"He put his arm around me, and we started to walk across the street, and he says, 'Tommy, is there something you want to tell me?' I said, 'Well, what do mean coach?' He says, 'You didn't take communion this morning,'" McVean recounted. "I said, 'Coach, coach, we scrimmaged in the pouring down rain at the high school last night. The equipment was so muddy, the shoes, the uniforms. We had to wash everything. I said were working till 2:30 in the morning, and we had some pizzas delivered."
At one point in the Catholic Church, the traditional fast before morning Mass began at midnight.
"You weren't allowed to eat anything after midnight if you were going to receive communion in the morning," McVean explained. I said, 'Coach, we were eating pizza at 2:30 in the morning. He said, 'That's a hell of an excuse.' He just laughed and gave me a big hug."
Whether it had to with rites or route running, how Vince Lombardi paid attention underscored that the whole operation -- the way it ran, the people who ran it -- meant a lot to him. And that authentic interest was part of what helped the 1969 Washington team under Lombardi put its first winning season together since 1955.