By Vincent Landolfi Jr.
Twenty-five years ago, before becoming the co-host of Showtime’s acclaimed series “Inside the NFL,” and CBS-TV’s analyst on their lead NFL broadcast team, Phil Simms was an All-Pro, Super Bowl MVP quarterback for the New York Giants. On one hot August afternoon, our lives would intersect in a way that I can never forget.
Some months earlier my godson Christopher was walking his bicycle across Route 9 with his older brother, Michael, and a friend. The light was green and they had the right-of-way to cross, but a motorist made a right on red. While looking one way for oncoming traffic, she did not see the boys in the intersection and Chris was badly injured by her vehicle.
Most serious among his injuries was a compound fracture of his leg, which required major surgery and a full cast for months. It was a painful, difficult time for someone only 11 years old. He was unable to walk without crutches, ride his bicycle or play with his friends. He was also not physically able to play Pop-Warner football, as he had for years, which was the most painful, difficult thing of all.
The following summer, the New York Giants held its training camp at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison as they had for a few years back then. To cheer up Chris, his dad, Michael Sr., and his brother, fanatical Giants supporters all, planned an excursion to see their beloved NFL team at training camp, and I was invited along.
When we arrived at the picturesque campus on that sweltering day, a parking attendant ushered the borrowed conversion van we were in to a handicapped parking area. He also allowed us to sit in our own private area at a picnic table under a shady tree to avoid the hot, humid weather. Close by, scores of over-enthusiastic Giants fans were hoarded into wooden bleachers so they could scream for their team in the blazing sun, while sectioned off from the field by orange construction fencing. It would come in handy later on.
Chris had a great time enjoying our exclusive view of the Giants as they went through their paces during a crisp 90-minute practice. At the sound of the air horn signaling the end of the workout, players began streaming past us to the locker room. Many stopped to say hello to Chris and his brother. They ruffled his hair and signed his autograph book. Fifth-round draft pick, QB Craig Kupp, even gave him an ice pop from the player’s cooler, much to his delight.
But while all this special attention made Christopher feel great, much to the chagrin of the raucous Giants fans penned in behind the fence who did not have unfettered access to players, it was one special player Christopher came to see. The one autograph he really yearned to have written in his signature book was that of superstar QB Phil Simms.
However, at the conclusion of the session, Simms did not depart with his teammates. He stayed behind and worked on long-snapping with specialist Steve DeOssi. While all eyes from our group were trained on the 7-yard spirals rifling from DeOssi’s upside-down snap to Simms’ waiting hands, I noticed something peculiar. There was a late-model Jaguar parked on the grass just outside the end line of the near end zone.
DeOssi and Simms exchanged pleasantries at the conclusion of their extra time on the field. As the long snapper headed up past where we were, the star QB jogged toward the end zone where his car awaited, we found out later, so he could beat a hasty retreat to a charity engagement. You could see the disappointment bring Chris’ face to a saddened droop. His dad gave him an enthusiastic “maybe next time.” The moment, we all thought, was gone. Then I did something uncharacteristic. I acted quickly without really thinking it through.
I grabbed the pen and autograph book of the young man I would sponsor in confirmation two years later, and jogged toward the waiting sports car. As I approached the Jag, Morehead State University’s most famous graduate ever was finishing toweling off his face, hair and neck after the grueling mid-day workout. He lowered the towel and as he saw me approaching, his jaw visibly tightened in annoyance. I said, “Hello, Mr. Simms. I would never think of bothering you like this after practice for myself, but my ‘nephew’ up there under the tree is a huge fan of yours. He was in a terrible accident and may have difficulty walking and can probably never play football again.” Then as I held out the book and pen, “It would mean a lot if you could sign his book for him.”
Out of all the responses that flashed through my mind, none could have possibly matched the one that came out of the Super Bowl MVP’s signal-calling mouth. “No,” he said. And then, before I could pick up my jaw from the end zone grass, he drawled, “I’d like to come over and say hello myself if that’s OK.”
I jogged back up the small hill to where our entire entourage stared at me, agape. “Well?” Mike, Sr. finally managed. But as I tried to speak, no words would come. I just pointed about 10 yards away to where Phil Simms, the All-Pro quarterback of the NY Giants, was running up the hill to our little enclave.
He couldn’t have been more gracious. As the throng of Giants fans nearby stretched the orange construction fence to its breaking point, they became absolutely rabid, literally reaching out to their hero, screaming “Phil!” and “Over here!” Mr. Simms knelt and spoke to Chris for a few minutes. He gave him some words of comfort and enthusiasm as he signed his autograph book. You couldn’t imagine there was ever a bigger smile. Simms greeted both Michael Confortis, and after a few photos and a bone-crunching handshake with me, said his goodbyes to our little group, and literally jogged off into the sunset.
I am not going to tell you that it was that experience with Phil Simms that inspired Christopher to rehab enough to where three years later, he strapped it up and put on the pads once again for his freshmen team of which I happened to be the coach. That would be way too “Rudy-esque.” But on a sunny fall day, adjacent to Deal Lake, he did catch an amazing bomb of a pass toward the end of our game with an undefeated Asbury Park team that helped seal the upset victory.
Ever since that day, you not could say a bad word about Phil Simms in my presence, and I am not a Giants fan by any means. If it was negativity about his play on the field, I extolled his accomplishments on the record-setting Super Sunday when he completed 22 of 25 attempted passes (an NFL record that still stands) for 268 yards and three TDs while steamrolling the Broncos for the Vince Lombardi Trophy. If it was a knock on his stature, I pointed out that his frying-pan-sized hands allowed him to grip the ball and fling it in a manner that taller QBs could not. And, if it was about Phil Simms the person, all I had to do was recount the tale of that day at Fairleigh Dickinson, when Mr. Simms showed caring and compassion that belied his toughness on the field, and meant more to one young fan than all MVPs, Super Bowls and Pro-Bowls rolled into one.
On the day after he was drafted, the Daily News back page echoed the retort of coach Ray Perkins, when he was told of the Giants No. 1 pick, asking: “Phil who?” Phil hero, that’s who.
