“The finest player” ever coached by Vince Lombardi was Forrest Gregg, whom local gridiron fans will remember as head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals in the early 1980s. Gregg was one of the Packers who played in that historic first Super Bowl in 1967.
Lombardi paid the ultimate compliment to Gregg in his own book titled “Run To Daylight,” according to Harvey Frommer, author of “When It Was Just A Game -- Remembering the First Super Bowl.”
“When It Was Just A Game…” is an oral history of the momentous “AFL-NFL World Championship Football Game” that ultimately became known as the first Super Bowl. It includes conversations by players, coaches, fans and others who had connections to the historic event.
In the book Gregg fondly recalls that momentous first game in January ‘67:
“It felt good to be the first Super Bowl champions. All those years we were expected to win, and the pressure was on us to win. Pressure was never a problem. It was there, something we lived with, something we overcame…The Green Bay Packers were a family, a team that worked and played for each other.”
Soon America’s football families will gather to see who wins Super Bowl’s next Vince Lombardi Trophy, named in honor of the coach who was there from the very start.
