Former Giants Punter Fondly Recalls NFL Seasons In The Bronx

Wonderful things do happen during the Christmas season. Earlier this week, after a 51-year gap, I had the opportunity to speak with the football hero of my youth – Tom Blanchard.

What an incredibly gratifying phone call.

As I punched in the number I have on Blanchard, so many thoughts were racing through my mind. This must be THE Tom Blanchard who the New York Giants drafted out of Oregon in the 12th round in 1971.

The number I have is for Grants Pass, Oregon. That’s where the Tom Blanchard I’m hoping to reach was born and raised. This must be the ex-player that I’m looking for.

Why am I searching for Blanchard?

Well, of his 11 seasons in the NFL, his first three were as a Giant. 1971-73, as a 22-year-old rookie, Blanchard punted for the Giants. There were then five seasons with the New Orleans Saints and three as a Tampa Bay Buccaneer. But it was during Blanchard’s second season in New York that our paths crossed for the very first time. As a 13-year-old, I, and like many others at that age, are easily impressed.

The 1972 Giants finished with an 8-6 record. Back then, NFL teams played a 14-game schedule. My brother Billy brought home two tickets from one of his teachers that would allow us to attend a Saturday morning Giants workout at Yankee Stadium.

Getty Oil sponsored the workout parties. A couple of thousand fans would enter through a gate that led fans through the visiting team’s bullpen, to a designated section of left-field seating. It was here at around 9 a.m. that the Giants, clad in sweat suits and worn jerseys, ran through plays.

Placekicker Pete Gogolak practiced field goal attempts, and second-year punter Blanchard worked with special teams booming kicks higher than I had thought possible.

Once the workout concluded, a few of the players were brought over to the fans to speak to the fans, and tips on throwing, catching, and kicking a football were offered. The luckier fans, well, they won signed footballs, pairs of home game tickets, and pictures taken on the field with the players.

For one day, I was among the luckier football fans to get to go out on the field at Yankee Stadium and meet the players.

I was ushered over to the Giant wearing the number 15 on his jersey – Blanchard. Wow. Here I am on the playing surface at Yankee Stadium, on such a cool, crisp late October fall day when much of the Bronx was still asleep, and I’m shaking hands with a real-life New York Giant.

Yes. I was impressed. In my teenage mind, Tom Blanchard of the Giants knows me now. I had my picture taken with him in the end zone, just shy of left-center field. I was then ushered back through the bullpen and returned to my seat. Billy is envious of where I was and who I was with.

Fast forward to this past week.

I have Blanchard on the phone with me. Amazing. The Giants during Blanchard’s tenure with the team weren’t very successful. After the 1972 season, things went downhill fast. The following season, 1973, the Giants registered a 2-11 record.

But, the Giants were my team then, and they are now.

He couldn’t have been nicer, sounding genuinely interested in my interest in reconnecting with my childhood memory.

Coming to New York City for the first time, as a 22-year-old, was certainly an eye-opener for the Oregonian during his rookie season of 1971.

“I had hardly gone anywhere outside of Grants Pass at that time,” says Blanchard, who averaged 42.7 yards per punt during the 1972 season. “On my way to New York, I transferred to San Francisco, then on to New York City. On my plane in San Francisco were Matt Hazeltine and Y.A. Tittle, two of our assistant coaches. I was scared to death to introduce myself to them. And I never did.”

Growing up, Blanchard was a big baseball fan. He recalls coming out of the Giants’ locker room (the Giants used the same locker room as the New York Yankees), and walking out onto the playing surface, taking in his moment in one of the most iconic sports venues anywhere.

This was the original stadium where Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, and Mickey Mantle once stood in the very spot Blanchard was now occupying.

“I stood there, and in my mind, I pretended to be Mantle. I was in awe of the place,” says Blanchard, who signed his rookie contract for $17,500, plus a $2,500 signing bonus.

Even at such a young age and moving across the country to pursue his dream of playing pro football, Blanchard knew that he was part of something special. He admits now that once he arrived in the “Big Apple,” he had no clue how to navigate the city.

“I was married for two weeks, then off to training camp. I was separated from my wife Pam for the next two months.”

During the 1970s, there was no welcoming staff with the Giants to assist players in securing housing. It was every teammate for themselves. Fortunately for Blanchard, he became fast friends with teammate Jim Files, the team’s number one draft pick in 1970. He helped the rookie punter find lodging.

Blanchard rattles off names of teammates that he had common interests in, and kept company with – linebacker Pat Hughes, wide receiver Don Herrmann, and offensive lineman Wayne Walton.

Throughout his three seasons practicing and playing games at Yankee Stadium, Blanchard’s head coach was Alex Webster. A star fullback with the Giants for 10 seasons, in 1969 Webster was hired by team owner Wellington Mara to coach the team. Blanchard quickly became a fan of his boss.

“He (Webster) was such a good guy,” explains Blanchard. “Alex never thought he was more special than his players or assistant coaches. He knew what it meant to be a Giant.”

Jim Garrett, who was Webster’s defensive coordinator during his years in New York, scouted and signed Blanchard.

With the Giants carrying two quarterbacks, Blanchard was seen as the third-string; the emergency quarterback. He attended the quarterbacks' meetings, as insurance. There was a time during Blanchard’s rookie season when starting quarterback Fran Tarkenton went down, but the punter wasn’t called on to take snaps from the center.

Living in Roselle, New Jersey, Blanchard remembers commuting with offensive tackle Willie Young.

As far as who Blanchard spent a fair amount of time with, that would be Gogolak. Kickers in the NFL tend to stick together. They understand the pressures of being specialists, and what the ramifications of one mistake could mean to their remaining on the team or not.

“We were roomies on the road. I remember when Pete had had a consecutive extra-point streak going. (Tarkenton) was his regular holder. Well, Fran was benched for a game, and I was sent in to hold for him,” recalls Blanchard.

“It’s the last game of the season, and the weather is bad at Yankee Stadium. The first snap comes, I hold the ball, and Pete kicks through. It’s good. That was nerve-racking. I had never held it before, not even in college.”

As for what was owner Wellington Mara like? Blanchard looks back to a man who attended all practices, was always pleasant, and said hello to him by his first name.

“(Mara) was always taking pictures of us with his camera. As an owner, Mr. Mara was very involved with the team.”

During Blanchard’s three seasons as a Giant, he tells of never feeling part of the bigger community of New York City. Once the final regular season game was in the books, Blanchard was jetting back to Oregon for his off-season job as a substitute teacher.

“I knew that I was never going to be a star. I was a good journeyman punter. It was a lot easier to get rid of a punter than a quarterback or lineman,” Blanchard offers.

Stars on Blanchard’s Giants team, Bob Tucker, Spider Lockhart, and Fred Dryer, made the whole NFL experience more fun for him.

“Dryer was crazy. You never knew what he was going to do. But, Fred got away with a lot.”

Blanchard, 75, is still all about football. He belongs to four fantasy leagues, and watches with his family games each weekend, no different than any other fan of the game. High school, college, pro, Blanchard loves the competitiveness of the game.

It’s beyond rewarding knowing that the person and player who you pretended to be, while playing street football as a kid, is someone, as an adult, you can still look up to.

Tom Blanchard is everything that athletes should replicate. He gave to the game, was a positive role model, and then went home to live an extraordinary, ordinary life. Bravo, Tom. Thanks for the memories, and not disappointing.