Oct. 23, 1963 - An angry Vince Lombardi, reacting to a personal attack on Green Bay Packer fullback Jim Taylor (left) by St. Louis head coach Wally Lemm, characterized his NFL coaching rival today as “an unstable man who’s running off at the mouth.” Lemm had accused Taylor, the NFL’s top ball carrier last year and it’s No. 2 rusher in the current season, of what he called unnecessary kicking and crawling after his Cardinals lost to the defending champion Packers, 30-7, on Sunday. Lemm also said he agreed with Bob Burnes, sports editor of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, who wrote in a column yesterday that “a team as great as the Packers doesn’t need a player like that.” Lombardi, who has guided Green Bay to three straight Western Division titles and two consecutive NFL championships, said that “this is the first time in the history of the National Football League that any coach has accused a player of being dirty.” He said flatly that Lemm’s charge of Taylor’s “crawling” was untrue and added: “I suppose Jim ‘crawled’ over 1,000 yards — 53 yards short of Jim Brown’s all-time record — and in scoring with 114 points.” In St. Louis, Lemm said he had no comment to make about Lombardi’s statements. “I just want to say that I was misquoted. I never called Jim Taylor a dirty player. Where Lombardi got this story I don’t know,” Lemm said.
