Giants Maintain Bond With Iraq War Veteran

This story began almost five years ago, on the night of May 7, 2007, thousands of miles away in Baghdad. That’s when a lieutenant colonel named Greg Gadson lost both his legs to a roadside bomb. Little did he know (how could he know?) that some 38 weeks later, he would be on the Giants' sideline for one of the greatest upsets in Super Bowl history. And now he has become an inspiration again for a team hoping to duplicate that win over the New England Patriots.

The original story continued shortly after he returned to the states, but actually goes back to his playing days at West Point in the late 1980s where one of his teammates was Giants receivers coach Mike Sullivan. After Sullivan and other former teammates learned what happened to their old friend, he visited Gadson at Walter Reed Hospital and presented him with a Giants jersey No. 98 (his old number), signed by several players.

When Sullivan asked if there was anything else he could do, Gadson wondered whether he could attend a Giants game with his family.

So it was arranged that Gadson, who lives in Virginia, would attend the team's game in Washington on Sept. 23, 2007. The Giants were 0-2, and their defense under then-new coordinator Steve Spagnuolo had allowed 80 points. Sullivan asked if Gadson would be interested in talking to the team the night before.

Months later, then-Giants guard Rich Seubert said, "I remember that meeting like it was yesterday. He talked about the importance of sticking together as a team, that you're going to have some tough times, but you have to just battle your way through it. He talked about fighting for every yard."

Recalled Gadson, "I just spoke from the heart, as a soldier and as a former football player for about 10 or 15 minutes. I talked to them about appreciating the opportunities in their lives, how special and privileged they were, how everybody needs to understand what they truly have. And I talked to them about the power of sports in people's lives, especially soldiers' lives, how many times I'd watched soldiers get up in the middle of the night after a 12-hour shift if there is a chance to watch a game, or how soldiers would do anything to watch a game before they went on that kind of shift.

"I told them that of course after all the exteriors had been stripped away, they played the game for themselves. But that they had to play the game for each other. Then I talked about myself, how my old teammates came to my need, and how I was reminded again the power of a team, the emotional commitment teammates have for each other, that when a team finds a way to do things greater than they thought they could do, that they couldn't have done individually, that a bond is formed that can live forever.

"I told them that truly great teams usually form that bond by going through something together, and how whatever they were going through at that point in the season that no success ever came easy. And finally I reminded them that nothing is promised to anybody in this life, starting with tomorrow."

The following day, the Giants fell behind 17-3 at halftime, took a 24-17 lead and then stopped the Redskins on a goal-line stand in the final seconds. They would not lose again away from home all season.

After wide receiver Plaxico Burress scored a touchdown with 5:32 remaining in that game, he gave the ball to Lt. Col. Greg Gadson on the sideline.

"You see a guy go through the things that he has been through and he is in such good spirits," Burress said then. "It was just unbelievable to come across a person like that who went through a tremendous change in his life. I have never met somebody like that who had a high spirit like nothing was wrong and I was like, 'Wow. I have a little ankle injury, I have to go out here and give it my best.' I tried to go out and play, not thinking about it and all I thought about when I scored that touchdown was that I wanted to find him to give him that football."

Gadson was on the sideline and on the field as an honorary captain for the Giants’ win at Green Bay in the conference championship game. Then, there was Gadson again, talking to the team the night before the Super Bowl.

"I talked to them as a teammate this time instead of as an outsider," Gadson said in the victorious locker room after the win over the Patriots. "I said several things and most important I said I'd take all these guys with me to combat. They're a tremendous group of men and I'm proud to be associated with them.

"I'm really proud for this team. They worked hard and epitomized what teamwork can accomplish."

He talked as players approached him one by one and they exchanged hugs. He reflected on how special it was to be considered a teammate.

"That's the best part of it," Gadson said. "A guy they didn't know five months ago that is now someone they call a teammate is pretty special. I've earned their respect and trust. I've been able to draw strength from my newfound family with the Giants. The inspiration goes both ways."

Said coach Tom Coughlin after that game, "He has been a tremendous part of our team from the first time he spoke to us. He's grown to really be a member of this team and he feels very strongly about that. He's just such a tremendous inspiration, an example to all because of what he represents. Here's a guy who sacrificed tremendously for all of us so we can sleep under the blanket of freedom.

"He's a real hero. He's a real human being that's paid the price. He played football at West Point so he has all the concepts of being a player, being in a leadership role in the military, being responsible for people in combat. He calls upon those experiences when he talks to our team and he has been a guy that our players have really, really become attached to."

Fast forward four years and, while Gadson has often been at the team’s games since that ’07 season, he is front and center again this year as the Giants have advanced to another Super Bowl. He was there again on that same Lambeau Field sideline when the Giants stunned the Packers in the divisional round. He also spoke to the team the night before their Dec. 4 game against Green Bay. The Giants lost, but they played well, and that game appeared to be a springboard to what has happened since.

"It's always great to be around the guys," Gadson said. "The Giants have been unbelievably generous in just allowing me to be an unofficial part of the organization. It means a great deal to me."

Said Giants defensive end Justin Tuck, "It's hard to complain about anything when you see a guy who is a father, a husband, a fighter, lose his legs. Even in 2007 when he was with us, I never saw one time where it looked like he ever felt sorry for himself. As football players, we get banged up, and sometimes you feel bad for yourselves. But look at him. He doesn't have any legs, but he's learned how to drive, and he's not dependent on anybody."

Gadson now is able to walk with prosthetic legs, although he also uses a wheelchair, and became the director of the Army’s Wounded Warrior program in July, 2010. He speaks to groups and often visits soldiers injured during the war.

Said Giants defensive tackle Chris Canty, "You're talking about an individual who has put it on the line at the highest level, understands all about execution and performance under extreme circumstances in the face of adversity, someone who has put himself in harm's way so that we may enjoy the freedoms that we take for granted every day."

Concluded Coughlin, who has provided Gadson with an open invitation to spend time with the team, "Greg is a marvelous human being is what he is. He's an incredible man, a powerful man. The power of spirit. That's what he has really done for us, just the idea that the spirit rises above all these adverse conditions."