Magnificent Seven: The Championship Games That Built the Lombardi Dynasty FROM THE PUBLISHER
On December 31, 1967, at frozen Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the temperature hovered at a bone-chilling 13 below zero with a wind chill factor of minus 46 degrees. The clock was winding down as the Packers broke the huddle and lined up on the Cowboys' 1-yard line. Trailing 17-14, this was the climax of a 68-yard drive in 12 plays that started with four minutes and 50 seconds left on the clock. With no timeouts left and just 13 seconds remaining, this was it -- it was the last play of the game that would decide the NFL Championship. Quarterback Bart Starr looked left and right over his line as he barked out the signals. The screaming, wildly partisan crowd of 50,861 was temporarily silent as they held their collective breaths. Starr took the snap ... and, following the block of Jerry Kramer, plunged into history. Green Bay was once again victorious in one of the most famous football games in history, the legendary "Ice Bowl," which gave Green Bay its third straight championship and its fifth in seven years under head coach Vince Lombardi.
The Green Bay Packers of the sixties were one of the greatest sports dynasties of all time. Beginning with their first NFL Championship in 1961, when they crushed the New York Giants 37-0, through their 1968 Super Bowl victory over Oakland (their second NFL Championship in two years), the Packers and Lombardi were synonymous with excellence. In Magnificent Seven, fans can relive these seven championship game victories through the eyewitness accounts of sportswriter Bud Lea, observations from key players, and the amazing photography of Vernon and John Biever. Magnificent Seven brings you back to the sixties not just to replay each of those seven games but also to share in little-known stories from the legends-to-be who made football history. You'll discover how the first championship game was almost "lost" before it was ever played when running back and national guard reservist Paul Hornung was called up to active duty. It took a phone call from Lombardi to President John F. Kennedy -- who arranged a furlough for Hornung -- to save the day. Hornung scored 19 of Green Bay's 37 points during that memorable game.
Vince Lombardi was the eighth Packer in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and 10 of the next 11 inductees played for him during this championship era. The amazing exploits of these future gridiron hall-of-famers -- Jim Taylor, Forrest Gregg, Bart Starr, Ray Nitschke, Herb Adderley, Willie Davis, Jim Ringo, Paul Hornung, Willie Wood, and Henry Jordan -- are dominant throughout the game tales. All these feats are brought alive through the award-winning photography of Vernon and John Biever, providing a visually stunning presentation of some of the most storied moments in Green Bay Packer history.
FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
Lea covered the Green Bay Packers for the Milwaukee Journal from 1954 to 1972. Here he chronicles the legendary Vince Lombardi and his Packer teams during the 1961, 1962, 1965, and 1966 championships; the 1967 "Ice Bowl"; and Super Bowls I and II. Lombardi's squad set the benchmark for National Football League clubs. The coach was a no-nonsense man who expected everything from his players (as David Maraniss reveals in When Pride Still Mattered, a biography of Lombardi). His approach quickly gained the respect of the players, turning a bunch of losers into a united team that won seven "Magnificent" titles. Rounding out the text are an index, a good selection of great archival photographs, anecdotes from players, a foreword by Paul Hornung, and an introduction by Bart Starr. Vince Lombardi Jr. wrote the afterword. Recommended where demand warrants.-Larry R. Little, Penticton P.L., B.C.
Home
