For most players, whether they were wearing New York Giants or Green Bay Packers uniforms, the 1959 preseason exhibition game in Bangor was memorable more for what it represented to them: The dawn of the Vince Lombardi era in Green Bay.
NFL Hall of Fame offensive tackle Forrest Gregg of Green Bay easily recalls the ’59 preseason because it was the Packers’ first under the rookie head coach, who has hired away from the Giants after five years as an assistant coach.
“It was a great experience, to say the least, because I felt for the first time we had a chance to win,” said Gregg, who was starting his third NFL season. “He kind of instilled that sense of being a winner and making you believe it. He expected nothing less than the best.”
Guard Jerry Kramer, who was starting his second season with Green Bay, recalled the contrast between his rookie season with a different head coach and his second, under Lombardi, who died of cancer in 1970 and was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame the following year after winning the first two Super Bowl titles and five NFL championships with Green Bay.
“Before Lombardi, we had a coach named [Ray] ‘Scooter’ McLean and he was [of] more of a very lenient nature where if you were a veteran and didn’t want to do some of the warmups, he wouldn’t get after you,” said Kramer, a five-time All-Pro who also handled kicking duties. “We went from lenient to… [prison].”
With the Bangor game coming two weeks before the start of the regular season, Green Bay players had become familiar with the Lombardi way.
“We knew all we needed to know about him by then. We knew to stay out of his way and try not to fall under his gaze,” said Kramer. “In that game, the Giants were up there and contenders with a bunch of world-class players and we didn’t know who the hell we were. We had a madman as coach, we thought, and we didn’t know if he knew something the rest of us didn’t or was just plumb crazy.”
Lombardi ran a tight ship. Players didn’t even have access to water during their grueling practices and workouts.
“I think it started the moment he got there. Nobody had the team made and there were no favors or skipping practices,” Kramer said. “Even the training room wasn’t safe. He’d tell you you weren’t injured and to get back out there.
“He made us united because of the way he handled us. Our resentment for Lombardi kind of banded us together and had a unifying effect,” Kramer said.
And the Packers stuck with the program.
“It didn’t come quite that quickly, but there was a realization starting that ‘hey, there’s something going on here, and maybe this guy knows what the hell’s going on,’ but we weren’t quite sure yet,” said Kramer. “There was at least the start of thinking we’d give him a shot and not kill him just yet.”
Giants players like offensive end/kicker Pat Summerall and halfback Frank Gifford recall being peppered with questions about Lombardi from friends and former teammates on the Packers’ roster.
“Dave Hanner, one of the Packers starters, was a teammate with me at Arkansas and he was asking me about him,” said Summerall, who was all too familiar with Lombardi’s no-nonsense approach. “When I first went to the Giants, the first meeting I went to was when they were calling roll and he couldn’t get us quiet, so Lom-bardi walked in and cleared his throat and the entire room got quiet. I asked someone who he was and they said I’d find out soon enough.”
One of Gifford’s best friends was Packer back Paul Hornung, who was curious to get the fellow Hall of Fame back’s take on Green Bay’s new coach.
“When [Lombardi] was with us, he was a friend. He was a buddy, actually,” Gifford said. “The relationship between a head coach and a player is different than that of an assistant coach and a player. Most assistants are good friends with the players. If you’re not, then the players don’t really pay attention to you.”
Gifford, an NFL Hall of Fame running back who was an eight-time All-Pro and the 1956 NFL MVP, says Lombardi wasn’t always the gruff taskmaster.
“When he first game to the Giants, he tried to be very strict with his West Point coaching background and we liked him, but that didn’t last very long,” said Gifford, 79. “He came up to us in training camp about the third week in Salem, Oregon, and the guys had been paying no attention to him. He’d been ranting and raving and screaming, but we’d just look at him.
“He asked us ‘Hey guys, what am I doing wrong?’ Charlie Conerly, who was a Marine in World War II, was there and I told him ‘Vinnie, you’re talking to guys who’ve fought in places like Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima.’ He changed dramatically after that.”
Lombardi changed again as a rookie head coach of a young team not used to success.
“We didn’t have that many established stars. Some of the older players had retired,” said fullback Jim Taylor, the first Packer player from the Lombardi era to enter the Hall of Fame. “He was going to whip butt and take names, and for the most part, we wanted to sweat hard, work hard and do whatever it takes for success.”
Giants players were equally effusive of their praise for Lombardi.
“Coach Lombardi was the finest teacher I think I’ve ever been around. He knew things like how long a guard’s first step should be to get to the quarterback and not trip over anybody,” Summerall said. “I think we all knew it wouldn’t be long before Lombardi turned things around with his knowledge and attention to detail.
“Vince understood the entire game where most coaches understand parts of the game. When he went to Green Bay, he was one of my best friends and I stayed close with him after he left to go there.”
Gregg said he borrowed Lombardi’s coaching philosophy when he went on to coach three NFL teams for 11 seasons.
“The first two years I played pro ball, I never felt like I was in the best condition I could be. After going through training camp with him, I knew I would be when the season started,” said Gregg, who led the Cincinnati Bengals to the 1981 AFC title and a Super Bowl berth. “He worked us hard and got us ready to play.”
“I was very ready to be disciplined,” said Taylor. “And Vince Lombardi made me the player that I was.”