Early Life
Lombardi grew up in Ludlow, Massachusetts. During the 1974-75 season, as a junior at Ludlow High School, he was an All-Western Massachusetts forward. The next season (1975–76), as a senior, Lombardi was a member of the Wallace Cup champion Springfield Olympics of the New England Junior Hockey League, where he played for top talent developer Gary Dineen. Lombardi then played two more seasons for Dineen, and was selected to the All-America Junior hockey team. During his college freshman year he played hockey at Division 2 power Elmira College, before transferring to the University of New Haven, where he was selected the scholar/athlete his senior year, and served as captain his junior and senior years. Lombardi graduated third in his class.
Lombardi later attended law school at Tulane University, graduating with honors and specializing in labor law. He initially became a player's agent under the tutelage of famed agent Art Kaminsky, building a stable of players, including some members of the 1988 United States Men's Olympic Hockey team. Eventually, Lombardi crossed over into management as assistant general manager to Jack Ferreira with the Minnesota North Stars from 1988–1990, then moved with Ferreira to the expansion San Jose Sharks. Lombardi was appointed general manager of the Sharks in 1996. He is the son-in-law of Hockey Hall of Fame winger Bob Pulford, also a longtime NHL general manager and coach-of-the-year in 1974-75 for the team his son-in-law now manages, the Los Angeles Kings.
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Famous quotes related to early life:
“... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)