Lombardi's Left Side

"Lombardi's Left Side" is Royce Boyles' third book about Vince Lombardi and his legendary Green Bay Packers teams. Lombardi coached the Packers from 1959-1967, won five NFL championships in his nine seasons, and established a blueprint for success that went far beyond football. Co-author for the first two books, "The Lombardi Legacy" and "The Lombardi Impact," was Hall of Fame linebacker Dave Robinson. For "Lombardi's Left Side," another NFL Hall of Famer, cornerback Herb Adderley, joins Boyles and Robinson.Robinson and Adderley are African Americans, and in the first two books the subject of civil rights--in particular, Lombardi's color-blindness and fairness toward the black players on his teams--is a recurring theme. But it is not presented as the central theme, which is Lombardi's greatness, established through interviews with the people who knew him. In "Lombardi's Left Side," race moves to the forefront. We meet Adderley and Robinson as teenagers in the 1950s and see what life was like for a young black man in the days before civil rights reform. Both players were smart, dedicated, and lucky enough to have mentors who steered them away from the streets and into athletics. They were drafted by the Packers and met Lombardi, who helped them to attain their full potential as players and as men.I found "Lombardi's Left Side" fascinating because I grew up in Green Bay during the 1960s. I followed the Packers closely, attended many of the games, and knew some of the players. I learned what life was like for an African American coming to the small Wisconsin town where most residents had never known a person of color. Boyles' narrative fills in the gaps in my knowledge and gives me the "before" and the "after." Of particular interest are Adderley's struggles after he left the Packers. He was traded to the Dallas Cowboys, where racism was rampant and Coach Tom Landry was reluctant to accept Lombardi-trained players. More recently, Adderley took on the National Football League Players Association by acting as class representative for 2,062 retired players who sued the union in 2007 over royalties from a video game. Boyles firmly establishes Adderley as a hero.The book could have benefited from better editing. There are typos--"Adderley" is frequently rendered as "Adderely." Sometimes Boyles repeats himself, and his narrative voice occasionally wavers between colloquial and Voice of God. But if the writing lacks consistency, it never lacks passion. Despite the minor editing annoyances, I love this book and I'm giving it five stars."Lombardi's Left Side" is "must" reading for Packer fans, for anyone interested in the civil rights struggles of the mid-20th century, and for those who sympathize with the plight of too many retired NFL players today. This is an important book.

I am a life long Green Bay resident and Packers fan. Highly recommend to you this book about Dave Robinson, Herb Adderley and Vince Lombardi. You will relive the names of the Packers and their opponents, but what surprised me the most was Vince Lombardi's social justice stance; all people are created equal. It is a different side of Lombardi and the NFL at that time that we don't hear about. Highly recommend!!! Kab

When I have an opportunity to read anything about two great players like Herb Adderley and Dave Robinson, I jump at the chance. However, despite the fact that there was some valuable insight into the careers of Adderley and Robinson (notably Adderley's immediate positive impact on the Cowboys in '70-71), the more I read the more I came to believe that Adderley and Robinson were really only the bait for Royce Boyles to write his third book about Lombardi. The title of this book, Lombardi's Left Side, is actually misleading. Lombardi's left side actually included Hall of Famer Willie Davis - so the title really should be, Two Thirds of Lombardi's Left Side.Another justificaton for the book, it seems to me, was for Boyles to paint Phil Bengston as an unworthy successor to Lombardi, and to depict Tom Landry as a racist, incompetent coach (despite the fact he had 20 winning seasons in a row).As to Bengston, I beleive there is justification to say that he was not a top tier NFL coach, as can be said of about 200 former NFL coaches. But to be fair, Lombardi didn't leave much behind on the field when he became the Packer GM in 1968. Most of the greats were past their prime, and there were only a few to take their place. If you have read any Packer memoirs about the Lombardi years, the players readily admit this. Fairness demands that it be stated that Hall of Famers Ringo, Nitschke, Taylor, Hornung, Gregg, Starr and Jerry Kramer, and standouts and dependables Forester, Hanner, Gremminger, Whittenton, McGee, Currie, Masters, Dowler, Ron Kramer, Bettis, Symank, Quinlan and Dillon were already Packers when Lombardi got there in 1959. It is true that Lombardi traded for Hall of Famers Davis and Jordan, and Thurston, but it is also true that in the nine years Lombardi orchestrated the draft, he selected only two Hall of Famer (Adderley in 1961 and Robinson in 1963).A surprise to me was Adderley's claim (and Boyles' glee in running with it), that Landry was a racist. It is apparent that Adderly and Landry did not get along, and I am sure that Adderley is convinced that Landry's racism was the reason for his problems in Dallas, but I found no justification to substantiate this position. Rather, I found the author's pointedly leading questions to Adderley's black teammates (Washington, Green, Hill, Renfro) about Landry's supposed racism, coupled with their tepid answers, to be wholly unconvincing. To say there was a racial divide on the team is one thing (Boyles describes a number of racially motivated statements and actions by white players, but identifies no one, which is weak reporting). But to say Landry was a racist, without providing a single verifiable instance of a racist statement or act over his entire life, is quite another thing. Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson, who has always given his opinion whether asked or not, said Landry was not a racist. Harvey Martin has been quoted likewise. Renfro even had Landry present him at his Hall of Fame induction.In this book Adderley admits he refused to follow Landry's flex defensive scheme. In fact, Adderley says he told Landry so in front of the whole team. Adderley argued that he wanted to play the more free-style system used by the Packers. So Landry benched him and then traded him.So I ask you, if Lombardi got a player in a trade, and that player refused to follow Lombardi's directions, what do you think he would do?

I grew up in Wisconsin and watched Herb Adderley and Dave Robinson play for the Packers. They were both great players and Hall of Famers (Robinson was just selected to be inducted in 2013). Their descriptions of what it was like to play for the great Vince Lombardi in the 1960's is priceless. I think every historian of the civil rights movement should know how much Lombardi cared about and without fanfare went out of his way to help black Packer players adjust to living in all-white Green Bay and playing football there during a tumultuous time in our history. It was so refreshing to read about the two athletes and a coach of such high character and integrity as Adderley, Robinson, and Lombardi. Reading the book made me so proud of being a Packers fan during this era and it helped me remember how really great Lombardi's Left Side was, not only as highly skilled football players, but as really good people! A great read.