THE TUNA BECOMES IMMORTAL: Former Giants and Jets coach Bill Parcells speaks last night in Canton, Ohio, at his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. (
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CANTON, Ohio — Sunday at 1 p.m. at Giants Stadium was always the best time for Bill Parcells — his guys playing like Giants in front of him, his Jersey guys howling in the stands behind him as he stood on the sideline. But Saturday night at 9 in a Canton Hall of Fame place of worship called Fawcett Stadium, was the best place for him now.
Legends live here, and now Bill Parcells lives here with them. Forever.
Parcells stood tall and proud and never came close to breaking down as he paid tribute to many of the men and women in his life who helped him reach the pinnacle of his sport once again.
He couldn’t mention everyone, of course, but you were left wondering why he would he give a shoutout to Ray Perkins, his Giants predecessor, and neglect to mention George Young, the general manager who drafted Phil Simms and Lawrence Taylor, the GM with whom he won his Super Bowls XXI and XXV, the GM who was opposed to bringing Parcells back in 1993. He mentioned Bucko Kilroy and Mike Holovak and Gil Brandt and Ron Wolf, but not Young. He mentioned “the great Harry Carson,” but didn’t mention Simms, his battlefield commander, either.
“When they put my bust in the Hall tomorrow,” Parcells joked soon after presenter George Martin helped him uncover that bust, “I’d like to be somewhere near Lawrence Taylor so I can keep an eye on that sucker.”
It was a humbled and honored Parcells who spoke from a heart that caused him to walk away from the Giants in 1991, and necessitated surgery. Parcells reiterated he probably wouldn’t be where he was last night without the assistance of Martin, his friend and captain. He expressed his gratitude to his talented and dedicated assistant coaches — the Bill Belichicks, the Tom Coughlins, the Sean Paytons, all of whom were in attendance — in his life.
“I’m looking for a few more championships out of some of them, so let’s go,” Parcells said, and you noticed Belichick, far away from Aaron Hernandez, smiling.
He thanked his secretaries for their understanding on Blue Mondays.
He talked about his parents, and his sister, and brothers, one of whom, Doug, was in attendance. His other brother Don is deceased.
“I know he’s looking down,” Parcells said.
He talked of how proud he is of his three daughters who endured the nomadic coaching life and have grown into young women.
“I love you girls,” he said.
He paid tribute to his ex-wife Judy.”I was not only married to her, but I was married to something else as well,” he said. “I commend her for a job well done.”
His 92-year-old basketball coach at River Dell High School, Mickey Corcoran, wore his own Jersey smile as he listened.
“He was everything that a 14-year-old needed as a coach,” Parcells said. “I’ve got to get 10 or 15 more years out of you, buster, so let’s go.”
He thanked Dean Prior, his coach at Hastings College in Nebraska, his very first stop, and Perkins, his predecessor with the Giants who took a chance on him.
At the end of a week that sadly has given us Riley Cooper, he talked about the diversity of the NFL, and said: “I played and coached with ’em all. And the only thing that made any difference was, ‘Are you willing to help? If you are, come on in. If you’re not, get the hell out of here.’”
He talked proudly of how his Giants have remained a team all these years later after those Super Bowl championships.
“Some mystical blood kinship is formed, and although it’s a fleeting moment, that kinship lasts the rest of your life,” Parcells said.
He talked of the pain and anguish of his loyal men that he witnessed, the IVs they carried onto planes by themselves, that the public never sees.
“There is tragedy,” Parcells said, “and even death.”
He shared an anecdote about the great Wellington Mara, who showed him a plaque of Emlen Tunnell, the first African-American inducted into the Hall of Fame, on the wall of Giants Stadium. Parcells remembered exactly how it read: “‘Losers assemble in little groups and complain about the coaches and players in other little groups. But winners assemble as a team.’ And tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I get to do that. I’m honored and I’m grateful and I’m thankful to every single one of you out there who had something to do with this.”
Everyone stood and applauded.
You are what your record says you are.
A Giant among giants.