Perhaps it's just as well most Packer fans never think about the coach's private life.
When I was in college, my favorite journalism professor was Gene Hintz, who covered the Green Bay Packers during the Vince Lombardi years. He would insert stories from that era into his lectures, emphasizing how his relationship with the coach made him a better reporter.
Hintz died in 2003 at age 71, but I thought of him Saturday night while watching Lombardi — a regional production at the Palace Theater in Wisconsin Dells of the Broadway play about a young reporter from Look magazine sent to cover the coach and his Packers during one week in 1965.
Written by Academy Award-winning documentarian Eric Simonson, Lombardi is based on the 1999 book When Pride Still Mattered, by Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss.
“It’s a play that regional theaters like to perform,” Maraniss recently told me, adding that at least 40 of them have staged productions over the years. “Actors love to play Vince and his wife, Marie.”
New York City-based Edward Furs convincingly portrays Lombardi as an endearing, inspirational and complicated grouch constantly in pursuit of perfection. He doesn’t like reporters and takes issue with the writer who originally called Lambeau Field the “Frozen Tundra.” “It’s redundant,” Lombardi barks. Lisa Franklin portrays Marie Lombardi with engaging, stressed-out sass.
The play begins with Lombardi’s hiring in 1959, after the Packers hit rock-bottom the previous season with a 1-10-1 record, then quickly jumps to 1965 as Green Bay prepares for a critical game against an unnamed rival. Three Packers players — Jim Taylor, Paul Hornung and Dave Robinson — round out the six-character cast, which performs on a large but sparse stage.
The Super Bowls, Lombardi’s eventual departure from Green Bay and his 1970 death from colon cancer are mere footnotes.
Archival footage provided by the National Football League, along with one-liners about Green Bay, the community-owned Packers and local establishments (Prange’s, anyone?), will make longtime fans smile.
It’s worth noting that Lombardi’s early roots lie in a 2007 Madison Repertory Theatre production of Lombardi: The Only Thing.
The Palace is located across the street from the Wilderness Hotel & Golf Resort on Wisconsin Dells Parkway in the former Broadway Dinner Theatre. Brother owners Anthony and Joseph Tomaska, who have more than 30 years of theater experience, opened the Palace in 2014.
Lombardi runs Wednesdays through Sundays until Nov. 1. See dellspalace.com or call 608-253-4000 for details. Dinner is delicious, and Packers attire is encouraged.