(upbeat music) - Hi everyone, Steve Adubato.

You do not have to be a New York and New Jersey Giant fan to appreciate yes, they play in the Meadowlands.

But they are the New York Giants, and we have someone who knows more about the Giants, more about football, more about sports than most people you know.

He is Gary Myers.

He's author of this book, "Once A Giant: A Story of Victory, Tragedy, and Life After Football."

Gary, in fact, has worked with New York Daily News, HBO Sports, seven books on sports.

Good to see you my friend.

How you doing, Gary?

- I'm doing great, Steve.

How you doing?

- Good.

Listen, I'm a long suffering Giant fan, right?

We are taping this, as other teams are playing in the playoffs.

It'll be seen later in 2024.

Question, once a giant, what does it mean?

- Well first of all, you can't be that long suffering.

They've won four Super Bowls.

- It's been a while, but go ahead.

- All right.

Well Once A Giant means, obviously a play off of their name, but also the fact that these guys are now in their 50's and 60's and they're once looked upon as the superheroes, you know, giants of men.

And now, at this point in their lives, facing the challenges that football has presented to them, you know both physically, emotionally, and financially.

My book really tells the story of what life is like for them after football.

- Yeah.

Let's go through some of these folks.

And by the way, let's remind folks the two Giant Super Bowls were in 1990 and what was the other year?

- Well, 1990 and 1986.

- '86.

- 2007, 2011.

- Oh yeah, I forgot.

- Yeah, forgot.

It's only like 10 years ago.

Come on.

- No it's not.

No, trust me.

- It's getting longer.

Let's go through some of these Giants.

Somebody who I've interviewed, who I've been honored to interview many times, Harry Carson.

- Yeah.

- A real leader, a terrific football player, but an even better person.

Talk about Harry Carson, particularly life after football.

- Steve, he's one of the greatest leaders in sports I've ever come across in 40 years covering the NFL.

He was the go-to guy for Bill Parcells in the locker room, that if something was going wrong, he'd go to Harry and to George Martin and Phil Simms, but mainly Harry.

He'd say Harry, go fix it.

Harry has taken that leadership, and 37 years after his championship, he really considers himself the captain for life of those Giant teams.

And he's so well respected, that even players around the league, current players and former players who played in the generation that he played, you'll still lean on him and call him for advice.

And, he's always there for them.

And, if one of these players has a problem and a teammate finds out about it, the first call is usually to Harry, who basically rounds up the troops, on text messages or calls them.

And they come in, to the aid of a teammate in need.

And I think it's just very unusual.

- And they're connected to each other in very meaningful ways, which is very rare in professional sports.

But someone who has struggled, obviously, if anyone follows the news, and you don't have to be a football fan or Giant fan, Lawrence Taylor, LT. - Right.

- Struggled with drugs and alcohol, he's been very upfront about that.

He's had arrests, he is in fact is a registered sex offender after soliciting an underage prostitute in 2011 in New York.

LT, greatest defensive football player of all time, post career, talk about Lawrence Taylor.

- Well, I'll work from the most recent backwards.

I met with him in the spring in Florida in 2022.

And Steve really, and I've known him since 1981, I've seen him several times since he retired.

He looked healthier and happier to me than at any point since he had retired.

He claims he hasn't done drugs since 1999, 1998 rather, when he got out of his last, the last time he went to rehab.

Teammates have backed that up.

Now he's had many problems since then, but not drug related.

And you know, quite frankly, I was happy to see him in the frame of mind that he was in that day because I know him as being a really good guy.

And the things, the troubles that he's caused both for himself, and more importantly for others, is inexcusable, unimaginable.

But he doesn't walk away from it, he takes responsibility for it.

And it looks to me, you know with a guy who, you know these drug addicts are always recovering, they're never cured.

And I think he's come to grips with that.

And it's day to day, and, you know, I'm just hoping for good things for him.

And not seeing his name in the news for bad reasons.

Any day that goes by and you don't see Lawrence Taylor for bad stuff in the newspaper, that's a good day for him.

- It is.

You know there's someone else, or there's a theme in the book that is so important.

For those of us who are football fans, in all candor, there are times that I actually feel guilty watching football.

And when I say that, yeah I love the sport, but when I see what has happened to so many football players, in terms of brain injuries that have destroyed, that have had a devastating impact on their lives.

One of the players you talk about here in the book, by the way, the book is "Once A Giant," the author is Gary Myers.

He's the best.

Go out and get this book, check it out.

It's Brad Benson, an offensive lineman.

- Yeah, Brad Benson was, he kind of typified the blue collar mentality of the team.

Played such a key role at left tackle.

But, his life after football has been very difficult.

He's had, you name the body part, and he's had surgery on it.

Carl Banks kids him and calls him Mr.

Potato Head because different body parts have been replaced.

But obviously it's no laughing matter.

And the players feel, you know their hearts go out to him that so many things have gone wrong for Brad since he retired.

And you know, that's many, many years ago.

He's had financial issues.

Harry Carson, who we talked about created a GoFundMe page for Brad.

And I know players are very concerned about him.

- You know, we're gonna do another segment on Bill Parcells, with one of your colleagues who wrote the book, "Parcells," you know the book.

Bill Parcells, I mean, I'm a student of leadership as you know, Gary, I'm fascinated by different styles of leadership.

In that interview about Bill Parcells, we'll talk about his leadership.

But once a Giant, Bill Parcells, to what degree is Bill Parcells, who's a very private man, to what degree is Bill Parcells, who was the head coach for the Giants these Super Bowls, to what degree is he still connected to quote "his players?"

- In many ways, and a couple of 'em even fascinating, Steve.

For a guy who had a love hate relationship with the players, - Sure did.

- because he drove them so hard.

And half the time they loved him, and half the time they hated him.

But, today the relationship is much different.

He's like a compassionate grandfather- - Bill Parcells?

- Yeah, in many ways.

- I wish we had the video from HBO of him just screaming and yelling.

- Yeah.

- You know the video, on the sidelines.

- Yeah.

- And not to mention the stuff he used to say to Phil Simms, the quarterback.

What kind of grandfather?

Seriously?

- Compassionate, to the point- - Okay, explain that to us.

- Okay, to the point.

I know it's hard to believe.

To the point that many of these players call him or send him cards on Father's Day, call him or send him cards on his birthday, every year.

Bill, and this story was so good that I couldn't hold it like from the middle of the book 'cause I wanted to draw people into it.

But over the years, he's given a total of $4 million without any expectation of being repaid to about 20 of his former players.

Now a total of $4 million, which is still a lot of money.

You know, a lot of people confuse it and say, oh, $4 million to every player.

Well he's compassionate, but not that compassionate.

But $4 million is an incredible amount of money.

Now, his feeling is that these players sacrificed so much for him and to help make them champions and to help Bill become who he is today, a Hall of Fame coach who won a couple of Super Bowls.

- An icon, a legend.

- Yeah.

And totally financially secure, to the point that he's put money away for his three daughters.

He's given money to his ex-wife.

He's put money away that he feels he needs to live the rest of his life.

And the rest he has, you know in a pile that he considers for his friends.

And it's not like any player can call him up and say Bill, I need money to build an addition onto my house.

You know, that gets rejected right away.

But, players who call him up and say I'm having trouble paying the mortgage, or I'm having trouble paying my taxes or lawyer fees, or medical bills.

Medical bills probably being the most important because the health insurance that the League supplied for them ran out after a year and a half.

Now it's five years, but back in those days, a year and a half.

And Steve, it's just so totally insufficient.

Most of the health problems these guys incur happen- - Lifetime.

- in their lives, when they're 50, mid 50's, mid 60's, when they're having knee and hip and shoulder replacements.

And if they don't have good insurance through jobs after football, this stuff is overwhelming.

So Bill is trying to help 'em out in that regard.

So if that's not a compassionate guy, who is, you know people don't know these stories, still have the image of Bill as that hard driving coach, yelling at Phil Simms on the sidelines yelling at Bill Belichick on the sidelines.

- That's right, one of his assistant coaches.

- Yeah I mean people who only have that image, have that in their mind, were shocked to learn some of these stories about Bill.

- Before I let you go, Gary let me ask you something.

- Yeah.

- For those of us who are Giant fans today, and even who there, there are superstars who we feel connected to, and as we do this program, Saquon Barkley, I'm a huge fan of Barkley's, we don't know what's gonna happen with him, so we're taping this in the latter part of January, 2024.

Here's my question, Once A Giant, for those guys who played back then, once a giant, is it still the same?

Or is it here today, gone tomorrow?

You know what I'm saying?

They're not really once a Giant anymore, that that tradition doesn't exist?

- Well yeah, I mean free agency has totally changed it.

You know, it's very rare that the player plays his entire career with the same team.

But, you know Steve, what I think once, listen, I really think Once A Giant should be required reading.

And I'm not talking about book sales.

I'm just saying I think it should be required reading for the life lesson, required reading for every player in the NFL today because of the life lessons they can learn, what's happened to these guys.

And, unless they're careful, the same thing can happen to them, both financially and physically.

- So it's also about friendship and loyalty and staying connected through tough times.

"Once A Giant," the author is Gary Myers.

Gary, thank you my friend, we appreciate it.

Wish you all the best.

- Thank you Steve.

Thanks for having me on, I appreciate it.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

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