That First Season: How Vince Lombardi Took the Worst Team in the NFL and Set It on the Path to Glory - Paperback

by John Eisenberg (Author)

The story of a team, a town, and a leader: Vince Lombardi's first year as head coach of the Green Bay Packers, and how he turned them into a powerhouse.

The once-vaunted Green Bay Packers were a laughingstock by the late 1950s. They hadn't fielded a winning team in more than a decade, and were close to losing their franchise to another city. They were in desperate need of a savior--and he arrived in a wood-paneled station wagon in the dead of winter from New York City.

In a single year, Vince Lombardi--the grizzled coach who took no bull--transformed a team of underachievers into winners and resurrected a Wisconsin city known for its passion for sports. He would lead them to championship to championship, and bring out the best in players including Bart Starr, Jim Taylor, Willie Davis, Forrest Gregg, and many more. From an award-winning sportswriter, That First Season is "a compelling read about perhaps the most compelling coach ever to stride an NFL sideline" (Washington Times).

"Richly detailed in seamless prose, this is historical sportswriting at its finest."--Lars Anderson, New York Times best-selling author of The Mannings: The Fall and Rise of a Football Family

Front Jacket

On the 50th anniversary of Vince Lombardi's first season in Green Bay, an irresistible and little-known comeback story

In the late 1950s the once vaunted Green Bay Packers were a laughing stock. They hadn't fielded a winning team in more than a decade and were very nearly in jeopardy of losing their franchise to another city. The ultimate low came in 1958, when, with 7 future Hall of Famers on the team, they went a lousy 1-10-1 under a too-soft coach, Scooter McLean. They were desperately in need of a savior, and he arrived via wood-paneled station wagon in the dead of winter from New York City.

THAT FIRST SEASON chronicles Vince Lombardi's remarkable first year as head coach with the franchise he would reinvent and etch forever in football history. In a single year, as the grizzled coach who took no bull, he would transform a team of underachievers into winners and reignite a city known for its passion for its sport. Based on exhaustive new research and interviews, THAT FIRST SEASON is the seldom-studied prequel to a football career marked by greatness. Eisenberg pushes away the mist that surrounds the Lombardi legend to bring readers the real story of how the seeds of a football dynasty were sown. He also brings alive an incredible ensemble tale of a team, a town and their leader.

Back Jacket

Advance Praise for That First Season: Just when you thought you knew everything about Vince Lombardi comes John Eisenberg's "That First Season," the definitive account of Lombardi's first twelve months in Green Bay and how he orchestrated one of the greatest turnarounds in American sports history. Richly detailed in seamless prose, this is historical sports writing at its finest. Lars Anderson, author of Carlisle v. Army and The All Americans"

Author Biography

John Eisenberg was an award-winning sports columnist at The Baltimore Sun for two decades, and is the author of seven books, most recently My Guy Barbaro, co-written with Hall of Fame horse racing jockey Edgar Prado, and The Great Match Race. He has written for Smithsonian Magazine, Sports Illustrated, and Details, among other publications.