E-GIANTS
Dave Klein was the Giants' beat writer
for The Star-Ledger from 1961 to 1995.
He is the author of 26 books and he is one of
only five sportswriters to have covered all the Super Bowls.
Dave has allowed TEAM GIANTS to reprint some of his articles.

By DAVE KLEIN
One of the suggestions stemming from the recent request for ideas to incorporate into the E-GIANTS format concerned an occasional step back in time to explain how it was in the 1960s and 1970s, when the Giants were far closer to the public and their fans.

Now, of course, you get charged for autographs. You have to pay an admission fee at the door for those "Nostalgia" reunions. The players are aloof, for the most part, and disappear as soon as the game is over.

Again, for the most part; some are still gracious and available, but not many, not like it once was.

Listen to John F., one of the "older" E-GIANTS subscribers, remembering how it was after games in Yankee Stadium.

"A bunch of us," he remembers, "would run into midtown after the game to rub shoulders with the players and coaches, usually at Kenny's Steak Pub [or Mike Manuche's, or P.J. Clarke's, or the Spindletop]. You might be at the bar just talking like guys do with Erich Barnes or Sam Huff. I used to go to so many places where Sam was signing autographs that one time he recognized me and asked me for my autograph. If there was a lull, I got to talk to him one on one."

"I remember going to a bank on 48th Street [in midtown Manhattan] where Y.A. Tittle was signing autographs. I went late, so that everyone had to go back to work after their lunch hour. I had a chance to talk to Y.A. for 15 minutes one on one."

"At Kenny's at least two or three times a season, if there was an empty chair at one of the tables where the players were sitting, I would walk over and ask if I could join them, and it never failed, I was told to 'sit right down' -- especially after a win."

"How about the game [against Dallas, I think] when Tittle had already thrown a bunch of touchdown passes and the Giants were ahead by a million points. SO they brought in Ralph Guglielmi to replace him, and on the first play he got hurt. Tittle came right back in, and on the next play he throws another touchdown. It was Tittle to [Alex] Webster, 14 to 29. See? I still remember the numbers."

"I have subscribed to E-GIANTS for six years now, and I always look forward to your transmissions. It’s like having another old timer right here in my den with me."

Aside: I think that's a compliment.

I can remember a game against the Steelers, in 1961. In those years, the media, almost exclusively newspapers, were allowed in the locker rooms before the game as well as after (try to get Tom Coughlin to do that now). So there we were in Pittsburgh, in old Pitt Stadium, and the big story that week was the announcement by head coach Buddy Parker that John Henry Johnson, the team's best running back, and one of the NFL's best as well, was not going to play.

He was not injured and he was not on suspension. He just wasn't going to play.

SO we trooped into the locker room and there was Parker, standing in the middle of all the players and lockers and benches. John Henry was about five feet away.

"Coach, why isn't John Henry going to play today?" someone asked.

Parker looked right at the player, and not the questioner(s), and said: "Because that lazy [deleted] won't block and until he does he is not going to touch a football." Johnson stared at him long and hard, and if looks could kill, Buddy would have met his end a lot sooner than he finally did.

So, armed with this ammunition, we trooped back to the Giants' locker room, where Allie Sherman was pacing amongst his players. "Coach, Buddy Parker says he isn’t going to play John Henry because he won't block," we tattled.

Sherman smiled. "I don't remember Paul Brown telling Jim Brown he had to block. Damn, I wish he would."

And from a corner of the room came this, from defensive back Jimmy Patton: "Hey, one of you guys go back and tell Parker that John Henry is the worst blocker we ever saw and we’d never let him play again."

One more Buddy Parker story, told during those years by his wife.

"You know, Buddy is a very religious man, and when we moved to Pittsburgh he had a little room in the attic turned into a sanctuary," she said, and I apologize for not remembering that lovely lady's name. "He'd go up there by himself every morning, especially on game mornings. So one day, when we were getting ready to play the Giants, I tip-toed up and heard him praying, and I swear these were his exact words:

"'Lord, we are playing today. It's against the Giants. I pray that nobody gets hurt out there today, God, and that we all get back to our homes and families when the game is over. And God? Just for once, do You think we could beat those damned Giants? Just once?'"

Staying with Pittsburgh, just once more. The team used to allow the press to fly back from a game on their chartered plane, so leaving Iron City one day, the four-engine prop plane began to experience trouble. Suddenly one engine shut off and another began gushing oil.

We turned around and the pilot announced we were heading back to Pittsburgh, and added this: "I am pretty sure we'll make it."

Pretty sure? Well, it landed safely, and team president Wellington Mara, who had been upset because the Giants had lost the game, looked around and said: "I can't feel too bad. We won the big one."

Check out Dave's website at E-GIANTS where you can subscribe to his newsletters which run much more frequently than what is available here.
- Team Giants

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