Lombardi Moved His Team to an Army Base — Here's Why

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:00]An NFL coach moved his entire team to a US Army base, not for training, to make a point. 1961, Columbus, Georgia. The city is hosting its first-ever professional football game. Green Bay Packers versus Washington. The sponsors have one request. Black players sleep somewhere else. Washington agrees. They fly in six days early, practice in the city all week. Great for the newspapers.

[00:00:25][music] Lombardi, he doesn't argue, doesn't call the league office, doesn't hold a press conference. He calls Fort Benning, a US Army base, 10 miles outside Columbus.

[00:00:37]Federal land. Jim Crow laws not valid here. The entire team flies in the night before the game. White players, black players, same barracks, same base, together. The game draws 18,000 fans.

[00:00:51]6,500 seats empty. Lombardi cost the city real money. He never mentioned it. They invited him back in 1962.

[00:01:00]He did exactly the same thing. Fort Benning, again. In 1963, they proposed segregated seating for the fans. Lombardi canceled the game. No explanation, no press release, just [music] canceled. No speech, no headlines, no credit, just a coach who decided his team was one team and never negotiated that, ever. Full story on the channel.