There is a name that resonates with American football fans across generations. When Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers meet in the Super Bowl on Sunday, the very prize on offer carries it. The Vince Lombardi Trophy. Lombardi was a five-time National Football League-winning coach, an icon of the game who is still celebrated half a century on from his death, as the NFL's 100th season comes to a close.

His legend speaks of a man who inspired players through fear, iron discipline, and confrontational coaching techniques. A leader who took a no-hope Green Bay Packers team and won five titles in seven years between 1961 and 1967. But beneath the steely exterior of his success are deeper achievements that carry Lombardi's legacy beyond sport, in battling discrimination, championing equality and breaking down racial barriers.