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During the off season, a few players lived in the Los Angeles area. I got a call from fellow teammate Ricky Harris, who had come to LA for a visit. He said that coach Lombardi was ill and he was not sure what was wrong.
Henry “Bull” Dyer, a bruising fullback and a good buddy of mine, said he had heard that it was cancer. I was really worried the remainder of the off season. Was he really ill, and how serious was it? We could not get any official information.
Even after we arrived back in training camp, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania getting ready for the new season , everything was hush, hush. This was the upcoming 1970 season of the Washington Redskins!
Bill Austin, was Interim head coach. Coach Lombardi, by this time was still in Georgetown University Hospital. When we broke camp and settled in the Washington D.C. area, to get ready for the exhibition season, Coach Lombardi remained in the hospital.
Bob Long, Henry Dyer, Charlie Harraway,and myself and a few others were on duty at the Washington D.C. National Guard Armory. We had to do training once a month. RFK Stadium (Robert F. Kennedy) was across the street and sometimes we would toss the football around at lunch time.
Every now and then, our Sargent Van Hook would bring his white lightning (corn liquor) home made style, would offer us a sip. When he was feeling pretty good, he would let us go over near the Pentagon for lunch.
On this particular weekend, a General came by our station, and asked if we would like to visit our coach in the hospital. Bob Long, who played for Lombardi in Green Bay was very distraught. We were all very subdued. We knew this wasn’t good.
We hopped in one of the guys car and proceeded to the hospital. This was our first opportunity to visit and find out any real information regarding his condition.
We entered the lobby of the hospital and the attendant, told us that “Coach” was on the second floor. Before we could enter the elevator, Marie Lombardi, his wife met us. She stood tall and straight and said “you can’t go see him, he wouldn’t want you to see him like this, he would want you to remember him as he was.”
She kissed each of us on the lips (not on the cheek) and said “AND THIS WAS GOING TO BE SUCH A GREAT SEASON.”
A few days later, Vincent Thomas Lombardi passed and our team prepared to go to New York for the funeral. On the way to New York, I started thinking about all of those great Packer victories, I had witnessed as a young kid. I could see the faces of all those great players, Bart Starr, Fuzzy Thurston, Willie Davis, Willie Wood, Paul Hornung, Herb Adderley, Jim Taylor, and my old high school teammate at Compton High, Marvin Fleming .
Bob Long, and Steve Wright, both former players with Green Bay were on the flight with me. I felt sad for them. Coach Lombardi, was their coach. They had shared all of those great moments. It was really their family. We had just been adopted and getting to know each other. But, we were cut off at the pass!
As the plane circled New York, I could see Shea stadium and I thought to myself, there’s the home of Joe Willie Namath (Broadway Joe).
We took a chartered bus from Kennedy airport to Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. We were filing in one by one, and I heard someone yelling Flea,Flea, Flea!
There were thousands lined up for blocks around Saint Patrick’s and they were roped off. I thought, who could be calling me in that tone? It was as if it was someone who knew me personally. I didn’t know anyone in New York. I was about to enter the church, the voice continued and became louder. Finally, an official grabbed me by the arm and asked me to step aside for a moment and whispered someone had to talk to me.
I waited and finally, I could see my old buddy Eli Strand hanging over the ropes amidst thousands of people. A lot of our players recognized who he was. Eli, had been in our training camp and released. He had also been next to the last cut in Green Bay, years earlier by Coach Lombardi. Eli, had driven over a thousand miles, from wherever he had come from to be there!
Eli, could not get inside, but he wanted me to tell “Coach”, that he made it and to say a prayer for him. I’m basically a fairly calm person, but this got to me! I continued and entered the church and we made our way as a team to our seats. I could see some of the former Green Bay players standing straight and tall.
Marie Lombardi, was still firm and strong. She showed no emotion through out the entire service. Even, when the Pallbearers, Paul Hornung, Bart Starr, and other former Packer teammates took the casket away, I thought this is it. She has to break down, but she didn’t! I heard she did break down later, at the burial site in Red Bank, New Jersey overlooking the Hudson River!
What a perfect place for the “Coach”. He was a New Yorker and this was home, along the Hudson River, with the Black Knights of West Point, where he was an assistant coach to head coach Red Blake.
When our team bus headed back to the airport, we were entering the Lincoln tunnel and a young kid maybe 7-8 years old was standing on the overpass, with a Green Bay Jersey and helmet on, saluting us as we entered the tunnel!
Not a day goes by, that at some point during the day that I don’t think about Vince Lombardi!
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