Lombardi demonstrated the same kind of toughness in coaching. On his second day in camp [as head coach of the Packers in 1959], after putting the Packers through a hard prac­tice, he found 20 players scattered about the training room waiting to be attended to for minor injuries. "What's this?" he said in his brisk, loud voice. "You've got to play with those small hurts, you know!" The next day the number of Packers in the trainer's quarters had dwindled to two. One of them, A.D. Williams, an end, had his foot in a bucket of ice in order to reduce the swelling in his ankle. "How're you feeling?" Vince boomed. Williams hopped out of his chair and said through chattering teeth, "I feel better already, coach."

During his first week at Green Bay, the coach yelled so loudly and so often that he lost his voice. He insisted that injured players run in practice and warned, "You're preparing your­self mentally. Don't cross me. If you cross me a second time, you're gone."

Lombardi was as good as his word. Through clever trades he discarded the playboys, the shirkers and the troublemakers. Then he remodeled the spirit of those who were left. He ha­rassed them out of the bars and into bed by curfew time. He forced them to attend meetings, meals and workouts on time. He let them know that his intentions were to make them tougher than the football players on other teams. "Football is two things," he said. "It's blocking and tackling. If you block and tackle better than the team you're playing, you win."