Vince Lombardi

"He is well known as being unequivocally committed to winning. One of his most famous maxims is 'Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing', although he did not coin the phrase and the exact words he used are disputed.

Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing is a well-known quote in sports. Some people think the quote exemplifies a form of unfettered competitiveness that has permeated American sports. Its assertion about the importance of winning has been touted as a basic tenet of the American sports creed and, at the same time, singled out as encapsulating what is purportedly right with competitive sports.

This credo has served as counterpoint to the well known sentiment by sports journalist Grantland Rice that, it's “not that you won or lost but how you played the game,' and to the Modern Olympic creed expressed by its founder Pierre de Coubertin: "The most important thing . . . is not winning but taking part (in the Games).”

The quote is most widely attributed to American football coach Vince Lombardi;he coined the phrase. Lombardi is on record using the quote as early as 1959 in his opening talk on the first day of the Packers’ training camp. The quote captured the American public's attention during Lombardi's highly successful reign as coach of the Packers in the 1960s. Over time, the quote took on a life of its own. The words graced the walls of locker rooms, ignited pre-game pep talks, and echoed from the rafters of banquet halls. According to the late James Michener's Sports in America Lombardi claimed to have been misquoted. What he intended to say was "Winning isn't everything. The will to win is the only thing."*

This misquote is a classic example of how the rich and powerful are able to take a public persons words and bend them to their greedy purposes.