Which past Giants do you wish you have seen play?

[MightyGiants]

I recently saw a bit Justin Penick did of Giants he wished he had seen play.  He had LT and Bravaro on the list (two of my all-time favorites to see play.

I think on my list:

Sam Huff
Frank Gifford
Emlen Tunnell


Who is on your list?

[T200]

@MightyGiants

That's a good list, Rich. I would like to see them and Spider Lockhart as well.

[Doc16LT56]

Emlen Tunnell.

I also wish I could watch LT in his prime knowing what I know now. I was too young in 86 to truly appreciate what I was watching. I'd want to experience that entire season all over again.

[Giant Jim]

I saw Tarkenton and Jones (Homer, not Daniel) play, but I was too young to fully appreciate them.

Of the players I never saw, Gifford because my father spoke so highly of him, Tittle & Shofner, Tunnell and most of the late 50's and early 60's defense. Alex Webster would be another. They say Mel Hein was something too.

[spiderblue43]

Good question:


SAM HUFF
FRANK GIFFORD
EMLEN TUNNEL
CHARLIE CONNERLY
KEN STRONG
MEL HEIN
Y.A. TITTLE
ROSEY GRIER
ANDY ROBUSTELLI
ROSEY BROWN

[LennG]

Being 78 gives one the privilege of having seen most of those guys play. If to pick  a couple it would be

Em Tunnel
Mel Heim

My situation is now I know so much more about football than I did when I was young, I really failed to really appreciate some of those former players as I might do now.

I wish I would have been able to see Frank Gifford when he first came into the league. I remember the name, but when I remember him the best was after he had his injury and came back more as a WR than half back.

And I still have chilling memories of some of those great teams from the late 50s and early 60s.
Gosh I can still remember their fantastic front 4 of Katcavage, Modzelewski, Robestelli and Grier.
LBer--Huff, Svare and the 3rd I don't remember, DBs, Patten, Lynch, Nolan and again the 4th I don't remember.
Just thinking back still evokes the most wonderful memories.

As most know from my avatar, YA was and still is my favorite all-time Giant player and that offense that went with him was WOW. I wish many of you could have seen that entire team play.

And look what we have now.       

[LennG]

Just to add, when I start thinking back about some of the all-time greats from many years ago, It brings back so many memories of our late JimV, who was to me a dear friend, but more, he was an encyclopedia of first-hand knowledge of many of the Giants that I only had heard about and never got to see. He had seen them all and I used to just sit and listen to some of his stories of some of the players he had seen play in Yankee Stadium.

I laughed when he told me how he USD to root for Tom Landry when he was a DB on the Giants as we only know Landry as the coach of the Cowboys.

I truly miss him when we talk old-time Giants.

[Painter]

I won't bother you with tales from my Polo Grounds days except to mention that in those days we fans were allowed onto the field when the game ended and so, on one occasion, I walked and talked with Rosie Grier all 484 feet to the Club House steps in Center Field.

Shortly thereafter, the team having moved across the River to Yankee Stadium, your Painter and his girlfriend, the late Carole Clarke, had the joy of watching the Heinrich/ Conerly/ Gifford/ Webster/Triplett tandem trounce the Bears 47-7 in winning the Championship.

A couple of years later, I had a brief chat with Y.A. Tittle and Don Chandler, who at the time happened to be standing near the Stadium in front of Nedick's at 161 St. and River Ave. And so, it has gone and continues to go.

Cheers!

[kartanoman]

This is a great question! I've been blessed to see many of the old Giants going as far back as on 8-mm canister film which I've had converted to digital. Watching Wellington Mara's documentary "The Duke," with that digitally remastered film from the 1930s, was an absolute treasure revealed!

But if I had the opportunity to go to the Polo Grounds, Yankee Stadium or Shea Stadium, before my first time seeing the Giants live at the new Giants Stadium in 1976, here are a few names I would have loved to see from their beginning, in 1925, through 1950:

- Jim Thorpe
- Benny Friedman
- Ray Flaherty
- Mel Hein
- Alphonse "Tuffy" Leemans
- Ward Cuff
- Ed Danowski
- Morris "Red" Badgro
- Harry Newman
- Ken Strong
- Al Blozis
- Jack Lummis
- Len Younce
- Arnie Weinmeister
- Otto Schnellbacher
- Al DeRogatis
- Gene Roberts
- Emlen Tunnell
- Tom Landry

It would have been quite the experience to watch the Giants during the first half of their Centennial. To watch the game at an earlier phase of its development with now defunct teams still playing, the fans still in the process of adopting Pro Football as a big-time game and players still having to work outside the season to make ends meet. I would imagine they would be more accessible back then than they are in modern days.

My life journey precedes those eras, and it would be a fascinating learning experience for me in how we lived and survived in those times. What is it that we could tell Tim and Jack about the future of the Giants before Tim's passing in 1959, and Jack's in 1965, that might have left things in a better position for Wellington and Timothy to inherit and co-manage for a better outcome.

If YOU could go back in time, and have your "30 second elevator speech" with Tim and Jack, what would you tell them that might force them to think carefully about planning for the future after their passing?

Your "Back to the Future" moment starts ... NOW!

Mine:

Pro Football will become the greatest sport in all the USA and you must do TWO THINGS to ensure your successful legacy before you both die:

1. KEEP VINCE LOMBARDI AT ALL COSTS
2. DO EVERYTHING YOU CAN TO KEEP TOM LANDRY AS LONG AS POSSIBLE BEFORE HE MOVES ON TO DALLAS. FIND THE BEST DEFENSIVE YOUNG MIND HE CAN MENTOR AND TURN LANDRY LOOSE WHEN THE KID IS READY TO BE UNLEASHED AS YOUR DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR.

FINALLY, TIM, FEBRUARY 16, 1959. GET EVERYTHING IN ORDER BEFORE THEN. JACK, I'M SORRY, THE "C" WORD IS GOING TO GET YOU JUNE 29, 1965. HAVE EVERYTHING IN ORDER BEFORE THEN.

YOU'VE DONE GREAT THINGS FOR THE CITY OF NEW YORK AND YOUR FAN BASE. GREATER THINGS AWAIT ON THE HORIZON. TAKE CARE OF BUSINESS NOW SO YOUR LEGACY SHINES LIKE GOLD LONG AFTER YOU'RE GONE AND YOU'LL BE FOREVER LOVED AND IMMORTALIZED BY YOUR FANS, AS WELL AS YOUR PEERS.

GOOD LUCK, GENTLEMEN.

[Jclayton92]

Connerly for me, but I'm significantly younger than most at 38 or 39 yrs old depending on the day.

[Rosehill Jimmy]

I remember watching both the'60 &'61 championship games and Tunnel was on the Packers by then. But I don't remember him while with the Giants.  I guess I'd have to go with Mel Hein. Like @LennG Ive been around long enough to have seen all of the others mentioned