Bloodlines

For some of us, the gridiron permeates our ancestral DNA. While I never consciously sought out a life partner based upon her football lineage, I did end up marrying into one.

In addition to the Kolstad football roots, my wife’s family shares direct bloodlines connected to both teams of the NFL’s greatest rivalry—the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears.

Meet The Unknown Architect of the Lombardi Dynasty

Jack Vainisi was the eldest of four children born to Anthony “Tony” and Marie Vainisi in Chicago, Illinois. He was six years old when the Packers, to whom his destiny would one day be tied, became a national team. Tony ran a grocery store and delicatessen on Chicago’s near-north side that became a hangout for several 1930s and 1940s era Bears players. Many members of the team lived near Tony’s store during the season. Jack not only grew up surrounded by Bears players, including Gene Ronzani, who would later go on to coach the Green Bay Packers, he even played high school football alongside Mugsy Halas, the son of Bears’ coach George Halas.

Jack was named an All-City lineman that earned him a Notre Dame scholarship. His football playing days, however, ended when he contracted rheumatic fever while serving in the post-WWII army. 

In 1950, first-year Green Bay Packers coach, Gene Ronzani, hired him and Vainisi became a one-man personnel department. 

For the next decade, under Jack’s guidance, the Packers drafted many of the Lombardi-era championship players including Forrest Gregg, Paul Hornung, Ray Nitschke, Jim Ringo, Jim Taylor and Bart Starr. 

Vainisi can be credited with constructing the Lombardi dynasty. And, according to most accounts, Jack even played a role in persuading the Packers’ executive committee to hire the man himself. Lombardi joined the Packers in 1959 as head coach and general manager.

In an article published on January 13, 2018, "Packers Scout Jack Vainisi Deserves Lambeau Field Honor," Gary D’Amato, of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes “He (Vainisi) might be the third-most important figure in the history of the franchise, behind only Curly Lambeau and Vince Lombardi."

Vince Lombardi with Jack Vainisi

Sadly Jack Vainisi never got to see the fruits of his labor triumph during the 1960 Titletown glory years. The Packers won five NFL championships including the first two Super Bowls with the talent he had assembled. Jack died tragically of a heart attack at the age of 33 on the Sunday after a Thanksgiving Day loss to the Lions in 1960.

Jack Vainisi was inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 1982, but will likely never be as widely recognized for the talent he brought to Green Bay. Even though Jack preformed the role of General Manager, he predates the title and no category for team personnel heads or scouts exists in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Advocates like D’Amato, however, are pushing to see his name adorn Lambeau Field in big yellow letters, joining the honored ranks of Packer legends.

A Younger Brother In The Wings 

Jerry Vainisi is the youngest of the four Vainisi siblings. As a teen, he revered Jack. While the older brother found success in Green Bay, Jerry prospered in their hometown of Chicago. Like Jack, he also grew up with the Halas family. Jerry graduated from Georgetown University and Chicago-Kent College of Law and went on to become the Bears treasurer and in-house counsel from 1972 to 1982. He also served on their Board of Directors. In 1983, he became General Manager during Mike Ditka’s second year as the Chicago head coach. 

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Jerry Vainisi immediately began stacking the Chicago Bears with star athletes at every position, nine of them Pro Bowlers including the likes of Richard Dent, Walter Payton, Mike Singletary and quarterback Jim McMahon.

The Bears roared through their 1985 schedule going 15-1-0 overall, including 12 straight victories during the regular season. The most impressive win, a 44-0 shut out of the Dallas Cowboys in Texas Stadium, occurred with Steve Fuller standing in for the injured Jim McMahon.

Ultimately the Ditka-Vainisi Bears of 1985-86 went 32-4 trouncing the New England Patriots 46-10 to win Super Bowl XX, their only Super Bowl victory to date.

Former Bears GM and Jack Vainisi's brother, Jerry

Even though “difference in approach and philosophy” between owner Michael McClaskey and Jerry lead to a controversial firing a year later, Jerry went on to become the vice president of player personnel for the Detroit Lions. He retired from professional football after five years helping to create and head the World League of American Football (later named NFL Europe) football operations.

So—although I don’t share direct bloodlines with the Vainisi family, my wife does. Jack and Jerry are her father’s uncles.

*****

To learn more about Jack Vainisi and his contribution to the Green Bay Packers Lombardi years, check out these articles:

D’Amato, Gary, "Packers Scout Jack Vainisi Deserves Lambeau Field Honor". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, January 13, 2018

O' Hagan, Richard, "Jack Vainisi: Not the NFL Hall of Fame, Part 3."Bleacher Report, September 17, 2011

Miller, Mike, "Jack Vainisi: The Drafting Genius Behind the Packers Dynasty." host.Madison.com, April 23, 2005

Three Generations. Four Coaches.

Even though by age three, I was WrestleMania's and specifically, Hulk Hogan’s, number one fan, football is the passion that actually flows through these veins. I was born into a football family. My grandfather and father were both coaches, so it was inevitable that my brother and I, as well as other members of our family, would aspire to be coaches as well.

Prior to discovering my football roots.

My late grandfather, Howard “Chick” Kolstad was born in 1914. He attended Eau Claire State in Eau Claire, Wisconsin (now part of the University of Wisconsin system), a tri-athlete who played football, basketball and baseball. The 1937-38 BluGolds basketball team was the first undefeated Conference Champions in the history of the college. In 1939, his senior year, Chick was awarded “All-Around Athlete.”  

Chick Kolstad went on to coach at five high schools before becoming the head coach of St. Norbert College in 1960. He was known as a fierce competitor in the small De Pere, Wisconsin private college. Kolstad produced a 96-76-5 record mainly against scholarship-level opponents during his nineteen-year tenure. Until 2009, he held the most wins since the college first fielded a team back in 1931.

A football family.

My grandfather developed the St. Norbert College program into a powerhouse football team. It attracted good players and tough schedules. Practices were hard, too, and as one player said, “they often drew blood.” My grandfather’s reaction according to a St. Norbert College alumni article; “Blood makes the grass grow!”

All of the Howard Kolstad family participated on game day. The oldest child, my aunt Colette, was assigned to program duty. She was responsible for getting fans to purchase roster sheets for that day’s match up and later advanced to the role of statistician. My grandmother and aunts Jane and Cathy helped out in the concession stands. Uncle Pete filmed the games and both he and my dad, John, were charged with tending to the original St. Norbert Minahan Stadium’s cinder track, which meant digging holes to drain water from the inner most lane.

Regardless of his stern demeanor and relentless expectations, Coach Chick Kolstad is fondly remembered. In that same college magazine article, published in 2004, SNC class of 1970 alumni and 1970-75 Green Bay Packer, Larry Krause, credits much of his success to Kolstad, whom he remembers as an incredible football coach and an even more incredible man:

“He coached at St. Norbert for nineteen years and he could tell you every player he ever had, and what they all did with their lives after they left St. Norbert,” Krause says. “He had a passion for St. Norbert and his players like none I have ever seen since. He had a very unique ability to instill his passion for football into his players and get the most out of each one.”  

“He went way above what any other person would have done and definitely helped me make the team,” Krause says. 

When Krause broke his jaw during his third year with the Packers, the first person to meet him after surgery was Coach Kolstad. “He even beat my wife to the hospital! On the other hand, I did not even get a call from any of the Packer coaches,” he recalls. 

When St. Norbert College upgraded their football facilities in 2010, it was an honor to see the new practice field named as a tribute to the first generation Kolstad coach, my grandfather, Howard “Chick” Kolstad. 

St. Norbert College football tributes

The second generation, John Kolstad, soon followed his footsteps.

My dad was born in 1957. Dad also was a tri-athlete during his high school years at Abbott Pennings. He attended St. Norbert College and competed in both track and field and played quarterback for the Green Knight’s and his father—my grandfather. John Kolstad graduated in 1975 and went on to coach football and track beginning at West De Pere High School, a public school just south of Green Bay, Wisconsin, as an assistant. He won five championships coaching alongside longtime friend Bill Turnquist. The school reached state playoffs in 1981 and 1983, loosing both times to the eventual state champions.

John won 110 of 184 games and was 89-49 in the former Fox River Valley Conference appearances. In nineteen years, my father experienced only four losing seasons and qualified for the WIAA playoffs ten times. His tenure included ending a 35-game winning streak for Manitowoc, Wisconsin’s high school, one of the conference teams.

My dad also had the honor of coaching an historic 100th match-up between Green Bay East and Green Bay West on Sept. 17, 2005. That game resulted in both Coach Kolstad and Green Bay West’s coach Chris Witteck jointly being named Green Bay Packers High School Coach(es) of the Week. Dad retired in 2006 after serving as the longest tenured coach in the school’s 110-year history. 

Both my grandfather and father were inducted into the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame; Howard “Chick” Kolstad in 1985 and John Kolstad in 2009.

My grandparents and dad.

Some pretty big shoes to fill.

The family business has now been passed down to the third generation. Both my older brother, Ben Kolstad and I coach football.

Like our father who was coached by his father, we played at Green Bay East High School during the years our father was coach. Ben and I were quarterbacks in addition to stepping into defensive roles.

Ben attended UW-River Falls seven years before I, where we both played for the Falcons. After graduating with a degree in Physical Education, Ben moved to North Carolina where his wife was pursuing post-graduate work.

Ben is currently head coach at Sanderson High School, a public school in Wake County, North Carolina.

I graduated from UW-River Falls in 2007 and joined Ben as Cary's defensive coordinator in 2009 following two years on the West De Pere staff. Ben gave me the defense and I basically took it and ran. During the three years I was with Cary, our defense ranked in the Top 10 in North Carolina and it was ranked No. 1 in 2010.

Between us, Ben and I have three sons and one daughter. Only time will tell what’s in store for the next generation.

Ben (right) and me in our pre-coaching days.

Why Yes, The World Does Need Another Football Blog.

Hi, I'm Andy Kolstad. 

I'm a mathematics teacher, a father and have been known to carry a tune. But the reason you are here is because we share a love of football. 

I’m a third generation Kolstad family football coach. I grew up with football. My grandfather, father and brother coach football. I coach football. I live football. 

I began my coaching career as a Defensive Backs coach at West De Pere High School in Wisconsin. We went 11W/1L and made it to the third round of the playoffs. In 2008, I moved to North Carolina, where I joined my brother Ben as the Defensive Coordinator for the Cary Imps. During the three years I was with Cary, our defense ranked in the Top 10 in North Carolina and it was ranked No. 1 in 2010.

After our daughter was born, my wife and I moved back to Wisconsin to be closer to the grandparents and the rest of our family. I am currently the Offensive Coordinator for the Wauwatosa West Trojans.

 “When you have great players, playing great, 

well that’s great football!”

– John Madden 

The core of this blog is as simple as a John Madden quote: What makes great football?

My goal is to answer that question through my philosophy, observations and the occasional spin on some fun facts. My hope is that this blog will both educate and entertain.

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