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That First Season: How Vince Lombardi Took the Worst Team in the NFL and Set It on the Path to Glory |  | Author: John Eisenberg
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
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Rating:  49 reviews
Sales Rank: 172799
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 304
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6 x 1
ISBN: 0618904999
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.332092
EAN: 9780618904990
ASIN: 0618904999
Publication Date: October 15, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In the late 1950s the once vaunted Green Bay Packers were a laughing stock. They hadn't fielded a winning team in more than a decade and were very nearly in jeopardy of losing their franchise to another city. The ultimate low came in 1958, when, with 7 future Hall of Famers on the team, they went a lousy 1-10-1 under a too-soft coach, Scooter McLean. They were desperately in need of a savior, and he arrived via wood-paneled station wagon in the dead of winter from New York City. That First Season chronicles Vince Lombardi's remarkable first year as head coach with the franchise he would reinvent and etch forever in football history. In a single year, as the grizzled coach who took no bull, he would transform a team of underachievers into winners and reignite a city known for its passion for its sport. Based on exhaustive new research and interviews, That First Season is the seldom-studied prequel to a football career marked by greatness. Eisenberg pushes away the mist that surrounds the Lombardi legend to bring readers the real story of how the seeds of a football dynasty were sown. He also brings alive an incredible ensemble tale of a team, a town and their leader.
Photographs from That First Season
(Click to Enlarge)  |  | | The Packer offense took off when Lombardi inserted Boyd Dowler | Paul Hornung, a key player in Lombardi's offense |  |  | | Don McIlhenny runs the ball against the Colts | A fan congratulates Lombardi as he leaves the field |
Product Description
When Vince Lombardi took the job of coaching the Green Bay Packers in 1959, he inherited a team that had gone from legendary to laughing stock. They hadn’t fielded a winning team in over a decade and had gone 1-10-1 in the 1958 season despite having seven future Hall of Famers on the team. They were a team accustomed to losing and in desperate need of a turnaround. That First Season chronicles that turnaround at the hands of Lombardi, himself serving as a head coach for the first time. The Packers were a team of talented underachievers more used to lax coaching and late nights than grueling practices and curfews. Lombardi’s no-bull coaching style helped hammer them into winners who operated with machine-like precision. Every football fan knows that the Packers under Lombardi were champions, but That First Season shows how he did it, bringing readers the inside story of a sports dynasty.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 49
 Worth the time. July 22, 2010
Andrew F. Esposito
I'm not a Packers fan per say, but it was an interesting read about one of the greatest coaches in NFL history. Worth the time, and an easy read.
The Road from Laughstock to Titletown July 18, 2010
James Gallen (St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A.)
That First Season by John Eisenberg offers an interesting and informative narration of Vince Lombardi's first season as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers. Upon being hired away from his offensive coordinator position with the New York Giants, Lombardi was tasked with turning around a team that had been among the worst in the NFL in recent years, all the while inheriting a roster that had been lulled into complacency about losing and bad habits by their previous coach.
Upon implementing his no-nonsense coaching tactics and running physically demanding practices, the Packers soon realized that their days of playing the game casually were over, especially if they wanted to remain with the team. Several questioned whether dealing with Lombardi was worth it.
Especially interesting was learning of the development of NFL Hall of Famers Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, and Ray Nitschke. As the season began, none of the three were the stars that they are know as today. Starr was a hard-working, but mistake prone back-up quarterback, who didn't begin to show the abilities that would make him a Packers legend until later in the season, when the starting quarterback got injured. Hornung was a hard partying athlete, who was very talented, but didn't really become a star until experiencing a reality check after being benched by Lombardi in a game to to poor play. Nitchske was talented, but wild in all facets and required harnessing.
This book provides a window into how Lombardi took a team that had been at the bottom of the NFL and made them very respectable in his first season, playing as well as anyone in the league by season's end. The foundation for the Packers that Lombardi laid in that first season ultimately led to the Packers to several NFL championships, earning Green Bay the nickname "Titletown."
A Look Back at How Vince Lombardi Launched a Dynasty July 3, 2010
C. Baker (Washington, DC)
Much as been written about Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers dynasty of the 1960's, but John Eisenberg's book is the first to provide details about Vince Lombardi's first season with the Green Bay Packers.
When Lombardi took over as head coach Green Bay was a losing team with a culture of losing, and even quitting, in games. He was starting at ground zero with a group of players who were used to and even accepted losing. Once a team establishes a culture of losing it is extremely difficult to break it out of that cycle. Losing becomes a habit and it becomes acceptable.
But it was not acceptable to Vince Lombardi. After taking over the head coaching duties prior to the 1959 season Lombardi wondered what he had gotten into after watching game film of this woeful team.
Through punishing practices and motivational tactics more akin to an Army drill sergeant than a professional football coach, Lombardi made it clear to his players that losing was not acceptable and he was gong to work them out of it, literally. His practices were brutal affairs and his drive for perfection a tangible force.
While that first season ended with a mediocre 7-5 record, Lombardi accomplished one amazing feat. The Green Bay Packers were no longer losers and quitters. Instead Lombardi established the mental and physical groundwork for the dynasty yet to come.
The most amazing thing about Lombardi's feat is he turned the team around with essentially the same players who were so woeful before. Normally a team breaking out of losing streak essentially has to clean house and build from scratch. Not Lombardi. He worked, cajoled, intimidated, and rebuilt this team from the inside out turning a can't do mentality into a can do winning one. And that is why Lombardi is praised as possibly being one of the greatest coaches of all time in any sport.
Lombardi also made some key decisions that propelled the team forward. He finally settled on future Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr as his starter for the future. He created an offensive attack that utilized the unique talents of Paul Hornung instead of trying to turn him into a power running back, letting Jim Taylor handle those duties. And he helped players like offensive linemen Jerry Kramer, Forrest Gregg, and Fuzzy Thurston advance from good to great. And by practicing the bread and butter plays, especially the sweep, until it was second nature, he made the game more simple for his offensive players, and difficult to stop for opponents.
This is a well written book where you get the inside story from many of the players of that era, like Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, and Jerry Kramer. Fans of professional football should enjoy this look back at how Vince Lombardi launched a dynasty.
Must for a football fan June 8, 2010
J. Davis (San Diego, CA United States)
One reviewer said this is a great gift for a Packers fan. I disagree. I'm a lifelong Bears fan, and I liked this book a lot. It tells the story of Vince Lombardi in 1959 turning the Packers into winners from losers (they were 1-10 the year before under a nice but ineffective coach). That First Season is a similiar story to the one told in Born to Coach, a story of Rick Pitino's year as Knicks head coach in 1987-88. Like Lombardi, Pitino's no-nonsense approach turns around a losing franchise. I also recommend Jerry Kramer's (a guard on this year's Packer team) book Instant Replay, an account of the Packers' 1968 championship season. Of course, the coach is the same Vince Lombardi.
 A VERY GRATIFYING AND ENJOYABLE READ. June 4, 2010
D. Blankenship (The Ozarks)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
You would almost have to live in a cave or under a rock on a remote island not to have at least heard of Vince Lombardi and the now famous football team he brought from the bottom of the pile to the top. I strongly suspect that most Americans, even if they are not football fans or have never seen a game in their life, are at least somewhat familiar with the Lombardi legend.
This book by John Eisenberg is the well written, and I must say thoroughly researched account of the first year of the Lombardi/Greenbay story. This work is remarkable, or at least interesting, on several levels. While it does not offer any surprises or reveal anything that was or is not already known, it does present a very macroscopic look at a period in time and the events that pretty much changed the world of not only professional football, but professional sports in this country. The author's writing style is quite readable and even though you know what is going to happen, the writer has the ability to keep you turning the pages.
The book begins with an account of just how low the Packers where in 1959 under the leadership of Scooter McLean. It goes into detail addressing all of the physical and mental hurdles that Lombardi would have to face when he took over the team the following season. Quite remarkable really, when you consider the wonderful past this team had. The one portion of the work presented here that I was unaware of at the time of the reading, was the fact that the entire team had been micromanaged by its governing board...i.e. they had been managed and indeed coached my committee; a rather large committee. This committee had pretty well mucked things up over the years. This all changed completely when Lombardi took over.
The author covers every preseason game, almost play by play of that first season under the new coach and the goes on to give an almost play by play account of every game played throughout the year. If you are a football nut, you will love this. If you dislike football, or could care less, then this aspect of the book will have your eyeballs rolling to the back of your head.
But that last comment being said, there is plenty of other information in the pages of this book to keep your interest alive. We not only get a wonderful glimpse into the working mind of who is beyond a doubt one of the greatest coaches, in any sport, of all times, but we also get a wonderful overview of the development of some of the most famous players ever played the game; Bart Starr, Don McIhenny, Paul Hornung, and Boyd Dowler just to name a few.
I found this to be an enjoyable read and was glad to add it to my collection of books on the life of Lombardi. It was a worthwhile read and kept me entertained throughout its reading.
Don Blankenship
The Ozarks
Showing reviews 1-5 of 49
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