About The Book

To raise it means you’ve won it. And to win it means you’ve survived a season-long journey fraught with peril and untold adversity. In his highly anticipated sequel to “Raising Stanley: What it Takes to Claim Hockey’s Ultimate Prize,” Ross Bernstein interviewed more than 75 current and former NFL players and coaches who all had one thing in common—they were champions. Raising Lombardi features in-depth interviews, rich history, and inspirational stories of determination and perseverance from players and coaches of all eras, including: Jerome Bettis, Steve Young, Mike Ditka, Paul Hornung, Joe Theismann, Tony Dungy, Jerry Kramer, Mike Singletary, Bart Starr, Lenny Moore, and Drew Brees, among others. These players’ accounts span more than a half-century of football champions—from the NFL championship games featuring the likes of Frank Gifford and Johnny Unitas, to the first Super Bowls matching the NFL’s and AFL’s best, to the modern era where conference champions meet in the most highly anticipated sporting event of the year. The champions’ reflections are not limited to remembrances of the ecstasy of winning, however. Superstars share the ingredients to their teams’ success—the unique chemistry, leaders, and ways of tackling adversity that composed the magical recipe of a champion. A chapter is dedicated to coaches, where players explain the strategies and motivational techniques implemented by coaches from Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry to Bill Belichick and Mike McCarthy. Players also share how their championship experiences affected their lives after football, influencing their success in business and in life. Raising Lombardi is full of unheard stories, from hilarious behind-the-scenes antics in the huddle, the practice field, under the pile, and on the team plane, to poignant life-lessons and hard-earned wisdom about motivation and leadership that resonate from the locker room to the board room. Entertaining as well as compelling, readers will learn about the win-at-all-cost mentality necessary to claim the game’s ultimate prize and what it truly means to become a champion. Raising Lombardi celebrates the honor, courage, and sacrifice that bonds teammates together and is a must read for any die-hard football fan who wants to know what it takes to be a winner both on and off the gridiron.