A Nice Story About NFL Players In The 60's and 70's In Green Bay... Gives Me Hope

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4. Lombardi felt, probably with justification, that he had been denied a head coaching job until he was 46

because he was Italian American. He got into a fight with a teammate at Fordham when he was one of the Seven Blocks of Granite because the other man used a racial slur directed at Lombardi.

Lombardi’s brother Harold was gay, and that fact, coupled with the prejudice he had suffered was the basis of his no tolerance policy.

Lionel Aldridge, who played right defensive end for Lombardi, approached him to tell him he wanted to get married, but he wanted to know if he would still have a job if he did. Aldridge was black, and his fiancé was white. Lombardi assured Aldridge that his impending nuptials would have no effect on his job. All Lombardi cared about was that he played hard, and stayed out of trouble.

When Pete Rozelle, the NFL Commissioner called to try to get Lombardi to quash the wedding, Lombardi told him that he was the coach and GM of the Packers, and would decide what was best for his team.

Lombardi was ahead of his time, and was a good Democrat.