Did you know the Super Bowl trophy is named after a Catholic?

Every year millions of people around the world tune in to the Super Bowl, partly to watch the game and partly to see the new commercials.

The crowning moment of the Super Bowl is when the winning team is awarded the much sought-after Vince Lombardi Trophy.

For those not familiar with American football, Vince Lombardi was the first head coach to win the Super Bowl in 1967. Initially the award was called the World Professional Football Championship, but was renamed after Vince Lombardi's death in 1970.

Vince Lombardi actually won the first two Super Bowls as head coach of the Green Bay Packers, and is highly regarded for his coaching skills.

Vincent Lombardi was the oldest of five children, while his mother (Matilda Izzo) belonged to a clan of 12 brothers and sisters. The Lombardis would spend a lot of time with the Izzos, especially on Sundays. After attending Mass, the two families would get together and share in a traditional Italian feast, which lasted the entire day.

Along with family members, priests were a very common sight at the Sunday gathering. During the week, Vince’s mother would always bake two loaves of bread; one for the Lombardis, one for the priests. Vince was often given the task of delivering the bread to the parish rectory.

Being an altar boy at an early age inspired Vince Lombardi to desire to be a priest. He freely chose to attend a high school seminary program and was the first in his family to pursue religious life. It was in seminary that Vince learned such values as discipline and virtue. He also started to attend daily Mass, which would become a part of his routine for the rest of his life.

However, after three years of intense study toward the priesthood, Vince made the decision to discontinue his theological studies and pursue his love of football.

As coach of the Green Bay Packers, he maintained his daily habit of going to Mass before attending meetings and kept a Bible and missal on his nightstand. Vince prayed daily to St. Anthony and St. Jude and kept an old black wooden rosary in his coat pocket, which he would pray with throughout the day.

Unfortunately, Lombardi did not always put faith and family above sports. Years after the fact, his son reflected that he would have rather had him home more often than being a coach of an NFL team. 

Lombardi was no saint and he would often be seen going to confession because of his many faults. He's not someone everyone should emulate in all aspects of life.

At the same time, we can imitate his love of God and the Catholic faith, integrating it into our lives. Lombardi teaches us that no matter what profession we are in, even if it involves coaching a professional football team, we need to bring along our Catholic faith and make it a priority.