Washington sports

INDIANAPOLIS — This is Black History Month, so let’s honor the singular achievement of the New York Giants’ Jerry Reese, the first black general manager to take two teams to the Super Bowl … after facing demands that he be fired both times.

“Well, I don’t really look at that,” he said with a laugh earlier this week at the Giants’ downtown hotel. “I just know the owners have confidence in my ability. They asked me, along with our personnel staff, to make us relevant every year, put a winning product out there every year, and that’s what I concentrate on.

“As for being the first to do something, I really don’t pay much attention to that. That’s the kind of thing you pay attention to when you retire and you’re out in a little boat fishing.”

It is something to pay attention to, actually, that Reese is in his second Super Bowl, 11 years after the Baltimore Ravens’ Ozzie Newsome became the first African-American executive to bring a team to the NFL title game, and the first to win.

Giants coach Tom Coughlin and GM Jerry Reese share a trait. (AP Photo)

But a history of Reese patiently seeing his work vindicated in the wake of criticism—a history that parallels that of his coach, Tom Coughlin—is no less impressive.

Winning Super Bowl XLII in his first season on the job, 2007, was the perfect answer to a season full of skeptics. Yet as with Coughlin, the skepticism returned in full force this season, starting in the preseason when their post-lockout moves lacked the sizzle of the division-rival Philadelphia Eagles. Doubts reached a peak after the late-season home loss to the Washington Redskins plunged the Giants to 7-7.

“It really didn’t bother me either way. It comes with the territory,” said Reese, at 48 still one of the NFL’s youngest GMs. “If you’ve got a thin skin, you can’t work in that area.”

Besides, he added, his moves were ultimately justified, just like in 2007—and that’s the proven path to take.

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“Look at Green Bay; did they make any huge moves? And they won 15 games,” Reese said. “So it’s not always about making big, sexy moves. We made good, sound moves.”

Owner John Mara, Coughlin and the players all respect that enormously, which Reese cherishes (and which makes it even easier to tune out the detractors).

At the same time, Reese knows that another important group pays close attention to his performance and he is driven just as much to succeed on their behalf. He recalled telling Coughlin in their first meeting that failure is “not an option for me,” for three reasons. The first two are the Giants organization that gave him this chance, and his family.

“Number 3, African-American kids coming behind me. I want to set the mark high, so they can see, ‘Wow, Jerry’s doing it,’ ” he said. “And the people before me, who yearned to be in this spot—I’m not going to let those people down who really suffered and had to take some incredible abuse with respect to African-Americans advancing in any field, not just pro sports.

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“I said, when they hired me, at the presser, I thought it was my time to carry the torch. And I don’t take that lightly.”

Now, Reese is in his second Super Bowl. Newsome, the trailblazer, barely missed joining him here with the Ravens, who had advanced by beating a Houston Texans team run by Rick Smith. Martin Mayhew’s Detroit Lions ended their long playoff drought this season. The Arizona Cardinals’ Rod Graves has guided his team to the Super Bowl. The sixth and newest member of the current group, Reggie McKenzie, was hired last month by the Oakland Raiders.

“He was a great hire, and he’s going to do a terrific job,” Reese said.

He will, if he has the same kind of skin Reese does.

Thick, that is.

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