Once a Giant by Gary Myers

Author:Gary Myers [Myers, Gary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Published: 2023-09-12T00:00:00+00:00

WILLIAM ROBERTS IS part of a group he calls “The Originators,” the nearly two dozen Giants who played on the first two Super Bowl championship teams. That’s opposed to “Eli’s Group,” the foundation of the Giants third and fourth championship teams more than twenty years later. Roberts was a versatile backup to the Suburbanites on the ’86 team and a starter at guard on the ’90 team.

Carson and Martin retired after the 1988 season. Morris went to play for Belichick in Cleveland in 1991. Marshall signed with the Jets in 1993. Banks signed with Washington in 1993. Taylor and Simms retired after the 1993 season. Jim Burt went to the 49ers in 1989. Bobby Johnson was traded to the Chargers in 1987. Bavaro signed with Belichick and the Browns in 1992.

Roberts was among the twenty-two players on the roster of the ’86 and ’90 teams. And by 1994, Roberts and Erik Howard were the last remaining players from the ’86 team. It was the last year with Big Blue for each. Howard played two years for the Jets before Parcells got there. Roberts went to New England in 1995 to play two years for Parcells and then squeezed one last season out of his career with Parcells in his first year with the Jets in 1997.

“Bill told me, ‘You’re like a dog with a big bone. You won’t let it go,’” Roberts said.

He helped spread the Parcells gospel in the locker room with the Patriots and Jets. He became part of his inner circle. He was a Parcells Guy. At the end of the ’97 season, Parcells had the talk with Roberts. It was time to retire. “That’s it, kid,” Parcells said. “I’m going to let you go.”

Following the victory in Super Bowl XXI, Roberts and Pepper Johnson went to the middle of the field at the Rose Bowl, placed their helmets on the grass, and did a silly dance called the dog, which they learned at a fraternity party when they were teammates at Ohio State. Roberts lives in Miami now and is an upbeat person, despite being on disability for football injuries he suffered to his knees, hips, and neck. He walks as much as he can to stay active. His unique gray beard is an instant conversation starter. He braids the hair around his chin, and it hangs all the way down to his chest.

Roberts had a health scare in 2002 that doctors told him was not related to football, but he’s still not sure. He had a seizure and passed out. Didn’t think much of it. Then it happened again. Then he thought a lot about it. He went for an MRI. The diagnosis: a blockage the size of a peach pit on the frontal lobe of his brain. Doctors told him that was the cause of the seizures. The frontal lobe controls memory, judgment, and motor tasks. Roberts had it removed and followed the surgery with chemotherapy and radiation “as a precaution,” he said. “The tumor was benign.

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