When Pride Still Mattered Chapter 28 - Run to Win

A biography will almost always end in death. That’s kind of how the genre works, especially when your subject is, you know, dead. That’s basically where it comes to an end for most of us. So on the one hand, of course When Pride Still Mattered was going to end there. A story about Lombardi’s life would end with his death. No duh.

But I hope you’ll take my meaning when I say that Lombardi’s death was how it had to be for him. The way he died was how he had to die: stubbornly and relatively young and in the middle of building something new.

First, stubbornly. While it’s true that colon cancer is often very aggressive and early action may not have helped Lombardi, it’s worth noting that the coach almost definitely made things harder than they had to be by resisting early screening efforts. And I get it: the scans and tests required to check for colon cancer are by their very nature somewhat degrading and humiliating, and Lombardi had more reason than most to be suspicious of exactly how correct doctors could be, having seen his own father defy both doctors’ orders and their predictions following his heart attack. But the point stands. Had he been more willing to submit to testing, it’s possible that his life could have been extended, if not outright saved.

Secondly, he died relatively young. At just 57, he was still arguably in his coaching prime, and even beyond career considerations, he very likely would have had a long life ahead of him. But the young death, if a tragedy, does feel appropriate for Lombardi. He reminds me in some ways of Teddy Roosevelt, who was just 60 when he passed away. Both seem almost fated to die young, if only because it’s hard to see them slowly disappearing into obscurity as so many aging stars in their respective fields do. Again, tragedy notwithstanding, it feels appropriate for Lombardi to burn out rather than fade away.

Finally, for a coach that was always on the go, it seems fitting that he passed in the midst of building up something new. This goes hand in glove with the previous point, but the “what if?” of Lombardi’s time in Washington feels appropriate. We’ll never know what he could have accomplished in Washington had he been able to go out on his own terms, but that’s part of the intriguing mystery of Lombardi.

Reading this chapter, I can’t help but wonder if he knew. Maybe it’s just my own encounters with death over the past couple of years leading me to think this way, but I wonder if he knew he was dying before he really knew he was dying. His last few months before the diagnosis seem full of moments where he understands that this was his last time together with a given person, and he seemed determined to make the most of them.

And for all his family troubles, Lombardi does seem to have ended his life on good terms with just about everyone. He and his wife were closer than ever, having come to a final understanding of their role in each others’ lives. He was involved in his children’s lives in their adulthood more than when they were school-age. Even if he died early, he seems to have died having lived a very full life.