My grandfather started the Vince Lombardi Football Conference in Wisconsin in the 70's but shut it down after 2 years because he found the Treasurer was stealing money. Rather then go public w/ it and has a black eye on the Lombardi name he decided to shut it down. Now over 25,000 football teams that started in the V.L.C. is active in the state of Wisconsin.

"Joe" wrote:

In the 1970s, Arrigo was involved in the creation of the Vince Lombardi Football Conference for Boys.

"Marie Lombardi, Lombardi's widow, gave him written permission to use the name for the youth football program," Joe said. When money was mishandled by someone with the group, Arrigo stopped the use of Lombardi's name out of respect for the coach, according to his grandson. Thousands of youngsters have participated in teams born from the conference.

"JSonline" wrote:

+1 Joe !


Great to have the interview back, too!

"dfosterf" wrote:

+1 Joe !


Great to have the interview back, too!

"dfosterf" wrote:

Arrigo made Little League field of dreams come true

By Amy Rabideau Silvers of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: Nov. 14, 2008

Joe Arrigo remembered being told that his vision for a Little League ballpark on Milwaukee's northwest side was nothing but a pipe dream.

"My reply was that they were half right, that it is a dream, and it will always be my field of dreams," Arrigo wrote years later in a history for the Milwaukee Northwest Little League.

The dream came true in 1965. After repeated rejections, Arrigo finally won permission for the park to be developed near Timmerman Field, on vacant land owned by Milwaukee County. Arrigo got the approval of the County Board with the help of other volunteers and business leaders.

Then the Little League volunteers built it, and the kids kept coming.

Joseph W. Arrigo died of natural causes Nov. 4. He was 83.

Arrigo grew up on New York's east side, an Italian boy in an Irish neighborhood. Early on, he took up boxing, and he earned a state Golden Gloves title.

"The man who became Rocky Marciano's manager came to their tenement and wanted to sign him to a contract to turn pro when he turned 18," said Joe Arrigo, his grandson and namesake. "My great-grandmother chased him out of the kitchen with a broom because, a month earlier, his cousin had died of a brain aneurysm in the boxing ring."

Instead, he managed to enlist in the U.S. Navy at 16 1/2 - after he was twice caught lying about his age. He served from 1942 through World War II and during the Korean War and planned to make the Navy his career. After nearly 10 years, he received a medical discharge for lung problems.

He ended up visiting Navy buddies in Milwaukee and decided to stay. Arrigo also found his wife; he married the former Carol Lehor in 1954. He worked as a mechanic and then for Miller Brewing before taking a job in California.

There he managed his son's Little League team. Back in Milwaukee, he heard about a neighborhood program being run by a few volunteer dads with used equipment and homemade bases.

Arrigo became one of the "Founding Fathers" of the Milwaukee Northwest Little League, involved at every level of the organization, including as president.

"He started leagues up north and in Burlington and all over the state," said his wife. "He was state chairman for Little League."

The couple later moved back to California to be near family, but returned in 2004.

"He loved Little League, and he loved all children," his grandson said. "He coached me for a long time until I played high school. He never yelled. He didn't yell at the kids. He would pull a kid aside and talk to him."

"It's just a game," Arrigo would tell the players.

In the 1970s, Arrigo was involved in the creation of the Vince Lombardi Football Conference for Boys.

"Marie Lombardi, Lombardi's widow, gave him written permission to use the name for the youth football program," Joe said. When money was mishandled by someone with the group, Arrigo stopped the use of Lombardi's name out of respect for the coach, according to his grandson. Thousands of youngsters have participated in teams born from the conference.