Lombardi: a Winner who Quit
Winning isn’t everything
Vince Lombardi still commands respect as the legendary NFL coach who transcended sports, affecting business practices, leadership training, productivity theories and more. His name is etched on the Vince Lombardi Trophy that will be given to the winners of Super Bowl LII on Sunday.
Lombardi had a mythic passion for winning and a library of uber-confident maxims.
Whether or not you are a football fan, you have undoubtedly heard two of the most quoted:
1. “Winners never quit and quitters never win.”
2. “Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.”
These slogans continue to resonate 49 years after Lombardi died in a Georgetown University hospital, incredibly telling a Catholic priest he regretted not accomplishing more in his life.
I grew up in Wisconsin, where we call Lombardi “St. Vince” and refer to his reign as “The Glory Years.” Lombardi turned the tiniest city in pro sports into “Titletown U.S.A” as his Green Bay Packers won five championships in seven years.
Some in Wisconsin thought he walked on water, and not just in January, when the lakes are frozen solid.
