Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1913, Lombardi began his journey in the world of sports not on the field but in the clergy, intending to become a Catholic priest. But, as destiny would have it, his love for the gridiron prevailed, and the world of football was forever changed.
Lombardi’s coaching style was akin to a symphony conductor with a relentless tempo, and his football field was the grand stage where he orchestrated some of the most memorable performances in the history of the sport. As head coach of the Green Bay Packers, he transformed a losing team into consecutive NFL championship winners, setting a gold standard of excellence that remains a benchmark in the sport to this day.
But Lombardi was more than just an extraordinary coach. He was a molder of character, an inspirer of men, a man who believed that football, like life, demanded nothing less than total commitment. His words, “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing” are not just about sports, they encapsulate his approach to life itself.
Let’s take a look at one of his most famous quotations below. A speech whose meaning extends far beyond the football field and into the very heart of what it means to strive, to persist, and to be successful at life.
What It Takes to be Number One
Vince Lombardi
Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do things right once in a while; you do them right all of the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.
There is no room for second place. There is only one place in my game, and that’s first place. I have finished second twice in my time at Green Bay, and I don’t ever want to finish second again. There is a second place bowl game, but it is a game for losers played by losers. It is and always has been an American zeal to be first in anything we do, and to win, and to win, and to win.
Every time a football player goes to ply his trade he’s got to play from the ground up – from the soles of his feet right up to his head. Every inch of him has to play. Some guys play with their heads. That’s O.K. You’ve got to be smart to be number one in any business. But more importantly, you’ve got to play with your heart, with every fiber of your body. If you’re lucky enough to find a guy with a lot of head and a lot of heart, he’s never going to come off the field second.
Running a football team is no different than running any other kind of organization – an army, a political party or a business. The principles are the same. The object is to win – to beat the other guy. Maybe that sounds hard or cruel. I don’t think it is.
It is a reality of life that men are competitive and the most competitive games draw the most competitive men. That’s why they are there – to compete. The object is to win fairly, squarely, by the rules – but to win.
And in truth, I’ve never known a man worth his salt who in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn’t appreciate the grind, the discipline. There is something in good men that really yearns for discipline and the harsh reality of head to head combat.
I don’t say these things because I believe in the ‘brute’ nature of men or that men must be brutalized to be combative. I believe in God, and I believe in human decency. But I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour — his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear — is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious.
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