Published: October 21, 2010

“Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.” The sentiment widely attributed to Vince Lomardi and one Dan Lauria embodies in his portrayal of the fiery football coach in the Broadway play, “Lombardi.”

Lauria opens the play by taking the stage, football in hand, and addressing the audience as if they were his football team. He delivers an impassioned pre-season speech in which the audience can feel his desire, his intensity and his resolve to win. Lauria’s tone has the audience on the edge of their seats and riles them up as if they are truly the ones about to take the football field.

He finishes his speech by pointing the football at different sections of the “team” and says, “Defense, offense, one play defines a season. We have to win! You have to win!”

The play delves into Lombardi’s life and relationships with his players (linebacker Dave Robinson, halfback Paul Hornung and fullback Jim Taylor), his wife Marie and reporter Michael McCormick. In each of these relationships, the audience sees Lombardi’s caring side, his angry side, and of course, his obsessive (with respect to winning) side. However, no matter the situation, Lombardi’s obsession with football and winning is always prevalent.

The relationship that is most affected by this obsession is that of Lombardi and his wife. Judith Light delivers a stunning performance as Marie Lombardi. Audience members are shown both love for her husband and the loneliness she feels. She endlessly supports Lombardi’s coaching dream and won’t let him give up on it, knowing it makes him happy but only bring her emptiness.

Light perfectly complements Lauria, as the audience sees that Marie is the only one with any control over Vince and the only one who can keep his tantrums in check. The love between the two characters shines brightly during scenes of happiness and support. The most exemplary of these is one in which Marie takes care of Vince during his battle of colon cancer. Marie rushes to aid her husband, despite the two arguing bitterly mere moments before he shows signs of pain. Light and Lauria exhibit great chemistry and play the loving couple role well, from sorrowful apologies to loving make-up kisses.

Despite this love, Light’s signature line truly exemplifies her character’s pain: “There are three things that are important to Vince: God, Family and the Green Bay Packers. Family is a distant third and God is not first.”

The other fascinating relationship is the love-hate relationship between Vince and the reporter, played by Keith Nobbs, who is staying with the Lombardis for a week to write a piece about the football coach. The two repeatedly butt heads throughout the play and push each other to the brink on multiple occasions.

In spite of their constant bickering, there is a deep admiration between the two men. The two help each other mature in the midst of their confrontations. McCormick teaches Lombardi to not be so controlling and Lombardi teaches McCormick to have self-confidence in his work.

Amidst the tension and seriousness, Lombardi’s players provide  good comic relief. Paul Hornung, played by Bill Dawes, is the star halfback, who is also a philanderer who loves to spend his time at local bars. Dawes illustrates this with his line, “Why get married in the morning, when you can meet someone at night?” Hornung often attempts to dodge practice during the day and  sneak away to bars at night. He normally drags his teammates along with him, leading to many amusing encounters, most of which  end with Lombadi punishing them.

Lombardi attributes his need for a strict schedule to his Jesuit upbringing at Fordham. This is emphasized in the Jesuit motto he says he lives by, “Freedom through discipline.”

The actors in “Lombardi” put on amazing performances in this 90-minute production set to debut Oct. 21. As viewers leave, many will   share the sentiments of Lomardi’s passion: “We didn’t lose, we just ran out of time.”