hopefully Ringo wont mind that I jump ahead with a article or two about Vainisi.
I had a few articles about Jack book marked, but they wont even open any more, discontinued like so much about Vainisi, imo his early death wipes out his name recognition and just acclaim, imho Jack Vainisi was on Par with the best GM's ever, it's a blight against our FO of that era for not giving him that title.
I was able to find this one though, it's not that long so I'll just post it.
Vince Lombardi rightly gets the lion's share of credit for the Green Bay Packers' unbelievable run of five championships in seven seasons in the 1960s. But if the National Football League had any sense of history, it would name its annual draft day television extravaganza "The Jack Vainisi Show," in honor of the man whose remarkable draft day wisdom put in place the great players who Lombardi used to win championships.
Vainisi, according to many writers of league history as well as former players, is perhaps the one man who turned a draft day comedy into serious examination of players' potential. Vainis began his career at age 23, but then died a tragically young death 10 years later just as the hapless Packers had turned the corner and were on the verge of winning championships.
His story is one of meeting life's unexpected challenges as opportunities, and of beating the opposition with preparation. His legacy is written in both the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame, of which he is a member, and of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, where 11 men he brought to Green Bay are enshrined as members.
All this from a guy who grew up with the Chicago Bears, but ran a series of drafts for Green Bay which are still considered among the best in history, stocking the team with the talent Lombardi would use. Although Vainisi never carried the title of general manager in his 10-year stint in Green Bay (from 1951 to 1960), that is what he really was. He was officially known as the scouting director, the personnel director, the business operations director and the chief contract negotiator.
Perhaps his best draft during his tenure was in 1958, when his first pick was Dan Currie, a Michigan State linebacker who went on to have a stellar career in Green Bay. In the second round Vainisi took Jim Taylor, the powerhouse fullback from Louisiana State who would become a Hall of Famer. The Packers had two picks in the third round and with the first they took Dick Christy, a back from North Carolina State who never played for the Pack. But the next pick came with a choice obtained from the New York Giants in a trade which sent defensive end John Martinkovic to the Giants. That pick was used to select Ray Nitschke, the middle linebacker from Illinois who would anchor Lombardi's defenses and who is also in the Hall of Fame. With the fourth round pick, the Packers chose Jerry Kramer, the Idaho guard who many think should be enshrined in Canton, even though he is not.
Vainisi, little remembered by Packers fans, was raised on the northside of Chicago, in close proximity to many of the Chicago Bears players of the late '30s and early '40s. Vainisi's father, Tony, ran a grocery and delicatessen across the street from the Sheraton Plaza Hotel where several of the Bears made their homes during the season. The football players tended to hang out at Tony's, and Jack got to know most of them, including Gene Ronzani, then of the Bears, later coach of the Packers.
Vainisi's Bears connection went deeper, however. He attended school and played football with Mugsy Halas, the son of Bears owner, coach and autocrat George S. Halas. As a high school senior, Vainisi was selected as an All City lineman, playing for St. George High School, and was givn a scholarship to Notre Dame by Hugh Deven
Vainisi was good enough to start as a freshman at Notre Dame, but after that season was drafted into the Army and sent to post-war Japan, where he played football on a service team while working at the headquarters of Gen. Douglas MacArthur.
Vainisi became ill during his tour of duty in Japan, and was diagnosed, mistakenly as it turned out, with scarlet fever. Vainisi had been suffering from the far more serious rheumatic fever and the disease and his continued football career had caused serious and permanent damage to his heart.
Although he could no longer play football, Vainisi returned to Notre Dame after his recuperation and continued his studies, along with his association with Gene Ronzani, who was an assistant coach.
Ronzani once told Vainisi that if ever landed a head coaching job in the National Football League, he would hire Vainisi, according to John Torinus, the longtime Packers executive committee member and newspaper editor in Green Bay and Appleton.
Torinus, like other authors such as David Maraniss in his biography of Lombardi and Eddie Epstien in his book on the Bears, give credit to Vainisi for stocking Lombardi's teams with the players needed for success. Writing in his 1982 book "The Packer Legend," Torinus notes that Vainisi was back-packing through Europe after his college graduation when he got word from Ronzani, who had been hired to coach the Packers, that he wanted Vainisi on his staff at Green Bay.
https://madison.com/sports/jack-vainisi ... 62d21.html