Giants fullback Henry Hynoski blocked out some time for a Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby.
Q: Describe your transformation once you put on the uniform.
A: I don’t know what does it, but something just clicks. My dad [Henry Sr.] … he played pro ball [with the Browns], and growing up, people in the area always said how good of a guy my dad was, how he was just a standup person, and I always heard stories of how great he was, and people always tell me how nasty he was on the field, but off the field, he was the nicest you’d meet. So growing up, I idolized my dad, looked up to him, and I always tried to model myself after him. And the one piece of advice that my dad told me when I was a young kid has always stuck with me was, “Be an animal on the field and a gentleman off the field,” so it’s really the way I try and conduct myself (smile).
Q: How old we’re you when he told you that?
A: I started first playing when I was in fifth grade, so I think he probably told me that when I was in junior high or my freshman year getting ready for varsity football ’cause I was moving up to varsity as a freshman, and I was starting to get a lot of attention just because I was my dad’s kid and everybody was waiting for me to come up and seeing what I would do, if I would follow in his footsteps, and that’s the first thing he told me, he’s like, “Just be respectable, but when you get on that field, just turn it on (chuckle).”
Q: You never saw clips of him play, did you?
A: Oh yeah, yeah. He was an animal. In college [at Temple] I remember a play that really stood out to me. … He had good speed and tremendous power, just a bull. [He] got a pitchout to the left, the linebacker, a D-back and a corner all came up to hit him at one time, and all three of ’em hit him, and he busted through, ran ’em over and then went another 15 yards for a touchdown, and the camera went back to show the players, and all three of ’em were on the ground struggling to get up (laugh). It was pretty impressive.
Q: Did you feel pressure following in his footsteps?
A: No, I really didn’t. I remember my parents told me that they don’t care if I play football, they just want me to do whatever I’m happy with, but football is what makes me happy. My parents actually wouldn’t let me play until I was in fifth grade. My dad wanted me to hold off until I was in junior high, ’cause he didn’t want me to get burned out or anything. … Fifth grade finally came around, and I sat them down. and I was like, “I need to play. I was born to play football.” And, finally, that’s when they agreed to let me go out (chuckle).
Q: You really think you were born to play football?
A: I do, yeah. Ever since I was a young kid, those are your memories that were sticking in my head, watching “Monday Night Football” games with my dad and my mom, and it was just a goal of mine ever since I was a little kid and realized what it meant to the people in my area, knowing what my dad did. … I really believe that, yeah.
Q: Who were your favorite players?
A: My dad had like an NFL Films series, and it was like “Greatest Ever Running Backs,” “Greatest Ever Quarterbacks,” “NFL’s 100 Toughest Players.” So, obviously, I watched the running backs, ’cause that’s what my dad was and that’s what I always wanted to be. Just the guys like Earl Campbell, Larry Csonka, Jim Brown — the tough, hard-nose guys that were just bulldozers. Then you gotta show some respect for the defensive guys like [Dick] Butkus and [Jack] Lambert and those guys. I love the old-school players. That’s how I try to model my game after, and that’s what I grew up watching (smile).
Q: For most people, what you do would be a thankless job.
A: I take pride in that, and I love what I do. In my opinion, I think fullback’s the most underrated but pure position in football, ’cause you get to run, block and catch, and you get to do everything that a football player wants to do. A lot of players just catch the ball, a lot of players just run the ball — I’m lucky, I get to do all three. Obviously my main thing’s blocking, and I love doing that. And that’s where I relieve my stress and angers throughout the week on Sundays (laugh).
Q: Your parents go to every game.
A: Every game I ask my dad, “Grade me on a scale of 1-10.” Some games he’ll tell me, “9, or 10,” or whatever, but then if I had a real good game, he’ll just say, “11,” you know (chuckle). But if I do something wrong, if I coulda made a better block or something, he’ll tell me about it, but a lot of it’s really constructive criticism. I like talking to him before the games, ’cause he kinda gets me pumped up, he just tells me, “Just go out there and do what you’ve been doing your whole life — play Hyno Ball.” We describe Hyno Ball as just being tough, physical, disciplined and smart, ’cause that’s the way he played, and that’s the way his father told him, and that’s what he passed down to me.
Q: What is your favorite memory with the Pitt Panthers?
A: Probably when we beat West Virginia, even though I didn’t take part in that game, ’cause I was a true freshman and I was redshirted, we beat West Virginia 13-9 in West Virginia, and they were the No. 1-ranked team in the country, and it was the last game of the year, we knocked ’em out of the national championship, and we only had five wins that year. We were 30-point underdogs and nobody gave us a chance.
Q: Why did you sign with the Giants?
A: Once the lockout ended, a lot of teams called. My family and I just looked at the best rosters that would be appealing to me when the lockout ended and the calls I could potentially receive. And right from the start, my mom [Kathy] was doing the research, and she was like, “You know, the Giants would be an awesome fit. I hope that they call you.” I probably heard from about 15, 18 teams. And I was on the phone with one team (Chargers), and my mon came in and said, “Henry, you might want to take this.” And I was like, “Well I’m on the phone now, mom,” she goes, “I think you might want to take this. It’s Coach [Tom] Coughlin.” (chuckle). “I was like, “OK.” So I told the team that I was on with. I was like, “You’re gonna have to call me back, I gotta take this real quick,” and it was Coach Coughlin. Talking to him really made me want to become a Giant.
Q: Why?
A: Just because I know what Coach Coughlin represents, watching him coach throughout the years from high school to college. I always had a lot of respect for him, and I always heard great things about him, and talking with him on the phone, you could just tell that he just really wants a hard-working player that’s gonna come in and do the right things and that [are] gonna play his style of football, and that’s smash-mouth football. I still weighed my options, but I knew that’s where I was gonna go. About 10 o’clock that night, I made the official call to the Giants, I called [giants director of college scouting] Marc Ross back, and I told him, and I couldn’t have made a better decision (chuckle). After I wasn’t drafted, I was really bummed. I kept questioning myself for a couple of days after, “Why?” I just didn’t get it. Then I told myself, “I’m gonna prove people wrong.” Now I thank God every day that it worked out the way it did. I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Q: You won a Super Bowl as a rookie.
A: I still don’t even know if it really hit me yet, what really happened. But I just remember that feeling when they batted the ball down at the end of game [the 21-17 Super Bowl XLVI win over the Patriots], I just had so many emotions. I didn’t know whether to cry ’cause I was so happy, or yell and scream ’cause I was so pumped up. Every emotion you could possibly experience I think I experienced then.
Q: Describe the New York Giants Way.
A: [The] No. 1 thing about the Giants is class, right from the ownership to the coaches to the players to our equipment managers, just class from top to bottom, and I think it really exemplifies what Mr. [John] Mara, Mr. [Steve] Tisch and Mr. [Jerry] Reese what they really value in people and an organization. There’s not one person in this organization that I dislike. There’s not one team member I dislike. I think they kinda look for guys that carry the same qualities, the same characteristics, and I think they try to keep that pretty uniform throughout the organization.
Q: How would you describe a typical New York Giant?
A: Sometimes we’re not the flashiest guys, but we’re gonna bring our lunchpail in and go to work every day. And I think that’s something that the fans appreciate, ’cause I believe this is a blue-collar town in my opinion. I think that New York exemplifies what we represent in hard work and desire and perseverance.
Q: You think this is the perfect team for this town?
A: I do. Not just New York, but New Jersey also.
Q: Have you sustained any concussions?
A: I had one in college.
Q: What was that experience like?
A: It was pretty weird. It was just kinda like a little short-term memory loss, a little woozy. But I ended up playing the next week, so that was my only diagnosed concussion. But you know … throughout the game everybody gets their bell rung. That’s just a part of football.
Q: Did your dad suffer any?
A: Back then, he told me he would come off the sidelines for a game and he’d be out of it, and the training staff back then when he played in the late ’60s in high school, and ’70s in college and the pros, back then — “How many fingers am I holding up?” (chuckle). You answer it right, you go back in.
Q: I got the feeling that you probably wouldn’t even tell the coach if you had a concussion.
A: Probably not (chuckle). But fortunately I haven’t had one in the NFL so far. I’m the kind of guy that will go out and do anything at all cost to play and finish the game. I think football’s a game you have to battle through injuries. Everybody’s gonna get bumps and bruises, and that’s what separates the men from the boys is how you respond to that, how you react after an injury. Can you tough it through, what kind of guts do you have?
Q: On the field, do you consider yourself an intimidator?
A: I would think so, and I hope that’s how defenses view me. But this is the NFL, everybody’s a good player, and a lot of people have the same mentality that I do, but I always try to instill that shock when I hit somebody that when they come and try to hit me again, they’re gonna think twice.
Q: If you had to pick one teammate to be in a bar brawl with, who would you pick?
A: Probably Chase Blackburn.
Q: Why Chase?
A: Look at the way he plays, I mean that guy’s a warrior.
Q: Has Eli Manning ever played a practical joke on you?
A: Yeah. Training camp my rookie year, camp officially broke, Mark Herzlich was my roommate, we were staying right there at the Sheraton, and I wake up and hear my door open, and next thing you know Eli, [Dave] Tollefson, [Zak] DeOssie and [Jason Pierre-Paul] were standing over my and Herzlich’s bed with a bucket of water, like a garbage can full of water, and they dumped it on us, and we found out the next day that they got all the rookies. We pretty much have to strip the sheets off our beds and we didn’t get any new sheets. I think they told the people at the hotel not to give us new sheets (chuckle), so we’d pretty much just sleep on a wet mattress all night. It was perfect timing too, because I was getting my first start that preseason against the Jets like three days later, so it was like, ‘Oh man, here’s a night I could use a lot of good sleep to get myself ready,’ and I mighta got an hour of sleep that night (chuckle).
Q: What have you learned about Eli?
A: Eli’s a good man, he’s a great person, wonderful teammate, and you know he’s gonna fight till the end. Every time Eli has the ball and he comes to the huddle, you have a feeling and a sense that you could literally score at will anytime you want to at any point in the game, and that’s the kind of confidence he brings to the huddle. He was the same way that final drive in the Super Bowl, the same mentality as he was the first day I met him getting my first play with him in the huddle.
Q: What drives you now?
A: Super Bowl (chuckle). I want to get back, I want to have that feeling, that’s my motivation. But even if I didn’t get to experience that, I just love the game of football, and I love playing the game. I don’t know what I would do without it, to be honest with you. I feel like it’s a part of me.
Q: You’ve taken David Wilson under your wing.
A: David’s a guy, right from the start, just when you first see him moving around, jogging around, you could just see that he has that extra gear that a lot of players don’t have. He has that burst. You could just tell he has that extra little hop in his step even when he walks. … There’s something special about him, and I think once his maturity meets his talent level, I think we can expect great things from him.
Q: Can you do a backflip?
A: I can’t. I don’t even think I can do a quarter flip (chuckle).
Q: Do you cook for yourself?
A: I can throw a nice steak or chicken on the grill, and I’ll be all right with that (chuckle).
Q: How were you affected by Hurricane Sandy?
A: Power was out for probably about 20 hours. I live right along the river (in Secaucus), and I was watching the river rise, and I was getting nervous, so I moved pretty much all of the furniture and all my electronics from my basement upstairs, and as the storm’s going on, I’m watching the river rise and rise, and it stopped literally like two houses down from mine, so I really lucked out. My cable was out for a couple of days, but I did not have it near as bad as with some people.
Q: describe your hometown of Elysburg, Pa.
A: I think we have 5,000 people in it. I’m right on the borderline between farm country and coal region.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: “The Natural?
Q: Favorite actor?
A: Vince Vaughn. A lot of people say I look like Vince Vaughn and act like him.
Q: Favorite actress?
A: Jennifer Aniston. I always had a crush on her since her days at “Friends” when I was like probably 10, 12 years old.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: My mom makes great lasagna. Whenever I’m home, I always request that.
Q: Favorite NYC restaurant?
A: Nothing like a Del Frisco’s steak.
Q: Your dad’s career with the Browns was cut short in his second year by a shoulder separation and dislocation. Do you think he’s living vicariously through you?
A: No doubt, no doubt. He tells me that all the time, it’s just bringing back old memories of when he played. We always get in fights though about who’s the better player. He thinks I’m the better player, and he’s still my dad, and I grew up idolizing him, and I saw the tapes and I always tell him he’s the better player (smile).