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CANTON, Ohio — Bill Parcells has cried at least once during his Hall of Fame induction weekend — and Curtis Martin is betting he will cry again tonight when he walks into the Room of Rooms and they uncover his bust.
“Everyone’s betting on different people — I definitely think Cris Carter, but next to Cris Carter, I think it’s Bill Parcells,” Martin said.“I think Bill Parcells, he would be my No. 2 crier.”
Martin recalled Parcells’ reaction after he sneaked his 1999 Jets team MVP trophy onto Parcells’ desk as a gift.
“I’ve seen his eyes get watery,” Martin said.
“I couldn’t describe him as an emotional guy, but his exterior covers up the sweetness in him, ’cause he’s a really kind guy, really good heart. And his heart is a lot softer than what most people would believe.”
Now, weeks from his 72nd birthday, this bear of a coach, who presented Martin here a year ago, is no longer afraid to bare his emotions.
“Now that he’s done coaching, I don’t think he minds as much,” Martin said.
When Parcells peers down at the crowd below him and sees Tom Coughlin, Bill Belichick and Sean Payton — the branches of his coaching tree that have won a combined six Super Bowls — and all of his guys, his Giants, and when George Martin presents him, there is every chance he will break down.
Parcells was moved last night at the Gold Jacket Dinner and at the Ray Nitschke Memorial Luncheon when Curtis Martin got up before the Hall of Famers to congratulate him.
“One of the things I said, that if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t have this mic speaking to you guys,” Martin said.
Archrival Joe Gibbs sat at Parcells’ table.
“You just feel privileged, you really do. You just look around, you feel like you’re … ‘What am I doing here?’ That kind of feeling. But as you hear them talk, that’s what they all say,” Parcells said.
Parcells admitted he cried when Carter, a fellow Hall of Fame inductee tonight, gave him a tie clip in a box with his Hall of Fame number on it at a function yesterday. Parcells recalled how he called Carter immediately after Buddy Ryan released him prior to the 1990 season to tell him the Giants would be claiming him.
“I said, ‘Cris, how long is it going to take you to get up here?’ ” Parcells recalled. “He said, ‘Well coach, I just packed my car, I’ll be up there in less than two hours.’ I said, ‘Good, ’cause we’re claiming you, OK?’ About 15 minutes later he called me back, he said, ‘Coach, I got to go to Minnesota, the Vikings claimed me.’
“So he gave me a little thing last night, a little tie clip with my Hall of Fame number on it. 278, I think that’s my number.
“It was very nice. He came down to my table, my daughters are sitting there. Two of them are cryin’, it’s like crocodile tears. He’s crying, you know? That was really a great surprise for me, ’cause you just never know the things you do that touch people. You don’t know.”
“When Buddy Ryan cut me, Bill Parcells called me,” Carter said. “So, to me the analogy was Buddy said I couldn’t play. Bill Parcells, one of the greatest coaches, said I could. And it gave me confidence like when people were giving up on me, and I really wanted to play for him.
“And then, two years ago when I didn’t make it in the Hall, he called me on the phone right after the announcement, and said, ‘Those in football know.’ I said, ‘What coach?’ And he said, ‘Those in football who know, know. Don’t be discouraged.’ And he hung up. To go in together … his influence … just that call, man!”
And here Carter’s eyes became flooded with tears.
“What it meant to a young football player.”
What it means to an old coach that Coughlin, Belichick and Payton will be here.
“I had a pretty good crew,” Parcells said. “That’s what we say in Jersey. I do take a lot of pride in their accomplishments, I really do. The hard part for me is when they start playing against each other.”
He was humble and humbled.
“I just had the right guys,” Parcells said.
And so thankful.
“I’m a lucky guy,” Parcells said.
He belongs, for crying out loud.