By Woodrow Carroll
Weeb Ewbank! First, he preceded Vince Lombardi. Then he followed Lombardi. Could be a Greek oracle narrative. But, there is truth to the statement.
With the National Football League (NFL) Super Bowl LV on the horizon (Sunday, Feb. 7 in Tampa), we take a look at the early years of the Super Bowl and how it played out. In no time the names of Ewbank and Lombardi pop up.
Eubank played collegiate ball at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Ball was for baseball, basketball, and football. Miami University is noted for producing football coaching greats such as Woody Hayes, Ara Parseghian, and Bo Schedmbechler. Eubank was before them and had Chester Pittser as his head football coach.
Eubank took over as head coach of the NFL’s Baltimore Colts, now the Indianapolis franchise, in 1954. It was a struggle for a time! Then the Colts added Johnny Unitas, Raymond Berry, and Alan Ameche, among other prominent players and the good times were at hand.
The 1958 Colts captured the NFL Western Division championship with a 9-3 record. Better yet, in a game, called by some, The Greatest Game ever, the Colts were 23-17 overtime victors over the New York Giants in the NFL championship game.
Another 9-3 finish in 1959 gave the Colts and Ewbank a second consecutive Western Division championship, and, a rematch with the Giants for the NFL championship, won by the Colts, 31-16.
Few noticed at the time, the Green Bay Packers finished with a 7-5 record in the NFL Western Division in 1959. Green Bay had a new coach, Vince Lombardi. After struggling for many years, the Packers found their man in Lombardi.
In 1960 the Colts slipped from their lofty perch to finish 6-6. The Packers closed the regular season with a 8-4 record to win the West Division championship. The 1960 NFL championship went to the Philadelphia Eagles by virtue of a 17-13 victory over the Packers in the championship game. The loss to the Eagles proved to be the only time Lombardi lost in championship play.
The following season, Lombardi and the Packers were back in the NFL championship game. It was no contest. Green Bay was an easy 37-0 victor over the Giants.
Lombardi and the Packers soared and the Colts fell back. After nine seasons Eubank was out as Colts’ head coach after the 1962 season.
By the late-1960s the rival NFL and AFL (American Football League) came to an understanding. A bit of a merger and consolidation unfolded. With it came the first Super Bowl (called the AFL-NFL championship game at the time. The first Super Bowl was played January 15, 1967. Turned out to be an easy 35-10 victory for the Packers over the Kansas City Chiefs. Taskmaster for the Packers remained Vince Lombardi. The following season it was a repeat performance for Lombardi and the Packers who took out the Oakland Raiders, 33-14. Lombardi resigned following the season and returned for one season, 1969, as head coach and general manager of Washington.
Super Bowl Roman Numeral III found the New York Jets pitted against the Baltimore Colts. The Colts were 18-point favorites and had avenged their lone regular-season defeat to Cleveland with a 34-0 victory over the Browns in the playoffs,
Head coach for Jets was Weeb Ewbank who guided the Colts to their late-1950s glory, the man who helped Baltimore twice beat New York Giants for the championship was attempting to get the New York the Jets a victory over Baltimore. And, he did!
Jets’ quarterback Joe Namath predicted a Jets victory. The Jets won, 16-7, although the Jets’ victory was more of a defensive gem by New York than Namath’s offensive artistry.
Weeb Eubank, the man who preceded Vince Lombardi as a winner in the NFL, was now the winning Super Bowl coach following in the footsteps of Lombardi, who captured the first two Super Bowls.