Читать книгу The First America's Team - Bob Berghaus - Страница 6

by Bart Starr

Entering 1962, we expected to have a very good season because we were coming off a truly special one in 1961. We finished it off in as great a way as you could close out a season when we beat a strong Giants team 37–0 to win our first National Football League championship under coach Vince Lombardi.

We had exceptional talent in 1962. Nine of my teammates were eventually elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame and there are several others who should be in as well. Obviously, we had the leadership of Coach Lombardi, who gave us a sense of direction as soon as he arrived in 1959.

We started the 1962 season very strong, winning our first three games by fairly sizeable margins. We had that close call with the Lions in the fourth game, when Herb Adderley intercepted a pass in the final minute that set up a short field goal for Paul Hornung, enabling us to win the game.

We kept winning, and at some point reporters began asking us about the possibility of an unbeaten season. I can tell you that wasn’t our focus, that I don’t think any one of us thought in those terms because of the leadership and direction by Coach Lombardi. What we were thinking about was just going at it game by game, week by week, and just seeing where that would take us.

Under the direction of Coach Lombardi we won our first ten games before we finally lost to the Lions in Detroit in the annual Thanksgiving Day game. Obviously when you have that kind of pressure building and you suffer a loss, it can be very damaging to you and very disappointing. But I think because of Coach Lombardi’s leadership we were able to keep a very narrowly focused direction in front of us. Somehow, you just work your way through those things, something we were able to do.

We won our last three games to set up another championship game with the Giants. This one was played in Yankee Stadium, and the Giants were ready for us because of what had happened the previous year. I don’t think we looked at it as pressure. We were more concerned about the quality of team we were facing. We had a lot of respect for the Giants, but I think the focus was that this is going to be a game on the road in front of a hostile crowd.

The Giants were a formidable foe, no question about that. They had a 12–2 record, at one point winning nine straight games. They had excellent leadership, a very good defense, and of course they had quarterback Y.A. Tittle, who had an outstanding year.

The strength of our team was on display in that ball game because it was one of the coldest games at that time, and it was very, very windy. I’ll always remember how cold and windy it was because I had never seen the sideline benches be blown over. They actually blew over and onto the field during the game. It was quite a sight.

Because we had a strong running game we were able to win that ball game. I didn’t have the arm strength and accuracy to deal with those conditions, so I was grateful we had the strength of the running game because I could lean on that throughout the game. Because the Giants focused on stopping our running attack, it helped when we did have to throw.

That was the second of our five championships under Coach Lombardi. We went on to win three more with him, something I’m proud of to this day. Coach Lombardi meant the world to me. I appreciate the confidence he showed in me on the football field, and I’m grateful for how he helped me away from the field.

One thing that was characteristic of him was the pursuit of excellence. He said the pursuit of excellence would make you a better person than you otherwise might be content to be. I know I’m a better person than I otherwise would have been because of the time I was able to spend with the man.