July 8, 2022 • 10 mins
Wayne Larivee sits down with former Green Bay Packers linebacker Frank Zombo to highlight his three years in Green Bay starting as an undrafted free agent (0:59), which included a sack in Super Bowl XLV (6:04), and support from Hall of Fame-caliber coaches (7:26).
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
For more than a century, the Green Bay Packers have
been a benchmark for football excellence. Thousands of players have
helped pave the way, and we're here to tell you
their stories. I'm Wayne Laravy. This is the Packers alumni
spot wife. When Frank Zambo went undrafted out of Central Michigan,
(00:29):
not much was expected of this unheralded rookie when he
signed with the Green Bay Packers, but all he knew
was winning on the high school and collegiate levels that
prepared him for early success in the NFL. I've been
fortunate to be a part of some like I've talked
to people recently about some great success right, great coaches
Brian Kelly but Jones were my college coaches, and then
(00:50):
Mike McCarthy Andy Reid in the professional level. So um,
never been a part of a losing season in in
my career. I've been lucky to be a part of
some good successful teams. Mind is a free agent? Um,
you know, did you expect to get drafted out of college?
Were you a little disappointed we weren't, or what was
to take us back to when you were a rookie? Yeah?
(01:10):
So obviously you always hope to get drafted. Um. When
I didn't get selected, I was, you know, I was
My head was so spinning during that time. UM, My
agent said, hey, we're gonna be You're gonna being undrafted
free agent to the Packers. About ten minutes later, I
got a call from Kevin Green. And at that point
I really didn't follow football that so I didn't know
a lot about Kevin Green. But instantly I learned about
his intensity on the phone. You know, he was like,
(01:31):
you already played with all your heart, desire, passion, drive more,
you know all this, and still my head was still
you know, spinning, like out of control. Um. And then
coming to Green Bay, Um, I was just hoping at
that point, you know, hopefully I get you know, make
the practice squad. At that point, you know, I knew
us um behind the eight ball, and I was gonna
be a struggle, you know, be a part of this roster,
especially when the Super Bowl winning caliber roster that we
(01:52):
had that year. But you know, it was quite the
journey to get to that point when you got to camp.
I mean that that team had come off at disappointing
loss the year before in the playoffs to the Cardinals,
but that was one of the favorite teams going into
the season, wasn't it the Packers? You the team you
joined in the summer of two, right, and then there
was a stacked linebacker you know, at that point, you're
just hoping to make the team and there's a bunch
(02:13):
of good linebackers on the roster already. Um, you know,
at that point, I think I got I was fortunate.
I was fortunate that I was giving an opportunity. You know,
some guys had gotten banged up. Um, I was given
an opportunity to show, you know, put a few reps
out there, and then I was able to take advantage
of those reps and um, you know, kind of make
the team eventually. You know, it's amazing that season, Frank,
if you stayed healthy, you were probably a starter on
(02:37):
that team. With all the injuries you guys add at midseason,
tell me about that. How did that group overcome all
of that? Talking about just like the injuries we took
during that whole season, And yeah, I mean I think
what was there was like sixteen guys that one and
I are that you're you know guys that were starting,
um at some point. So then you had a bunch
of guys kind of hot off the streets, so they
I remember saying, UM that kind of came in maybe
there hungry. You know, they're backs up against the wall
(03:00):
all and UM had really had nothing to lose when
they were playing was whatever it was. You know, it
helps having an Aaron Rodgers that still had all of
his stud wide receivers, you know, playing well. But we
also had a great defense that year too, with a
lot of guys that UM again weren't during on the roster,
during training camp or early in the season. That just
kind of, you know, good coaching I guess you can
credit through two is just putting guys in the right positions.
And tell me about your coach, UM, Kevin Green. You
(03:23):
talked about him on the phone, uh when you got
here Kevin Green? In person? What was it like to
work under him? Yeah, I mean I was a guy
that came out of college where I wasn't the most
athletic guy in the world, But I think I was
fortunate to have a guy like Kevin Green kind of
teaching me the way right off the bat. Obviously he's
way more athletically gifted than I was, but he kind
of had that same like you just gotta play with
(03:44):
what's in here, and that was kind of what I adopted.
And just like you know life, that football the game
like one on one battles and you can't lose that
one on one battle, right, So it was like, um,
physicality and the heart and those are things I took
from Kevin Green. I think that's what allowed me to
have a nine year career. Name learned from a guy
that was a Hall of Fame outside linebacker, and I
learned from him the start of my career was what
(04:04):
made me. I think, play nine years and play three
years here and um, and it is fortunate to have
him be my coach. You were in a linebacking corps
with a young Clay Matthews. Tell me about that he
was kind of a wild guy. Yeah, Clay was, Uh.
I mean what you really saw on the field is
what you know, how he came about. You know, he's
very intense, whether it was you know, his off the
(04:25):
field schedule of how he would get a massage or
how he'd work out or how he'd eat. You know,
he's a very regimented human being. And uh, obviously a
great player to play with, a great guy in the
locker room, and um, I think you know, everyone in
the NFL is talent level, so even but when you
get a group of guys, that's a great locker room.
And that's what I felt like we had and I
was fortunate to be around that my whole career. But
(04:45):
you have a great locker room. I think that's what
separates you know, the the Packers, the Chiefs, the New
England Patriots from some of those bottom tier teams every year.
That's interesting because you're not talking about xs and os.
You're talking about, UM, how people come together and sometimes
it happens, sometimes it doesn't. Is there an ingredient you
(05:06):
can pick out, Frank that looking back that this is
why we were successful, This is why we came together.
Because you're talking about a team that won the Super Bowl,
sixteen players on the injured reserves, so you had a
lot of turnover over the course of the season. How
did you guys come together? I mean, I think it's
in is that locker room. It's guys like your leaders,
like Aaron Rodgers or your you know, Clay Matthews or um,
(05:27):
some of those guys in the locker room that can
keep everyone together. And Charles Woodson there and here in
that time. But you know, I think when somebody makes
a play at that level and people are on the
sideline are generally happy for that that person making that player,
and generally just happy to be around each other and
happy to get in the locker room after a victory
and celebrate together. Those are when you have like those
special even like in the locker room you're playing you know,
(05:48):
whether you're playing board games like what we did, or
you're playing basketball like I did. Other places, you know,
like when you have that group of guys that are
just friends in the locker room and they are generally
happy for each other when they make players, I think
that's just like something different that I was lucky to
be around my whole career. But I don't know how
it is in other places. But I'm thinking that's what
separated us from other teams. But I could be wrong,
But one of my memories of you is Super Bowl
(06:09):
forty five. You made the first sack of the game.
I believe the next Super Bowl. Could you have ever
imagined that in your rookie year, undrafted, you come into
a team and you get to the Super Bowl and
you make a sack that started off, think about that.
First off, No, Um, it was a pretty surreal first
year of football in the NFL to be a part
(06:31):
of that team and then the uh, you know, be
a part of success. And again I think I credited
to you know, Kevin Green of just teaching me the way,
the right way to play the game, especially for some
of my my skill that I don't want to downplay myself,
but I wasn't the most athletic in the world, but
I played with a certain type of harder tenacity or
physicality that um allowed me to play at that level.
And and yeah, I'm just studying the playbook and being
(06:53):
in the right place at the right time and having
players and coaches being able to count on me to
do the right things, um when they call the play right.
I think that just goes a long way. So it
was the Super Bowl? Is the Super Bowl your role
in it? Uh? The high point of your career? Yeah,
I mean a high point in my football career. First,
without question, I mean that was and I don't know
(07:14):
if it gets any better, right, going to the Super Bowl.
I played every defensive rep of that game and I
had a sack. Right, So I don't think there is
any I've had some really good game you know, being
a part of good teams, great team. Yeah, but at
that point there's nothing better. Let me ask you about
Andy Reid because he was a quarterbacks coach here in
Green Day for many years, very fondly remembered. Went out
to Philadelphia, You ran into him in Kansas City. Tell
(07:35):
me about coach read and what you noticed about him,
what set him apart? Yeah, I mean, I think the
respect the players have for him. When he puts out
a rule, a game plan, there's no question what he
puts out right, everyone abides and everyone's on board with
what he's got going. Um. But again he's he's very strict.
Training camps are very hard. They're just like they were
(07:56):
in Green Bay. You know. I remember guys coming into
our training camps from elsewhere and being like, like this
is out of control, Like how you guys? You know.
So he was very hard on us, but then it
was able to you know, let off the gas a
little bit certain times of the season when you're kind
of a little banged up or your little sore. Um,
he just knew how to play it, you know, the
exact right way to get enough out of you. But
then to let off a little bit too, and yeah,
(08:17):
and then we just trusted him that he was gonna
put us in the right positions to win games. It's funny.
Sonny Jurgensen once told his story. H Vince Lombardi left
Green Bay, went to Washington for one year, was their coach,
and Sonny says, you know, we ran the same place.
But when Vince Lombardi told us to run the play
this way, nobody questioned it, and we ran it and
(08:37):
it worked. Great coaches do that, don't right, You trust
them right, and you know he's been through the ringer.
He's been through it. She has the experience. So when
he says something, you believe it and you do it.
Tell me about your time in Green Bay as you
look back on it, Um, and you played you know elsewhere,
But tell me about Green Bay. What stands out to
you about playing here? The Midwest field, the people, not
(09:00):
even just in the locker room. Obviously I was around
great people in the locker room, but then people outside
that I've met that even I just cut in for
four days, I'm meeting with like eight not meeting with people,
but visiting with like eight different families that UM, I
had close relationships when I played here, and I've stayed
in close contact with great people around this area that
you know. I'm from the Midwest, being from Michigan, and uh,
(09:22):
I was just so fortunate to play college football in Michigan.
For me, of what I like, my interests, living Green
Bay and then live in Kansas City, all very similar cities,
um and very similar people Midwest Field. You know, I
like to hunt and fish and be outside, so these
are just great places for me to live. I've never
been a big city guy, so I can't imagine what
traffic would be like in a big city or anything
like that. So it's just I was very fortunate play
(09:43):
in these those two places. Game day in Green Bay
in Kansas City. It's hard to beat, isn't it. Again?
I don't I don't think I could play that Lombardi.
I mean, Lambe Field is the upper as line. There's
no competing with Lambe Field. But to play at those
two places, you know, Lambe Field and then a Ahead again,
I couldn't have played two better atmospheres today. Frank Sambo
(10:05):
is Director of Enterprise Solutions at Mercury Healthcare in Michigan.
You know, he only played three seasons in Green Bay,
but his role in super Bowl forty five will endear
him to Packers fans for generations to come.
For more than a century, the Green Bay Packers have
been a benchmark for football excellence. Thousands of players have
helped pave the way, and we're here to tell you
their stories. I'm Wayne Laravy. This is the Packers alumni
spot wife. When Frank Zambo went undrafted out of Central Michigan,
(00:29):
not much was expected of this unheralded rookie when he
signed with the Green Bay Packers, but all he knew
was winning on the high school and collegiate levels that
prepared him for early success in the NFL. I've been
fortunate to be a part of some like I've talked
to people recently about some great success right, great coaches
Brian Kelly but Jones were my college coaches, and then
(00:50):
Mike McCarthy Andy Reid in the professional level. So um,
never been a part of a losing season in in
my career. I've been lucky to be a part of
some good successful teams. Mind is a free agent? Um,
you know, did you expect to get drafted out of college?
Were you a little disappointed we weren't, or what was
to take us back to when you were a rookie? Yeah?
(01:10):
So obviously you always hope to get drafted. Um. When
I didn't get selected, I was, you know, I was
My head was so spinning during that time. UM, My
agent said, hey, we're gonna be You're gonna being undrafted
free agent to the Packers. About ten minutes later, I
got a call from Kevin Green. And at that point
I really didn't follow football that so I didn't know
a lot about Kevin Green. But instantly I learned about
his intensity on the phone. You know, he was like,
(01:31):
you already played with all your heart, desire, passion, drive more,
you know all this, and still my head was still
you know, spinning, like out of control. Um. And then
coming to Green Bay, Um, I was just hoping at
that point, you know, hopefully I get you know, make
the practice squad. At that point, you know, I knew
us um behind the eight ball, and I was gonna
be a struggle, you know, be a part of this roster,
especially when the Super Bowl winning caliber roster that we
(01:52):
had that year. But you know, it was quite the
journey to get to that point when you got to camp.
I mean that that team had come off at disappointing
loss the year before in the playoffs to the Cardinals,
but that was one of the favorite teams going into
the season, wasn't it the Packers? You the team you
joined in the summer of two, right, and then there
was a stacked linebacker you know, at that point, you're
just hoping to make the team and there's a bunch
(02:13):
of good linebackers on the roster already. Um, you know,
at that point, I think I got I was fortunate.
I was fortunate that I was giving an opportunity. You know,
some guys had gotten banged up. Um, I was given
an opportunity to show, you know, put a few reps
out there, and then I was able to take advantage
of those reps and um, you know, kind of make
the team eventually. You know, it's amazing that season, Frank,
if you stayed healthy, you were probably a starter on
(02:37):
that team. With all the injuries you guys add at midseason,
tell me about that. How did that group overcome all
of that? Talking about just like the injuries we took
during that whole season, And yeah, I mean I think
what was there was like sixteen guys that one and
I are that you're you know guys that were starting,
um at some point. So then you had a bunch
of guys kind of hot off the streets, so they
I remember saying, UM that kind of came in maybe
there hungry. You know, they're backs up against the wall
(03:00):
all and UM had really had nothing to lose when
they were playing was whatever it was. You know, it
helps having an Aaron Rodgers that still had all of
his stud wide receivers, you know, playing well. But we
also had a great defense that year too, with a
lot of guys that UM again weren't during on the roster,
during training camp or early in the season. That just
kind of, you know, good coaching I guess you can
credit through two is just putting guys in the right positions.
And tell me about your coach, UM, Kevin Green. You
(03:23):
talked about him on the phone, uh when you got
here Kevin Green? In person? What was it like to
work under him? Yeah, I mean I was a guy
that came out of college where I wasn't the most
athletic guy in the world, But I think I was
fortunate to have a guy like Kevin Green kind of
teaching me the way right off the bat. Obviously he's
way more athletically gifted than I was, but he kind
of had that same like you just gotta play with
(03:44):
what's in here, and that was kind of what I adopted.
And just like you know life, that football the game
like one on one battles and you can't lose that
one on one battle, right, So it was like, um,
physicality and the heart and those are things I took
from Kevin Green. I think that's what allowed me to
have a nine year career. Name learned from a guy
that was a Hall of Fame outside linebacker, and I
learned from him the start of my career was what
(04:04):
made me. I think, play nine years and play three
years here and um, and it is fortunate to have
him be my coach. You were in a linebacking corps
with a young Clay Matthews. Tell me about that he
was kind of a wild guy. Yeah, Clay was, Uh.
I mean what you really saw on the field is
what you know, how he came about. You know, he's
very intense, whether it was you know, his off the
(04:25):
field schedule of how he would get a massage or
how he'd work out or how he'd eat. You know,
he's a very regimented human being. And uh, obviously a
great player to play with, a great guy in the
locker room, and um, I think you know, everyone in
the NFL is talent level, so even but when you
get a group of guys, that's a great locker room.
And that's what I felt like we had and I
was fortunate to be around that my whole career. But
(04:45):
you have a great locker room. I think that's what
separates you know, the the Packers, the Chiefs, the New
England Patriots from some of those bottom tier teams every year.
That's interesting because you're not talking about xs and os.
You're talking about, UM, how people come together and sometimes
it happens, sometimes it doesn't. Is there an ingredient you
(05:06):
can pick out, Frank that looking back that this is
why we were successful, This is why we came together.
Because you're talking about a team that won the Super Bowl,
sixteen players on the injured reserves, so you had a
lot of turnover over the course of the season. How
did you guys come together? I mean, I think it's
in is that locker room. It's guys like your leaders,
like Aaron Rodgers or your you know, Clay Matthews or um,
(05:27):
some of those guys in the locker room that can
keep everyone together. And Charles Woodson there and here in
that time. But you know, I think when somebody makes
a play at that level and people are on the
sideline are generally happy for that that person making that player,
and generally just happy to be around each other and
happy to get in the locker room after a victory
and celebrate together. Those are when you have like those
special even like in the locker room you're playing you know,
(05:48):
whether you're playing board games like what we did, or
you're playing basketball like I did. Other places, you know,
like when you have that group of guys that are
just friends in the locker room and they are generally
happy for each other when they make players, I think
that's just like something different that I was lucky to
be around my whole career. But I don't know how
it is in other places. But I'm thinking that's what
separated us from other teams. But I could be wrong,
But one of my memories of you is Super Bowl
(06:09):
forty five. You made the first sack of the game.
I believe the next Super Bowl. Could you have ever
imagined that in your rookie year, undrafted, you come into
a team and you get to the Super Bowl and
you make a sack that started off, think about that.
First off, No, Um, it was a pretty surreal first
year of football in the NFL to be a part
(06:31):
of that team and then the uh, you know, be
a part of success. And again I think I credited
to you know, Kevin Green of just teaching me the way,
the right way to play the game, especially for some
of my my skill that I don't want to downplay myself,
but I wasn't the most athletic in the world, but
I played with a certain type of harder tenacity or
physicality that um allowed me to play at that level.
And and yeah, I'm just studying the playbook and being
(06:53):
in the right place at the right time and having
players and coaches being able to count on me to
do the right things, um when they call the play right.
I think that just goes a long way. So it
was the Super Bowl? Is the Super Bowl your role
in it? Uh? The high point of your career? Yeah,
I mean a high point in my football career. First,
without question, I mean that was and I don't know
(07:14):
if it gets any better, right, going to the Super Bowl.
I played every defensive rep of that game and I
had a sack. Right, So I don't think there is
any I've had some really good game you know, being
a part of good teams, great team. Yeah, but at
that point there's nothing better. Let me ask you about
Andy Reid because he was a quarterbacks coach here in
Green Day for many years, very fondly remembered. Went out
to Philadelphia, You ran into him in Kansas City. Tell
(07:35):
me about coach read and what you noticed about him,
what set him apart? Yeah, I mean, I think the
respect the players have for him. When he puts out
a rule, a game plan, there's no question what he
puts out right, everyone abides and everyone's on board with
what he's got going. Um. But again he's he's very strict.
Training camps are very hard. They're just like they were
(07:56):
in Green Bay. You know. I remember guys coming into
our training camps from elsewhere and being like, like this
is out of control, Like how you guys? You know.
So he was very hard on us, but then it
was able to you know, let off the gas a
little bit certain times of the season when you're kind
of a little banged up or your little sore. Um,
he just knew how to play it, you know, the
exact right way to get enough out of you. But
then to let off a little bit too, and yeah,
(08:17):
and then we just trusted him that he was gonna
put us in the right positions to win games. It's funny.
Sonny Jurgensen once told his story. H Vince Lombardi left
Green Bay, went to Washington for one year, was their coach,
and Sonny says, you know, we ran the same place.
But when Vince Lombardi told us to run the play
this way, nobody questioned it, and we ran it and
(08:37):
it worked. Great coaches do that, don't right, You trust
them right, and you know he's been through the ringer.
He's been through it. She has the experience. So when
he says something, you believe it and you do it.
Tell me about your time in Green Bay as you
look back on it, Um, and you played you know elsewhere,
But tell me about Green Bay. What stands out to
you about playing here? The Midwest field, the people, not
(09:00):
even just in the locker room. Obviously I was around
great people in the locker room, but then people outside
that I've met that even I just cut in for
four days, I'm meeting with like eight not meeting with people,
but visiting with like eight different families that UM, I
had close relationships when I played here, and I've stayed
in close contact with great people around this area that
you know. I'm from the Midwest, being from Michigan, and uh,
(09:22):
I was just so fortunate to play college football in Michigan.
For me, of what I like, my interests, living Green
Bay and then live in Kansas City, all very similar cities,
um and very similar people Midwest Field. You know, I
like to hunt and fish and be outside, so these
are just great places for me to live. I've never
been a big city guy, so I can't imagine what
traffic would be like in a big city or anything
like that. So it's just I was very fortunate play
(09:43):
in these those two places. Game day in Green Bay
in Kansas City. It's hard to beat, isn't it. Again?
I don't I don't think I could play that Lombardi.
I mean, Lambe Field is the upper as line. There's
no competing with Lambe Field. But to play at those
two places, you know, Lambe Field and then a Ahead again,
I couldn't have played two better atmospheres today. Frank Sambo
(10:05):
is Director of Enterprise Solutions at Mercury Healthcare in Michigan.
You know, he only played three seasons in Green Bay,
but his role in super Bowl forty five will endear
him to Packers fans for generations to come.
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