wore denim to the press conference. Berry drives a pick-up truck; Meyer was a Lincoln Continental and gold watch. Meyer was born in Ohio, but he talked with a thicker Texas accent than Berry, who was born in Paris, Texas.”

For What It’s Worth: The San Francisco 49ers have won five out of six games since Michael Carter, the Olympic silver medalist in the shotput, came off the injury list.

Says Coach Bill Walsh: “He’s undoubtedly the best nose tackle in the league and possibly the best ever to play that position in pro football.”

General Manager George Young of the New York Giants, on the booing of quarterbacks around the league: “I call it, ‘The Film Clip Mentality.’ You watch your quarterback play on Sunday and he makes a couple of mistakes, so you don’t think he was great even if your team wins. Then you go home and watch the highlights of the other games on TV. What plays do you see? You see great plays by the quarterback, not lousy ones. So you think the other quarterbacks are all better than yours.”

Trivia Answer: Notre Dame beat Alabama, 13-11, in the 1975 Orange Bowl. It was Alabama’s first loss, enabling USC, which had beaten Notre Dame, 55-24, in the regular season finale, to win the 1974 UPI national championship.

Quotebook

Maurice Lucas of the Lakers, on his style of play: “If I was to play against myself and do the things to me I do to other people, I’d be mad at me.”