At the age of 23, he was hired by Packers head coach Gene Ronzani to lead the team's player personnel department.

[3] The family was so ingrained in the Bears organization that a group of players came over to the Vainisi house every year for a home-cooked Italian meal by Marie.

[1] In high school, Vainisi was an accomplished lineman on the football team and was offered an athletic scholarship to Notre Dame.

[5] With some help from his family connections with the Chicago Bears, Vainisi was able to get a job with the Green Bay Packers shortly after graduating from Notre Dame.

[5] Most team owners or head coaches would make player personnel decisions and would rely heavily on the media for scouting reports.

[6] Vainisi quickly developed a large network of college coaches that would provide him scouting reports on football players.

[8] Although the Packers' general manager retained the ultimate authority to draft and acquire players, Vainisi's reports and opinions were almost always followed.

[7] Over his ten-year career, Vainisi scouted and recommended drafting or acquiring eight future Pro Football Hall of Famers.

[3][9][10] The Packers 1958 NFL draft class is considered one of the best in history, as it included three Hall of Famers (Jim Taylor, Ray Nitschke, and Jerry Kramer) and one all-pro (Dan Currie).

[6][7][11] Not only did Vainisi acquire eight future Pro Football Hall of Famers and many more core players, he was the primary reason that Lombardi took the head coaching job in Green Bay in 1959.