The First America's Team: The 1962 Green Bay Packers

by Bob Berghaus

Overview

The 1962 Green Bay Packers are still considered one of the most dominating teams in the history of the National Football League. In 2007, when the New England Patriots were trying to become the first team to go unbeaten during a 16-game season and win the Super Bowl, there were many stories written about their place in history, and the '62 Packers were always listed among the top three teams of all time.

There are a number of books on the Packers already, showing a strong and sustained interest in one of the most popular sports franchises in America. There are also a number of books--though far fewer--on the Packers of the Vince Lombardi era. There has never been a book, however, focused on Lombardi's, and (arguably) pro football's, greatest team: the 1962 Packers.

The 1962 Green Bay Packers will examine how the team was built and on Lombardi's coaching staff, how four of the five assistants went on to become head coaches -- Bill Austin, Tom Fears, Norb Hecker and Phil Bengtson. The team was rich with personalities, from the glamour-conscience Hourning to the emotional Nitschke to the determined Starr. Of course, the strongest personality of all was Lombardi's, who shaped

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781578604432
Publisher:	Clerisy Press
Publication date:	10/11/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	13 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Bob Berghaus’ career as a sportswriter was inspired by a childhood love of Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers. He has covered football for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, was the sports editor at the Green Bay Press-Gazette and is now sports editor for the Asheville Citizen-Times. He is also the author of BLACK AND BLUE, an essential book on the renowned and notorious NFL division which was published in 2007.

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CHAPTER 1

Football as it Should be Played

“Football is two things. It’s blocking and tackling. You block and tackle better than the team you’re playing, you win.”

That was the mindset of Vince Lombardi, who in 1962 was the most famous football coach of what was probably the most revered professional football team in America. During that season, his Green Bay Packers blocked and tackled better than the other thirteen teams in the National Football League. They led the league in scoring with 415 points, and the 148 points given up by Green Bay’s hard-hitting defense was the fewest in the league.

Those totals, by the way, were also better than all eight teams in the rival American Football League, which was in its third year of existence. The Packers’ winning margin of 19.1 per game was more than 10 points better than all other team in the NFL.

Four years earlier, the Packers were at rock bottom following a 1–10–1 record. Ray “Scooter” McLean, a nice man who didn’t understand the meaning of discipline, quit before he would have been dismissed as coach. In the winter of 1959 the Packers hired Lombardi, who had been offensive coordinator for the New York Giants since 1954.

Lombardi was a tough-as-nails guard at Fordham, playing on the legendary “Seven Blocks of Granite” offensive line. After college he became a high school teacher and coach. He returned to Fordham to coach the freshman football team, and then moved on to West Point as an assistant to the legendary Red Blaik. With the Giants, Lombardi became known in NFL circles as a top-flight coordinator, but when head coaching jobs came up he was passed over until he finally got his chance with the Packers at age forty-five.

The Packers won their first three games under Lombardi before losing five in a row to end any hopes of a dramatic worst-to-first turnaround. Struggling at 3–5, the Packers seemed destined to have another losing season. Remarkably, they turned around during the last third of the season, winning their final four games for a 7–5 record and their first winning season in twelve years

During those four games the Packers outscored their opponents 119–51, scoring almost as many points as the 129 totaled during the first eight games. The defense, by giving up an average of just under 13 points in those final four games, also showed remarkable improvement after allowing an average of 31.8 points per game during the losing streak.

The Packers entered 1960 with thoughts of achieving more than a winning record. They had talent up and down the roster with most of the starters in their mid-twenties. Green Bay won all five of its exhibition games and appeared to have momentum going into the season opener against the Chicago Bears.

Instead, they lost at home to the team coached by legendary George Halas, but then reeled off four straight wins, putting themselves in position to unseat the Baltimore Colts, who had won the last two NFL titles, as champions of the Western Division.

That goal wasn’t going to come easily. The Packers won just once during their next four games, falling to 5–4 following a 23–10 loss to the Lions in the traditional Thanksgiving Day game in Detroit, when the Packers looked flat on offense, totaling just 181 yards.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Bart Starr

1. Football as It Should Be Played
2. Going for a Repeat
3. Bless His Heart
4. How the Team Was Built
5. “They’ll Get Beat”
6. Payback
7. The Power Sweep
8. The End of Perfection
9. Another Division Title
10. The Players
11. The Essence of Lombardi
12. The ’62 Packers or ’72 Dolphins?
13. The Statistics

Bibliography

Acknowledgments

Index

About the Author