Just weeks after his death in 1970, the Rotary Club of Houston was authorized by Vince Lombardi's widow, Marie, to establish the Lombardi Award, an annual honor which not only recognizes the nation's best collegiate lineman but which also celebrates the memory of one of football's greatest coaches.
As stipulated by Mrs. Vince Lombardi, net proceeds from all Award Dinners and associated activities are contributed to the American Cancer Society to help fight the disease that claimed the life of Coach Lombardi. Since the award's inception in 1970, over $3,100,000 has been raised to help the American Cancer Society's program of cancer research, public education and direct services to cancer patients.
Vince Lombardi guided the Green Bay Packers to their first two Super Bowl titles, leading the Packers to six divisional championships and five NFL Championships in a coaching career that led to his induction into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1971.
Fordham's legendary "Seven Blocks of Granite" included Lombardi (third from left)
A fierce competitor on the field and a highly motivational man off the field, Lombardi first gained notoriety as one of the legendary "seven blocks of granite" while playing collegiately as a lineman at Fordham University in New York in the mid 1930's. He was a high school Latin and chemistry teacher before beginning a collegiate coaching career in his native New York.
He was named head coach of the Green Bay Packers in 1959 at the age of 46 and immediately turned around the fortunes of the Pack, guiding the club from a 1-10-1 mark in 1958 to a 7-5 record in his first season.
After the second of his Super Bowl titles in 1967 , he stepped down from his coaching duties in 1968 and served as Packers general manager. Missing the fast pace of the NFL sidelines, Lombardi accepted a position as general manager and head coach of the Washington Redskins in 1969 and guided Washington to a 7-5-2 mark. Tragically, he was stricken with cancer during that 1969 season and succumbed at the age of 57 in 1970.
Today the legacy of Mr. Lombardi is carried on by his estate, which includes his son, Vince Lombardi as well as by the annual Rotary Lombardi Award. For more information on the career of Vince Lombardi, we invite you to visit his official web site at CMG Worldwide.
