Someone this morning requested a post, in light of yesterday’s big game, on Vince Lombardi. Well here you go.
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There’s only one sure-fire bet today when it comes to the Super Bowl: no one will be better dressed on or off the field than Vince Lombardi was 50 years ago.
I completely agree. We have become a nation of slobs. I think you need to give an honorable mention to Tom Landry as he always looked pretty sharp as well!
I had a feeling that Lombardi would be an inspiration for today’s post. John Bracken, I totally agree. Coach Landry is another great example of class and sartorial inspiration on the sideline. “How bout them Cowboys?”. (Yes, I’m a Southerner and Cowboys fan).
The problem is that in recent years, the NFL has had contracts with clothing (cough!) manufacturers which require coaches and most staff to wear team gear and logos during the games. I grew up with Allie Sherman and the New York Giants. I don’t remember painted faces in those days either.
Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry roamed the sartorial sidelines of the New York Giants as assistant coaches under Head Coach Jim Lee Howell in the late 1950s before reaching fame in Green Bay and Dallas.
On graduation day, Fordham’s VInce Lombardi posed with his classmates and was the only person wearing white-bucks. Coach Lombardi was a style icon while at Fordham and afterwards. Requiescat in pace.
Charles is correct, but it’s actually a rules-based issue: for a few decades now, the NFL actually requires all on-field personnel – including coaches – to wear ONLY licensed apparel. Which is to say, if Vince Lombardi or Tom Landry were around today, they could wear their signature suits, polo coats or fedoras … as long as there was an UnderArmor logo plastered across them. Bill Belichick would still dress like a homeless person (with apologies to the homeless).
While they’re not usually residents of Tradsville (most of them are Canadian, after all), look behind the benches in the NHL: coaches all still wear suit-and-tie.
Bum Phillips coached the Houston Oilers who played in the Astro Dome. Now, Bum was not known for his Trad props, but he was sartorially pretty consistent in his cowboy attire including a large cowboy hat. I always found it interesting that he would not wear his hat in the Astro Dome as his mother had taught him never to wear his hat indoors. He was clearly raised right. As an aside, his son Wade, got a super bowl ring with the Broncos last night.
Fifty plus years ago at Schoellkopf Field one saw a sea for tweed jackets and/ or
crew neck sweaters with an occasional ( probably) legacy raccoon coat for Cornell
home games. When the weather was cold and snowy it was loden, duffer, balmacaan
and some military surplus coats.
Coach Lombardi was from a generation of Fordham Men who, in addition to wearing a coat and tie everyday in college, wore an academic gown in his philosophy and theology classes. Later in life, from a style perspective, he was impeccably turned-out in repp ties, three button jackets and his class ring.
Is Coach Lombardi’s attire not just a reflection of what a decently dressed man of his epoch would wear (as is that of the more. eehhh, ‘casual’ contemporary coaches)?
I have to agree with the first comment; you have become a nation of slobs (and we Yurropeens are closing in).
Old school kool trad is like a swan dive…..the best way to enter a scene. Simple, elegantly graceful and often overlooked. The ex-players and former coaches who infest the broadcast commentary shows sport the equivalent of cannonballs, can openers, pikes, flops, flips, spins, tumbles and …..gasp….triple lindies.
Pocket squares, pinky rings, plaids over stripes, huge knots on strange colored ties, goofy shoes and I’ll fitting garments scream “Look at me! Look at me!”
Yo, fools…..Less is more.
Landry dressed like Johnny Carson….where”s the kool!?
Lombardy all the way.
Yes logos and greed killed it in the coliseum but the atrocities in the broadcast booth are indefensible.
Sigh.
Hardbopper
Saw a lot of Hank Stram in his days with the Chiefs, I never thought of him as mod. He always wore a blazer with the Chiefs arrow head, medium grey wool trousers, white shirt and tie. He always wore dress shoes on the sideline. He would occasionally wear a red sweater vest under the blazer in cooler weather. In rain or really cold weather a trench over it all. In the sixties, I don’t believe Lamar Hunt would have allowed a head coach to not wear a shirt and tie on the sideline, most AFL and NFL coaches did. The only thing Hank failed at was his obvious hair piece.
As an ex jock I’m very superstitious. The Chiefs finally made it to the SB after 50 years. So superstitious, I made sure I watched the game Sunday night in the same room, in the same chair I watch SB IV my senior year in high school. It worked. 😉
I completely agree. We have become a nation of slobs. I think you need to give an honorable mention to Tom Landry as he always looked pretty sharp as well!
I had a feeling that Lombardi would be an inspiration for today’s post. John Bracken, I totally agree. Coach Landry is another great example of class and sartorial inspiration on the sideline. “How bout them Cowboys?”. (Yes, I’m a Southerner and Cowboys fan).
The problem is that in recent years, the NFL has had contracts with clothing (cough!) manufacturers which require coaches and most staff to wear team gear and logos during the games. I grew up with Allie Sherman and the New York Giants. I don’t remember painted faces in those days either.
That’s right and Jim Tressel comes to mind. He did pretty well blending class with sponsorship.
Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry roamed the sartorial sidelines of the New York Giants as assistant coaches under Head Coach Jim Lee Howell in the late 1950s before reaching fame in Green Bay and Dallas.
On graduation day, Fordham’s VInce Lombardi posed with his classmates and was the only person wearing white-bucks. Coach Lombardi was a style icon while at Fordham and afterwards. Requiescat in pace.
Charles is correct, but it’s actually a rules-based issue: for a few decades now, the NFL actually requires all on-field personnel – including coaches – to wear ONLY licensed apparel. Which is to say, if Vince Lombardi or Tom Landry were around today, they could wear their signature suits, polo coats or fedoras … as long as there was an UnderArmor logo plastered across them. Bill Belichick would still dress like a homeless person (with apologies to the homeless).
While they’re not usually residents of Tradsville (most of them are Canadian, after all), look behind the benches in the NHL: coaches all still wear suit-and-tie.
Bum Phillips coached the Houston Oilers who played in the Astro Dome. Now, Bum was not known for his Trad props, but he was sartorially pretty consistent in his cowboy attire including a large cowboy hat. I always found it interesting that he would not wear his hat in the Astro Dome as his mother had taught him never to wear his hat indoors. He was clearly raised right. As an aside, his son Wade, got a super bowl ring with the Broncos last night.
Fifty plus years ago at Schoellkopf Field one saw a sea for tweed jackets and/ or
crew neck sweaters with an occasional ( probably) legacy raccoon coat for Cornell
home games. When the weather was cold and snowy it was loden, duffer, balmacaan
and some military surplus coats.
This is off subject but I do not think a coach like Lombardi, Landry or Grant ,to name a few, would put up with the players of today.
The “Packer Sweep” + a three-button sack jacket = perfection
Coach Lombardi was from a generation of Fordham Men who, in addition to wearing a coat and tie everyday in college, wore an academic gown in his philosophy and theology classes. Later in life, from a style perspective, he was impeccably turned-out in repp ties, three button jackets and his class ring.
Is Coach Lombardi’s attire not just a reflection of what a decently dressed man of his epoch would wear (as is that of the more. eehhh, ‘casual’ contemporary coaches)?
I have to agree with the first comment; you have become a nation of slobs (and we Yurropeens are closing in).
Old school kool trad is like a swan dive…..the best way to enter a scene. Simple, elegantly graceful and often overlooked. The ex-players and former coaches who infest the broadcast commentary shows sport the equivalent of cannonballs, can openers, pikes, flops, flips, spins, tumbles and …..gasp….triple lindies.
Pocket squares, pinky rings, plaids over stripes, huge knots on strange colored ties, goofy shoes and I’ll fitting garments scream “Look at me! Look at me!”
Yo, fools…..Less is more.
Landry dressed like Johnny Carson….where”s the kool!?
Lombardy all the way.
Yes logos and greed killed it in the coliseum but the atrocities in the broadcast booth are indefensible.
Sigh.
Hank Stram was in the game, too, but I would say his style tended toward the Mod.
Like the crew cut.
Hardbopper
Saw a lot of Hank Stram in his days with the Chiefs, I never thought of him as mod. He always wore a blazer with the Chiefs arrow head, medium grey wool trousers, white shirt and tie. He always wore dress shoes on the sideline. He would occasionally wear a red sweater vest under the blazer in cooler weather. In rain or really cold weather a trench over it all. In the sixties, I don’t believe Lamar Hunt would have allowed a head coach to not wear a shirt and tie on the sideline, most AFL and NFL coaches did. The only thing Hank failed at was his obvious hair piece.
As an ex jock I’m very superstitious. The Chiefs finally made it to the SB after 50 years. So superstitious, I made sure I watched the game Sunday night in the same room, in the same chair I watch SB IV my senior year in high school. It worked. 😉
Lombardi also believed in “Lombardi time” which always, always meant be at least 15 minutes early.