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Inside BBI’s Look Back - #23 CB Perry Williams #nfl #NY Giants #nygiants #sports #1980s #football
Nov 2, 2024
Inside BBI’s Look Back - #23 CB Perry Williams, John and Eric welcome in special guest two-time Super Bowl Champion and 10 years a NY Giant, CB Perry Williams. We discuss Perry’s career with the NY Giants, where he came from and the players he played with and played against. You will here how close Perry came to being an Olympian track star (right there with Carl Lewis) but the US boycott of the Summer Games in 1980 ended that opportunity. Find out what big time opposing WR was Perry’s favorite to play against and why. Beyond football we find out more about Perry the man, what he has been up to and what he finds most important in life and his legacy. Perry discusses his job now and the children’s book he wrote called Little Perry and the Race to Friendship (available on Amazon). If you are a Giants fan of the 80’s and have young kids or grandkids here is a book about building friendships and relationships by one of our Giants players from back in the day. *watch our videos on Mark Collins and Leonard Marshall to see what they both think of Perry Williams. Perry Williams- 10 years for the Giants, 146 games played 122 starts 18 int and 5 sacks. Director of Sport Management – Long Island University Deputized Sherriff in Suffolk County, NJ
View Video Transcript
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[Music]
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all right well welcome back to another edition of inside BBI with John and Eric I'm John McDon of course with me as
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always the senior editor of Big Blue Interactive Mr Eric Kennedy and Eric right off we've got ourselves another
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look back we've got another uh from our day from our day our Heyday of giants
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fandom uh number 23 cornerback Mr Perry Williams and Perry first off thank you
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for taking the time to join uh join us we we really appreciate it and uh uh to
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catch up with you and see talk about the past and also talk about what's going on so first uh how are you doing and uh you
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know what what's what's going on with Perry Williams Oh I'm doing great guys I'm John and Eric it's a pleasure to be
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on with you guys thank you for the invitation looking forward to talking with you guys tonight and I'm I'm doing
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well thank God I am uh working every day I work at Long Island University director of sports management here I've
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been here going on six years and we're doing a lot of great things paying it forward to these young kids young men
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and women that I always say is the leaders for tomorrow so just getting ready you know with what we're doing and
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I'm I'm excited about that changing lives and transformationally helping these young men and young women get
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ready for their you know future that's that's awesome to hear and we we and we were just talking offline so I'm going
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to start with that we had the pleasure of talking to Leonard Marshall not that long ago and you wrote a very nice uh
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piece for Leonard to being on the top 100 and I read that to him and his reaction he was very emotional those who
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haven't seen it you can see on the channel the the the the interview is still there uh then we talked to Mark
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Collins and that was about two weeks ago now that we talked to Mark Collins and one of the things he talked about he he
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basically echoed what Leonard said is in that top 100 list there's a guy who
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played 10 years for the New York Giants who was you know week in week out was
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was there was putting in the time was one of the best players that they had been around and should be on that list and it was Perry Williams when you hear
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that from guys you played with guys who are on the top 100 all time say Perry should be there what does that mean to
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you it's a wonderful f I greatly appreciate I'm humbled by that you know more col are great players ly Marshall I
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mean you we go on and on there a whole lot of great ones out there and I'm honored to be a part of it you know my
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thing was guys was I just want to be a part of a winning team a winning environment Winning Edge and you know
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winning championships and I was happy with that and but I I I'm I'm humbled
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again that the guys recognized that and want to you know put that out there in the world that uh what I you know did
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with them and uh was was able to be part of the team and and I was happy to be a part of the team so you were you were
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drafted so 1983 you were drafted in the seventh round yes you spent the first first year on IR correct yeah okay and
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you C you came in with you came in with Leonard uh Carl Nelson was also I don't know if did he come in that draft he was
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on IR as well that that year um so you come in you come from North Carolina State you come you come to the Giants
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and 83 was a was a bad year it it didn't go the way it didn't go the way think so
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you you you come into 84 now now here's your opportunity now you're getting to play what what was kind of the feeling
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because obviously again you're on IR in 83 so you didn't get to play but now here you are and you're playing what was the difference between that the 84 team
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and the 83 team what what changed in that one year well we had a lot of injuries if if you can go back in time
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and remember that John um we had like 26 guys on injur reserve in 83 we were 312
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one I won't forget that that but at the same token um with chains
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over when we had a guy named Johnny Parker he was a strength and conditioning coach for many years there he chains around he he kind of gavanized
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the system and got these guys back on the feet and got them back on the field of course and I think that next year in
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84 we had one guy on injur reserve the whole year so that that changed the the
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whole dynamic of it but uh you know we had a lot of older guys on the team when I got here in 83 and then the the Giants
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and porcel uh transition and got you know got the younger guys in there and we kind of
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took off from there yeah I'd like to talk a little bit about the length of your career so when you became a
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full-time starter in 84 with John just mentioned I was 16 years old when by the
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time you were done playing for the Giants I was 26 that's how long that you were there with that team and I kind of
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grew up with you being the right corner on the Giants and I wrote down a few
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things here because I want we have I said I mentioned the same thing to Leonard and um I I think it's important
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with you too there there we have a lot of listeners who grew up watching you but we also have listeners who never had
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the privilege to see you play and I just want I just wrote down some things that I picked up here that so you played 10
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years under three coaches you were there during parcel's entire head coaching
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career um with the Giants you were there for both the Hanley years and the first year Reaves and while you were there at
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when you were the full-time starter at right corner the the other the who was playing left corner at the time went
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from Mark Haynes to Alvis Patterson to Mark Collins and the
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safeties you played with that were starters were Bill Courier Terry Canard Kenny Hill myON gon and Greg Jackson you
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played in 146 regular season games with 122 starts 11 playoff games with nine
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starts and you finished with over a 100 pass defenses and 18 interceptions and
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you were a seventh round draft pick I mean that is that is a testament to to
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to you as a player of 10 years for a corner in this league is something yes sir well you know what I appreciate
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those numbers I didn't know I had those numbers to tell you the truth but uh I don't really read up on that but uh it
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sounds pretty good that I did all right for a little Southern boy from North Carolina to come up in New York and kind
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of you know made my way up here a little bit uh I'm honored as I said again uh uh
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Eric that just to have the opportunity to play to be on a great organization the New York football Giants the maror
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family and then my last two years with the Tish family what a heck of an experience that was for me it changed my
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life in many ways you know to work for a man like Willer Mara he was wonderful to
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me uh the opportunities that I was at given in then obviously with our coaches and stuff with porel and bellich and Ray
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and uh Dan my last year in love with you but U this being a part of the the system being a part of this whole
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Mystique up here in New York the Big Apple you know it was a great honor it's a great pleasure for me to play but my
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key I've said many times to you guys and I said to your audience here I just wanted to make sure I contributed I
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wanted to make sure people knew that I gave everything I had every time I had a chance to go out there and um and I hope
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I I did them right and there wasn't embarrassed by me being out there that I did you did good stuff out there and
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made some plays made whatever I had to do to to contribute to the team and that's all I wanted to do and that was
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I'm happy with that so well I would think u 10 years 10 years in the league two-time Super Bowl winner uh 16 game
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starter many of those seasons on a defense that the the defensive backs you guys
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you're not how I want to say this I don't want to I don't want to put down a goat but you got aren't playing Dion
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like where you just cover the receiver you had to come up and you had to play The Run you guys had contain and stuff
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and you were you were a physical player so what what was some of the when you look back on that what was some of the
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things that you picked up from parcel's and bellich and and how were they how were those two different from each other
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well let me go back a little bit if you don't mind John go back to college my college coaches was uh a guy named Monte
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kein recently cple months ago I think um
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his son was my water boy Lane kein now he's old Miss but uh I had it uh uh
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Monty key my last three years at NC State and my defensive coordinator was a guy named Pete Carrol Pete car coached
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me for three years inate so by the time I got up here to New York jonath I've been around a great Litany of great
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coaches in college at that time of they went into the pros later but uh it was
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it was a great experience for him so when I got here with Paul sales and belich you know it's a little difference in Paul SS got his own you know
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mentality how he carry himself and how he do things and uh belich was like now
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I called the mad scientist he was back there he was like if it's a such word as a genius for football I would put him in
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that category he was a genius to me the things that he did just the the whole outlook and the whole the dynamic of
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what he was doing strategic planning that he was doing it was it pretty amazing but uh they they both were
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outstanding coach obviously belich is going to Hall of Fame that's no doubt about that in the coming years and I'm
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happy for him I'm happy for Big Tuna poror Sals apparently he got in there too in Hall of Fame and they did a good
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job and we all did a good job because you know so saying team work Makes the Dream work so you know it worked out for
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us that way and I I enjoy you know por SS had his ways of you know managing the team or whatever and belich had his way
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of managing the defense and U so it all meshed in and worked out cohesively
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together for us and we was able to do and you know they were good coaches no with with no you know without a shadow
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of a doubt I think paor s made a comment to some reporter some years back I was told to another reporter that uh he had
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said that I was the best conditioned athlete he ever coached so I I've actually I've heard that I have heard
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that I thought that was nice of him to say that but in in many ways I will I'm
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not a braggadocious type of guy I never was and you know cocky and arrogant but but in a way I was because I work my
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tail off every day never well yeah because you had um not just so I mean
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there are a lot of athletes back in that day that probably couldn't translate to today's game but you're not one of them
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you were 6'2 203 pounds officially but you were a track star too college so you
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could run I think you R in a sub four4 coming out of that draft so you're you
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could play today I mean you a tremendous athlete yeah thank you thank you yeah I ran track at NC State uh my last three
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years at NC State I uh was a 200 MERS 100 meters and the 55 meters indoors uh
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set the record in the 55 MERS uh qualified for the Olympics in 1980 uh a
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lot of people don't know that no I didn't know that yeah 1980 I was in the Olympic trials I qualified into I was
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ranked number one in the world in the 200 meters it was a guy by the name you may heard of him car Lewis Lewis n time
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gold medalist he and I was in that same era unfortunately fellas in your
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audience I couldn't go to the Olympics as you all know Jimmy C it boy caught it America 198 that's right and so the
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Summer Olympics was you know gone for me because uh um you I was in my sophomore
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year at NC State and I played three more years so I tell people all the time well
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you know and then I got drafted by the Giants but I tell people all the time Carl Lewis ended up getting uh well I think nine or 10 gold medals in his
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career I had to settle for two Super Bowl rings so not a bad trade nice wasn't bad tradeoff but uh yeah going
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through the track aspect of it yes it helped me in many ways I had that makeup speed I had the acceleration and uh so
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it it helped you know that one of my great contributor factors for if I lived on the field anybody I don't care who it
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was on the field I didn't I always felt that you could try to run 60 or 70 yard touchdown that wasn't going to happen
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because I was out there when I was out there so well I'm I'm glad that you mentioned that last part because that
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leads right where I wanted to ask a question you faced a variety of different kinds of receivers during that
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time frame Washington they had a little bit of the Smurf but they also had art monk you had the the Cardinals which
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were in the division at the time you had Roy green Ro who who was a at one point was a two-way player and became a really
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good wide receiver you had Mike Quick with the Eagles but the Eagles still not to cut you off I apologize for cut you
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cut you off John Mike Quick and I the same high school oh all right same town
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it's a little town in where I live at now even though I'm working up here in New York in Long Island here uh Hamlet
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North Carolina that's where we are from both of us came he was two years ahead of me in high school so he went off the
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NC State as well and then I went off behind him two years later so we both
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from the same high school and we went to the same College together he did a heck of a job in Philadelphia and uh being an
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all pro wide receiver and you know now he's commentating them down there Eagles Network for what I understand well and
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so yeah I mean that's that's crazy connection right there but it's just so of all those guys and I mean I'm leaving
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out a ton John Taylor Jerry Rice all so long that he was even there when
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you know Dallas Michael Irving yes I played Michael Irving Irvin Alvin Harper I mean name him all the way to Drew Drew
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uh Tony Hill I went Hill I give you guys a good one uh I
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went all the way back to John stor yeah okay all right so I go back Earl camon
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the there go Chuck Muny you John Rig I mean I was in that era so so of those
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guys of when you look back is there one receiver that stands out to you that when you played him like that was a
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battle you expected and you liked you you looked forward to playing that guy well yeah that's easy you just called
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his name Mike Quick my homey you know you know it was always a battle you know who was going to get the best of other
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so I think we beat them more than they beat us so but um and I think on on top of that all the years that I played
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against Mike Mike was a great great receiver all proo and all that good stuff and he never scored a touchdown on
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me so he never had that satisfaction to know he had touchdown on me but uh yes
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we uh James Lofton come to mind James Lofton he was like 63 about 210 250
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something like that he was an EXT track star too I you guys familiar with that
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but uh you know I always have always you know challenged all of them it was never an easy day an easy Sunday or Monday
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night CU all these guys in that ER all them guys could play all of them well Mark Collins I I kind of put him on the
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spot when I asked him I said how much Zone versus man did you guys run and he
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he he thought you know for a second and he said probably about 70% Zone but he
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said that in the system that you guys ran you had a lot of autonomy and flexibility to sort of and you guys
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communicated so well the safeties and the corners commun so so well that you guys kind of knew what you were going to
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do and then bich and parcel's sort of let you sort of do different things in
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the concepts of the defense that you were running is that sort is that fair to say that you guys had some flexibility yeah we had flexibility
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because they had confidence in us you know bich and Pa and the team had confidence in the guys getting the job
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done and uh we did a lot of Base to I would say 6040 7030
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like that with Zone uh but when we locked up on manto man then we locked up we could obviously do what we needed to
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do in the on man the man but I think with predicated I base cover too our
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coverage and everybody long as you did your job is Bell would say do your job
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then everybody everything kind of mesed and went you know went very well for us
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so I I asked this of of every one of our guests from from your from your I don't
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want to say from your time frame but from the from the 80 time frame from the 80s yeah you the Giants were
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consistently a good team you were you were in the seasons you were in games
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you were in contention to be in the playoffs most of those years when you
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look back you won two championships is there a particular season that you say if this had just been this we would have
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won another one Leonard gave us multiple Seasons I'm just curious for you which which one of those seasons in the 80s do
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you think you guys had one more championship in you 89 89 89 when
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overtime with the Rams yeah that was over time that that's heartbreaking I still it kills me to
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this day you know seeing Flipper Anderson running through the tunnel I that that you know I still vially see
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that sometimes and U but uh yeah I think he should have been 87 89 91 that's I
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always think about that yeah we should have had three at least three that's what Mark Mark was along those lines he
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was he said we should have won this year we should have won this year so yeah yeah it was a lot multiple years of course and U but that that one 89 we we
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we' have took that thing and we' have got there we just unfortunately you know just didn't happened for us and um but
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uh we we bounced back and then 9091 we went back yeah well you know and it's
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it's it's an excuse for fans for us to go I can I can give you the excuses you you guys had some some injuries late LT
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with the fractured ankle Sims was not healthy at the end and you had lost Bavaro on that cheap shot low hit to his
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knee earlier in the season and that really altered bavaro's long-term career but 88 always sticks out to me Eric
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knows I bring this up every time it's that second game of the season against the 49ers the late piece where Kenny
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Hill and and Collins bang together rice scores the touchdown yeah that game put
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ultimately is the reason the 49ers are in or they wouldn't even be chasing ing a three Pat if they didn't get that first one and that's the real reason you
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guys ended up being out yes you lost to the Jets at the end of the year but so one of the things that sticks out to me in 88 as I look back is there was a
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there's a picture of from the tunnel it's a from behind of Harry Carson and George Martin together kind of
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overseeing they both were out at that point in time they weren't playing and this was going to be the end of it for them and it makes me think okay those
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guys were there when you came on board was there one of the veterans somebody who continued on that kind of you looked
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to and said when you came on board that guy kind of helped me or guided me at all or was it more of a galvanizing of
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just some of the younger guys getting together was there a veteran that you could say that guy really helped me well
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I one of the things I guess I have to call his name is you know Harry Corson you know he was the Catalyst he ran the
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defense he was the captain of the def and George Morton obvious told both was co- captains with George Morton but uh
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Harry you know he he was the one who kept everything in line you know kept it in and and check and called the defenses
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and uh never never raised his voice much he just went out there and played it's
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it's pretty amazing he was never Voca a whole lot he just told us what what we needed to do to give us the plays so the
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that we was going to go and play against but uh other than that you know this his his work ethic and the way he played it
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was just the physicality and the toughness you know and that really you know um went a long ways with me because
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I I believed in that mental toughness and just going out there and giving it all you got every single time and I knew
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every time he would go out there that he was going to land on the line of you know 100% plus and that's what made me
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you know motivated me even more I didn't want to let the team down so I wanted to make sure I gave 100 plus every time so
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yeah so one one of the things I was looking at I'm glad you brought up 1988 John because one of the things I I was
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look to sort of research for this interview is I wanted to go back and look at some of the old media guides and
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they mentioned the 1988 season that Perry in the um Dallas first Dallas game
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had an interception late in the game to seal the win the Giants were winning 12 to 10 it was a real low scoring game
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Dallas had the ball and they were trying to get in the field goal range and so I said I don't really remember that game
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so I wondered if it was on YouTube so I looked this morning and it was so I go to the end of the game and there's Perry
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intercepting a pass from Steve pure and um you I don't know if you remember this
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but um after you intercepted Michael V Irvin jumped on you it was was a bit of
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a cheap shot and you got up you got up and you you basically shoved them off of you and were like don't don't you do
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this you know so you were I just just it just brought back memories of you as a you were um a physical player and John
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talked about this earlier too is yeah you were an athlete you could run you could cover but in the scheme that the
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Giants ran you guys had to tackle you had to come up and you had to play The Run yeah you were a very physical football
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player and most of the Giants defensive backs of that era were you were you know John mentioned the the Deion Sanders
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types you guys weren't that you came up in you headit yeah that was that was basically that was demanded from bich
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and poror sales but belich is more uh that we would be physical you know we
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got to force to run because the way that defense is designed for the corners to come up and force the run to kick out
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get linebacker to go behind trying to go across so uh yeah so you had to be
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physical but I like playing physical I like you know that physicality you know made me play better you know I wasn't
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much of a a vocal talking out there but I went out there you play hard because I
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knew all my other guys the teammates was gonna give it everything they had so I had to go out there and give it all I
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had and I didn't want to embarrass myself I didn't want to embarrass the team I didn't want to embarrass the fan
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base so you know everything every time I walked on the field I I I I tried to
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make sure that I tried to dominate my particular area you know well that carried through obviously and again for
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anybody who's who's watching this will be watching this go back and do watch
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the the episode we did with Leonard Marshall when he talks about you it's it's with a lot of it's It's
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with a lot of pride a lot of a lot of love a lot of this guy put it on the
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line he talked about just your longevity how you were there how you did it the right way and you were a guy that could
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truly be counted on and that then was echoed by Mark Collins so when you hear that from your teammates I don't think
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you have to wonder you know you hope you did this clearly you did um it just you
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mentioned George Martin too and I wanted to bring that up you two have a connection that goes beyond the football field because you were both correct me
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if I'm wrong you were part of the the NFL uh program to to basically you
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finished and got your degree at is it Fairley Dickinson yes yes yeah contining education program yes that's a good seg
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way to talk about yeah George Mortin and I was the first two who signed up what happened was the vice president of fer
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dickon University in Bergen County New Jersey um he approached George Young just off the Wham a cold call and
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introduced himself and say who he was and what he would had an idea concept and might be interesting to the Giants
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organization and he got with Mr Mera and so he had a meeting so the guy who wanted to go to school you can take
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class and then transfer them back to your prospective college or university that you had attended and you go to
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school during the offseason I thought I needed one more semester to finish up so I did that I jumped in the program
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George jumped in and I jumped in and I finished up my undergraduate program and um that was in 84 '85 you know I had
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been in the league a few years then um and then in ' 89 I did something that was like way off the wh for me I went
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back to school and got a master's degree and I got my master's degree in public administration what's so significant
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guys for me in 1991 as you all know we won the uh won the championship Super Bowl in 91
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January 91 Buffalo Bills and down in Tampa oh yeah as soon as I finished that
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I had to go back to school North I came back to uh New Jersey I went to North
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Carolina for a week's vacation with my mother and I went back to New Jersey so I can go back to school so June of 91
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I'm I received my Master's Degree and that was in public administration MPA program concentration in business uh I
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played three more years after that and then when I retired from pro football then they they uh fer Dickerson called
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me and I was there with them for for 22 years wow yeah I was in the higher
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education for 22 years promoting um Outreach leadership I taught leaders intro to leadership and team building
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Concepts uh did a lot of work character building life skills with with the kids program that I developed uh and I did
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that uh um and um then I came here to Long Island University going on 6 years
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ago 2019 and helped try to start this U uh program with the sports management
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academic curriculum program we went from 10 kids in the program to 170 now so we
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are matriculating we're going up then doing some great thing we got a graduate program here so yeah the schooling was
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the central I tell the kids all the time School knowledge is keing you must go to school you must get your education I
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love school now you guys no I did not love school but it was a necessity yeah
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and uh you must get it get you you know get your work done and do the work and you know don't be a athlete then a
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student be a student then an athlete you right I put that out there to these young people all the time I I've
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traveled all over the country guys in the last uh 25 30 years I had a program that I put together I had to travel uh
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work with the United States military the Army department and I marketing groups I
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went to 30 major C 40 major cities and I cover three million kids in two years
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wow so I've doing a lot of crisscrossing and going across the country so a lot of people don't know that Prairie Willams
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involved with education and not only higher education but I designed my own program for the ker 12 uh character
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building life skill initiative that I put together it's called ffd one Focus from day one initiative so I do that
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then I have one called The Mad program to make a difference initiative so I've been dealing with kids for a long time
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that's fantastic nice and and so if people wanted to check out you know stuff that you're doing or or they where
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they can follow you or or any of that where where can people kind of get more information where can they follow you
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stuff stuff like that well they can follow me on on on um LinkedIn I do a
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lot of LinkedIn there I'm on LinkedIn you go on LinkedIn you'll find a lot of my stuff going on there um I just matter
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of fact I just got a book out now I got from Amazon and Amazon is called l Perry
27:28
and the race to friendship and that's a kids book I come up with and my partner
27:34
there Elizabeth Melo Parson she helped develop it with me and was giving back
27:39
to the kids I told you guys I started out when I was with the Giants um in my third year I started going to elementary
27:46
schools and talking to kids about drugs and alcohol and getting your education and all those things leadership team
27:51
building so I kind of came up with that a long time ago so now I want to bring it to fruition and uh with this book and
27:58
it's out there on Amazon and hopefully people go in and get it and I'm willing to come to schools all over the place
28:04
and talk with the kids and I do a lot of that because a lot of guys don't like talking to younger groups but I do you
28:10
know I I started out talking with elementary kids middle school and high schoolers so now I do the corporate
28:16
level of course do a corporate training on leadership but uh yeah so we we got
28:21
that out there right now and I'm I'm excited about it um giving back it's a lot based on our adventurous story of
28:27
Homan vent St about you know being a good friends being respectful being a
28:33
great humanitarian and doing those things show demonstrating great sportsmanship all of those things is
28:39
very important for especially young kids that's one thing you watch guys and TV I always tell young people all the time
28:45
fellas listen you know govern yourself accordingly because you never know who's watching right try to be the best that
28:52
you can possibly be have great respect for people and I try to do that a lot of people I think uh Eric you said early on
28:59
a lot of fans have never saw me play or maybe never heard of me but my the word is out of here in Long Island that you
29:05
know the mad man is loose to make a difference man to make a difference out here in Long Island and certain parts of New
29:12
Jersey and um giving back to the young people because as I said to you guys early on here in the take here with you
29:18
guys um you young people are leaders for tomorrow we got to get these young people ready to go I you know it's a
29:25
wonderful feeling I had a chance to play pro football and I realize through my spiritual being and you know my my
29:32
background being a southern baptist is better to give than receive and so what I'm doing I'm trying to give out there
29:38
and get these young men and young women ready to go it's a wonderful opportunity to speak with you guys and you know tell
29:45
me about certain things that guys have said about me or maybe just the people in general I always try to you know
29:51
acknowledge everybody I meet and a lot of people as you were saying again uh Eric a lot of people I meet I'm meeting
29:57
nowadays I never had a chance to meet him in person but now we talk and I like to take selfies hug grandma and kiss
30:04
babies I still do a lot of that so it's a good thing it's a good thing well I I
30:10
can say as a person I I know I can talk to people and ask them what did you think of Perry when you played with him
30:17
I was a fan I was I was like Eric I I you know I grew up with the Giants uh I
30:22
was really young in the 70s but I remember the horrible fumble I remember being happy in 1980 when we beat the
30:29
Cowboys 3835 in a game that meant nothing because we' won four games then 81 comes about you know LT comes on
30:36
things start to change but I also remember constantly 23 on one side 34 or
30:43
25 on the other side you know 48 in the in the backfield 43 and when 43 went
30:49
down 27 comes in and I can name them and I could go and one of the things I remember about you is we talked about
30:56
the physicality of it and you were you were tall and lean even 203 but you're a
31:04
lean 203 but you were a guy that came up and you put some running backs when they came around it you put them down and
31:10
some of those running backs you mentioned it they they were big guys back then they I mean they were they were some some big old guys you had to
31:17
get to put down and you never back down from any of that stuff and one thing I always remember is like guys would kind
31:23
of come in and out but Perry Williams was always on at right cornerback that whole time yeah well I think an article was in the
31:30
paper one time in New York daily news or news day one of them and it said that
31:36
that was the Cornerstone of the Giants defense and that was that was a nice you
31:41
know shout out for me and I but uh but I tried to live up to Everything I did I
31:47
tried to make sure I worked hard and make sure I was ready to go I stayed out of trouble didn't get involved with
31:53
drugs and alcohol and all that nonsense and getting arrested and all how here
31:58
guys I came here to work yeah and I made that promise to myself when I left North Carolina I share a story with you God
32:05
bless my grandmother she died in 1988 but she saw me in my first four years before she passed away but the first
32:11
thing she said to me in 1983 when I got draft and getting ready to come to training camp the pville New York Pace
32:17
University and she said to me say who is the man who own the team and I said I
32:22
don't really know his name but I've heard his name was well Mara and she said okay she said well if you don't do
32:29
nothing else you make sure if you play one day one week one year or 10 years or
32:34
whatever amount of years you want to play if you make it that long you make sure you get that man honest day work
32:40
give him everything you got not only on the field but off the field act accordingly act like you got some home
32:46
training act like you got some sense so I was that was instilled in me when I got up here and I realized that and what
32:52
my grandmother had said and when my 11 years is over you know the one for year
32:57
in the last 10 years I was able to shake Mr mayor's hand said I gave you my best
33:03
yeah there's an interesting stat that um one of my um uh colleagues that does a
33:09
lot of writing on Giants history told me this morning I didn't realize his name's Larry schmidtz and he sent me this email
33:16
and you may not know this too on the 1986 team you're the only player so
33:22
there were 16 regular season games back then in the first 15 G regular season games you're the only player on defense
33:29
that played every single snap in the 1986 team you only came off the field in
33:35
the second quarter of the last game against Green Bay um for a brief time
33:40
but you're the only player on that team on that defensive team which was filled with some legends that played every
33:47
defensive snap on that championship year and he he sent that to me he says I don't know if Perry knows this but let
33:53
him know that so I I don't know if you knew that I appreciate you telling me that um I heard different talks and
33:59
different people but uh the playing time or the the year you know the plays I played on the field I I was just proud
34:06
to be able to go out there period and uh be a part of something be part of a winner and then that's all that did for
34:12
me guys this stuff what I did here and what you guys are talking about what we're talking and discussing is I'm
34:18
deeply honored and humbled by your opportunity to come on your show is but it was a stepping stone for me it was a
34:25
it was you know it was a platform that set out there that the man I called the man from upstairs God is set out for me
34:31
and gave me the platform say going let you play football for a while but your true calling is GNA be giv back to the
34:37
young people so that's what I do well I'm going to make sure in the description when when it's on with the
34:43
show was when it's up I'll have in the description I'm going to have about the your book uh I'm going to put some of
34:48
the other contact stuff for you there I'll make sure that that's there and that's shared but obviously it's in the episode so people will see that too but
34:55
I'll make sure that that that it gets out there but I I just want to say how much it it it I appreciate taking the
35:01
time to be with us to come on to get to hear a little bit about I I I'm actually really interested in the fact that the
35:08
things we've talked about that's just beyond the games because you played them you you knew you know what we're talking
35:13
about I watched them so I know kind of that but the other pieces about your life and where you are today and what
35:20
you're doing I find most interesting and uh it I really hope that uh you know
35:25
what you've just mentioned what meant something to you and really kept you you know on that path as a parent as a we're
35:31
a blended family I have nine kids it is not it is not it is not easy with the
35:36
different pieces of a society that you deal with they're trying to drag kids in different directions there's so many
35:42
things to keep them focused to try to prove that you seem to have a a really good way of talking about what is
35:48
important and I and I hope that pays off and and really affects other people's lives uh the way you know it seems to
35:54
affected your life you I appreciate that really appreciate that John yeah you guys put the word out go go Amazon and
36:01
get the L Perry and just run the Friendship it's a great little book it's uh kids will enjoy young men and young
36:08
women it's about getting them ready for the future that's what it's really about the story and giving back paying it for
36:14
it and I've been greatly honored and pleased by the people I've met over the years since I retired I met more people
36:20
when I retired than I did when I I was so busy all the time playing and getting
36:25
ready for training camps and many s and all of those things playing games but now I I greatly appreciate the people I
36:32
do get a chance to meet I meet a lot of people and I greatly appreciate your time and effort you guys and you guys
36:38
sound like you're doing some great things over there and I wish you guys great successful luck as well with all
36:44
your endeavors oh I appreciate that yeah we we are trying we we do love talking to the to the guys that we we grew up
36:51
with and give them a chance and it's it's just an honor for me so uh so uh with that I'll let you get back to your
36:57
evening uh we really appreciate it Perry and uh well I'd like to keep in touch and we're going to push the book and uh
37:04
best of luck to you and uh we'll take a break and then uh we'll we'll be back I greatly appreciate you guys all right
37:10
make sure you get in with in touch with Elizabeth Melo and we'll get that stuff going you know with the books and all
37:16
that stuff I want to get out there and see these young kids more and more awesome all right all right we'll take a
37:22
break and we'll be right back all right well we're back uh what a what an first
37:27
off I think self- serving but I thought it was an awesome interview with Perry Williams it's really interesting to get
37:33
the different perspectives of guys from that time frame guys who play I mean
37:39
this we're not talking about a guy who played maybe a couple snaps here and there and you know he might have played some special teams this is a full-time
37:44
starter on a team full of some very big name players during that time frame and
37:50
to hear his perspective not only on that but on life in general I thought it was a really good interview with with with
37:55
Perry well my big take away from this interview was this so we're talking to a
38:01
guy as we talked about he had 10year career and that's a long time to play
38:07
defensive back at a high level in the National Football League and if the interview had gone a little longer we
38:14
probably would have gotten into talking about playing under um parcel specifically but Hanley
38:20
and Reeves and the changes he also played nickel we didn't get into that but there's two years he played nickel
38:26
when it was the Super Bowl team in the year after that then he went back to Corner after that
38:31
but what I took about this is he didn't really is he was more um his his life is
38:40
so full of of goodness now for lack of a better word the impact he's making I I
38:47
got the sense he's making a bigger impact in the world with his career after football
38:54
than than he felt during football and that what a help healthy way to live and with a healthy way to look at his life I
39:02
guess in a way he he's he's he's impacting young adults and kids and setting them on the
39:10
right path and he seemed more interested in more passionate about that than
39:15
looking back at the good old days and so what a I guess what a healthy way to
39:21
look at things that's what I took I don't know if you get you had that yeah well no I mean if you think about it
39:26
right like how many many [Music] times we've talked to
39:31
some uh well-known players and they're they're involved going way back when we
39:37
did the show years AG yeah yeah but then you also sometimes you you can see it things that are posted online
39:44
or you hear you hear them talk and it's players that are they're kind of longing for the day that they were back when
39:50
they were playing like like they're missing that that piece a lot of them talk about the the uh the relationships
39:58
the locker room part of it the guys being together and they missed that in their life and so they're it's it's a
40:04
missing piece with Perry it was a stepping stone to where he was going
40:10
that's he made that very clear um and really we both offline and in the actual
40:18
interview itself he didn't really it wasn't that he was against talking about the past but that really wasn't you know
40:25
it was just a thing to do it wasn't it wasn't the big you know you know excitement or or that got the twinkle in
40:31
his eye it was let's talk about where I am today you know at Long Island University he's the director of sports
40:37
management there the the book little Perry which I'll put the link in look it up on Amazon I'm I'm actually going to
40:43
go and look for it um those things you could see that was his passion football
40:49
was a thing he did and he did it well and he he his big thing is he just wanted to to make sure people knew that
40:55
he gave it his all he did the best that he could during that time that he did it the right way another thing he mentioned
41:01
very much in common with Leonard Marshall they did it the right way and that this other stuff though is where
41:06
his passion is at and uh I thought I found that very interesting yeah I and I
41:13
don't know I don't know if I I didn't know what to expect coming into this interview and with any player that we've
41:19
interviewed both again years ago and we did the show years ago and the current ones which we've interviewed Leonard and
41:25
Rich sober and Mark Collins and Al Perry Williams I'm always a little bit nervous because I'm not sure because again I
41:31
kind of I look up to these guys yeah you know um this I hope that doesn't sound
41:36
terrible but you know I'm a fan and you know these were these these were some of my favorite players and I you get a
41:43
little nervous when you're talking to them absolutely I'm not sure I'm always a little unsure what the chemistry is
41:49
going to be like and I this was the first time I really got a chance to hear Perry
41:54
speak this this much and so I didn't know really what to expect and we talked
42:00
to him a little bit both before we got on and then after we got on and he told
42:05
us about other things that he was doing in law enforcement too right and um just
42:12
again my I know I'm repeating myself but just he just seems very grounded very very in tune with with
42:21
with with his life he just seems he just seems at peace with himself and so I I find that cuz I like to see these
42:27
stories about you know like and I'm not talking about specific Giants but I I
42:32
think I think Bobby Johnson I think fell in this guys that sold their Super Bowl rings and fell yeah he fell in very hard
42:38
time hard and things like that and and so to hear someone like Perry who's
42:44
actually the sort of you know yeah it's a stepping stone I'm glad I did it I had a I you know I was a yeah you could see
42:52
and we didn't talk about enough because the interview didn't go in that direction but he was a seventh round
42:57
draft pick who was you you correctly brought up missed this entire first year
43:03
with a fractured foot and then was immediately became a starter his second year a seventh round pick and then for
43:09
the next 10 years he was he was here so he had a you have to have a little bit
43:14
of an ego and you could that kind of came through a little bit you know he he kind of bragged about his his track
43:21
background and I was I was interested I'm glad that was interesting yeah I'm glad I brought that up because CU he
43:27
seemed to take pride in that and he you know he did he didn't come like like he
43:32
said he wasn't braggadocious but you could tell there was but he didn't really you know Leonard and I love I
43:38
love Leonard but Leonard Leonard knew he was good and Leonard like to talk about
43:44
football and he knew he was good and I love that about Leonard but Perry and
43:51
Perry and Leonard are I think they're I think you told me they they were roommates they were they were roomm
43:58
they were tight they but um Perry Perry seems to be sort of like yeah I did
44:03
football but I've got these other things you know so and Leonard has that too but it was like Leonard's interview was went
44:11
in a different direction because he wanted to talk about the foot and and and I can truly speak to this because
44:19
I've I've Leonard I have talked to Leonard about this offline and in the
44:25
interview Leonard feels and I think you can can concur based on
44:31
the interview too he feels a little wronged by the Giants he felt like the Giants didn't really support him in his
44:38
bid to make the Hall of Fame he he felt like they could have done something for him and they didn't and that it did take
44:44
him a little while to get on the Ring of Honor it took far too long to get in the Ring of Honor and he pissed off W then
44:50
he should be pissed off about and Perry Williams you both Leonard and Mark Collins have said this is a guy who
44:58
should be on the top 100 he played 10 years for the team he was a starter on
45:04
you played in two two super time Super Bowl champion he was on you know a big
45:09
part of one of the best defenses of the 80s yet you don't hear him talking about
45:16
that he doesn't have a concern that he's not it doesn't it doesn't bother him
45:21
about that it was more important that I got to be with those guys that I played with those guys that they feel that way
45:28
about me that I did my job that was more important notice that his it's and it's fine you can have a different take it's
45:34
fine but I think you keep using the term at peace with that and I think that's a
45:39
perfect term for he's at peace the fact that he doesn't have this thing that gosh oh my career if it only had been
45:46
it's look at where I am today because I had that exactly yeah yes yeah and and
45:52
that's a healthy I I'm not putting down one view or the other I think sure well so what
45:58
I'm just saying is it's such a healthy way to to be in to live your life to be
46:06
not look back and regret and I do this I look back at things that I I could have done differently but I don't get that
46:12
sense with Perry Perry's like everything I did got me to this point and I'm doing now what I'm supposed to be doing and I
46:20
again he's at peace with himself and I thought that was I thought that was interesting so I I wanted to and you and
46:25
I talked about this a little bit bit offline too I wanted to keep talking football
46:31
but he I I think the the the interview went the way it should have gone because
46:37
he we got to talk about football but he wanted to say this is I'm doing more
46:43
bigger and better things now with my life and and I'm I'm content with that
46:49
that's that's that's where that I feel my value right now as a human being on this planet is doing I'm doing right now
46:57
and that was kind of was cool it was I'm at a little bit of loss of words to describe describe it but I just was like
47:04
well this is really cool you know it's so I I thought it was a good interview it was a different interview because of
47:10
that um there were things I I wish we could have we could have gotten into with other stuff maybe we'll have them
47:16
on again we talked about that maybe down the road maybe next year or something we'll have them on again because there are other things um I thought the best
47:22
part football R the best part of the interview is the question you brought up with with the receivers because that
47:28
those were names blast Mike Quick and Roy green and and those those were great you know I like to hear his reaction
47:34
James Lofton he brought up yeah you and I talked about this you brought up James Lofton with the bills in the Super Bowl
47:40
my my mind went to Green Bay when he was and I know the Giants and Green Bay only played you know every few years but I
47:47
still remember playing Green Bay when James Lofton was on that team oh absolutely yeah so um uh two things to
47:54
to what you were just saying and I'll do them in reverse order um the the
48:01
interview one of the things if you if this is your first episode that you're seeing us do one of the things that I
48:08
that I've been very happy with with those who have been watching is their
48:13
comments back to us that unlike a lot of other shows we're less about us and more
48:21
about the guest meaning we let the guest speak and because what you just brought
48:27
up the direction the feel I got from him and you got the same thing and and for
48:33
those who don't know how we kind of do this is I kind of tee things up so it
48:38
makes it easier for me I kind of control the flow Tee It Up and we we do that but Eric and I are pretty much on the same
48:44
page it makes it easy for us to do we don't plan it out I don't write down I
48:49
here's what Eric says and then here's what I said we never do that I got that that cue from from Perry
48:56
that we could go back to it but it didn't seem like that's really where it was going and it we just let it go
49:03
naturally so I hope that I hope people kind of see that um if you feel like we should asked more football questions I'd
49:09
have to say I just didn't get that feeling from him that that was the way to go the second thing I'm gonna say is
49:15
the regret thing I I'm gonna tell you something I have a regret can can can you guess what that regret is is it
49:22
football related or oh oh it's with the show that we didn't keep doing the show I regret that when we were doing this we
49:30
were ahead of the time at that point as far as this kind of stuff goes it wasn't really an internet internet show it was
49:37
but it wasn't it it was uh we did it through Blog Talk which was which is online essentially online radio right
49:45
and we did that well and the guess that we had if we had stuck with it and I
49:51
blame I I take full responsibility for that no you and I were there were things going on both our lives that prevented
49:57
us to keep that going at the time there are family things going on both of us I
50:04
came to you and I said it's hard for me to keep doing this and you said I can't do this right now so so again like let's
50:11
take our queue from um from Perry Perry and you know things happen for a reason
50:17
but I I agree with you but it it is what it is but picking it back up it's uh
50:23
it's self- serving to throw this in here now but I feel like this really works I I we're constantly trying to to to do
50:30
things uh I did pick up on some things I've been I was playing around with some
50:35
little gift things here and there I did too many in one episode I I've I've cut
50:41
that out I will I'm not gonna say I won't do it from time to time and it was funny because I had that thing what you
50:48
s me for the the depression thing I wanted to put it in but unless I have
50:54
the actual file I can't put the link to the to something else in there I have to
51:00
have the file itself but I found it somewhere else after I had already done
51:05
the episode so I could have done that one thing and it would have cut it right in and it would have been that's when depression sets in but here we are
51:14
listen we're going to conclude this because we're going to keep this here we we have a a preview to do which we will
51:19
do uh later this week for the Bengals thing um you got the whole sight in an
51:25
uproar the other day when you teach something and you made him wait to find out I was really good I did not tip it
51:31
off at all no you didn't tip it off look when I'm told I can't say something I can't say something so I'm sorry I mean
51:37
so I I'm told there's only so much I can say and can't say and people were getting pissed at me I can so I you can
51:44
either get a little bit from me or nothing so it's up to you guys yeah yeah no it was good so we'll conclude this
51:50
again uh uh make sure you you like subscribe all that good stuff uh but we
51:55
will have the the preview for the Bengals uh coming up a little bit later this week and uh with that Eric I think
52:01
we'll call this a close and uh we'll just we'll get back at it later this week great all right folks have a great
52:07
night and thanks for watching
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