It has been almost 36 years since I walked off the football field for the last time. I was very much content with the body of work I did as a football player for the New York Football Giants. I only had one goal as I started my football career in 1976 out of South Carolina State University. That goal was to be mentioned in the same breath as some of the names I became familiar with when I arrived in the Giants locker room. Huff, Modzelewski, Robustelli, Tittle and Gifford were names that were synonymous with New York Giants football.
I left the game when I was ready to move on with my life. I had the opportunity to go to several teams when I left the game but I turned down offer after offer. I was content to leave the game and solely be recognized as a New York Giant. In 2006 I was elected and inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. That in and off itself is a huge honor but here comes another honor that is huge.
This year is the New York Football Giants 100th Anniversary in the National Football League. The Giants commissioned individuals from the sport who knows the history of the organization and have a sense of players who played for the team. Their mission was to select the best 100 players to ever play for the Giants since 1925. Their mission was also to select the top 10 players to ever play for the organization. The results were recently released and announced. I am happy to announce that out of the more than 5000 players to wear the New York Giants uniform I was named as a member of the “Top 10” Players to ever play football for the Giants.
I am honored to be in the company of all New York Giants players whether they were in the “Top 10”, “Top 100” or the remaining “Top 4900”. To be recognized and honored for what I did more than three decades ago is mind blowing! I know better than anyone else that me being recognized as one of the greatest players was not a “solo act”. I am the by-product of players I played with in high school, college and professionally. I am eternally grateful to my coaches like Willie Jeffries at South Carolina State University, Giants Coaches Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick. I especially owe much of my Giants and NFL success to Marty Schottenheimer who was the Giants Defensive Coordinator and Linebacker Coach.
It was Marty who chose me out of any other player in the 1976 NFL Draft as the second pick in the 4th Round. It was his idea and he put his faith in this player from a small school in South Carolina. It was on Marty’s shoulders to teach me that young football player how to play a position he had never played before that was considered (at that time) “a thinking man’s position” and of being the “inside run defender” and a leader of the New York Giants defense the team needed.
With this recognition during the 100th Anniversary of the Football Giants, I am humbled that my name will forever be mentioned in the same breath as so many other New York Giants…!
Harry Carson
