MILWAUKEE -- Up until Sunday afternoon, Russ Hutchison was a full-time husband, father, realtor and property manager in Topeka, Kansas, and a part-time actor.

By Sunday night, though, to hundreds of millions of people around the world, Hutchison had transformed into the living embodiment of Vince Lombardi, featured in an NFL-produced spot titled "As One," with the stated goal "to unite us with a comeback speech for the ages."

"I loved reading Lombardi and Bart Starr when I was a kid-- I grew up with those guys," Hutchison, a Kansas City Chiefs fan, told Spectrum News 1, "and I saw that Lombardi was a role that was coming up and I thought, "You know? I've got this gap in my teeth..."

Hutchison, who's had several smaller roles on stage and in movies through the years, including in 1995's Truman with Gary Sinise (Hutchison played a Secret Service agent), was able to land an audition.

"We went through the audition process, [a] :45 minute Zoom interview," Hutchison said, "and they said, "Okay, we'll let your agent know if we choose you,' and I said, "Oh-- you don't want to hear the monologue?" They're like, "What do you mean, what monologue?! And I was like, "What It Takes to be #1-- I loved that speech so much that I committed it to memory."

Sure enough, Hutchison landed the part and joined the production team in Milwaukee before Christmas to star in the spot. A Covid scare temporarily halted production after a photographer tested positive, so production moved temporarily to L.A., and returned right after Christmas for final shoots in Milwaukee, Fort Atkinson and Green Bay.

A snowstorm between Fort Atkinson and Green Bay almost delayed the last leg of his journey, but Hutchison said he had to plow through to make it to Lambeau as if Lombardi himself was willing him to get there through the storm.

"I got there and saw Titletown and Lambeau Field," Hutchison said. "I knew I did the right thing."

While preparing to play the legendary Hall of Fame Packers head coach, Hutchison learned that he and Lombardi, who died in 1970 at the age of 57, had far more in common than Hutchison realized.

"Come to find out that he went to the seminary," Hutchison said. "He was going to be a priest but backed out because he liked girls and football too much-- so did I when I was younger. We were both Catholic. His older brother Harold was gay and my older brother is gay and his name's Vince!"

After in-person production wrapped (Hutchison got to wear Lombardi's actual Super Bowl ring from the first Super Bowl-- "Perfect fit!"), after-effects crews added some CGI and audio enhancements to get Hutchison as close to Lombardi as possible.

While the NFL began to release short promotional trailers last week, Hutchison said he didn't get to see the finished product until it aired in its entirety right before the Super Bowl.

"I kind of welled up a bit because the message is so powerful," Hutchison said. "It was an emotional time knowing that I was that guy delivering that-- it was gratifying and humbling at the same time."

The father of three had his family on hand to see the spot together and then his phone started to buzz.

A lot.

"My phone blew up," Hutchison laughed. "I had 400 or 500 likes on Facebook."

Since the NFL posted the piece to YouTube, it's racked up more than 1.2 million views in less than 24 hours.

Hutchison said that's a testament to Lombardi's life lessons, which are as relevent today as when he'd delivered them to his teams and his community decades ago.

"He was a hard guy-- "What the hell is going on out there?!"" Hutchison said, "His players loved him and they hated him at the same time, but later in life... One of his main messages that I got out of the research was that nobody's perfect, but we don't have to be perfect, but as we strive for perfection, we can attain excellence and that's the #1 thing I get from Lombardi."

See the entire spot by clicking here.