Max McGee, the former Green Bay Packers receiver who died yesterday, remembers Vince Lombardi in Lombardi and Me: Players, Coaches, and Colleagues Talk About the Man and the Myth (Triumph, $14.95) by Paul Horning with Billy Reed:
“Vince wanted to embarrass you in front of all your teammates. He did me, because he knew that hurt me worse than anything …
“But Vince was about as smart as anybody who ever put on a coaching hat. One time before a big game, he told us that if anybody was caught sneaking out before the game it would cost him $5,000. And he looked at me and said, ‘McGee, let me tell you something — if you find somebody worth $5,000, let me me know — I want to go with you.’ That broke the tension. He could get you so wired before a game you almost couldn’t play …
“I announced that I was retiring after the first Super Bowl, and Vince came to me and said, ‘Maxie, I want you to come back next year. If a we get a young guy that we’re going to keep, I’ll keep you on as a coach.’ So the reason I came back is that I was going to be there one way or the other, either as a player or a coach.”
Lombardi and Me, reviewed on Nov. 28 www.oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com/2006/11/28/, was published in 2006 and has just been released in paperback www.triumphbooks.com.
(c) 2007 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.
Thank you for posting this. I used to love to listen to Max do the commentary on Packer radio broadcasts. It was sad to hear about his accident. Both as a player and as an announcer, he was a classic.
Comment by Jon — October 22, 2007 @ 12:57 am |
Really? He did commentary? I’ve always lived far from Packers territory, so I didn’t know that.
Maybe someone will post snippets of McGee’s commentaries on YouTube or elsewhere? A lot of people might appreciate it … Thanks for letting all of us know.
Comment by 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom — October 22, 2007 @ 1:13 am |