"Show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser"
So said Vince Lombardi, who coached his last football game on this day in 1969. His Redskins lost to the Cowboys 20-10.
A five-time NFL champion with the Packers, Lombardi (pictured right with fellow NFL Hall-of-Famer Bobby Mitchell) had taken over for the Redskins in 1969 after having spent the entire 1968 season in retirement. He led the team to a 7-5-2 record, its first winning season in 14 years. Quarterback Sonny Jurgenson said of Lombardi in training camp, "I learned more from him in five days than I have in the last twelve years combined."
The indefatigable coach planned to return to the Redskins for the 1970 campaign, but in June of that year he was diagnosed with intestinal cancer. He died on September 3, 1970. A week after his death, the Super Bowl trophy was renamed the Vince Lombardi trophy.
A five-time NFL champion with the Packers, Lombardi (pictured right with fellow NFL Hall-of-Famer Bobby Mitchell) had taken over for the Redskins in 1969 after having spent the entire 1968 season in retirement. He led the team to a 7-5-2 record, its first winning season in 14 years. Quarterback Sonny Jurgenson said of Lombardi in training camp, "I learned more from him in five days than I have in the last twelve years combined."
The indefatigable coach planned to return to the Redskins for the 1970 campaign, but in June of that year he was diagnosed with intestinal cancer. He died on September 3, 1970. A week after his death, the Super Bowl trophy was renamed the Vince Lombardi trophy.
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