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January 23, 2008
Lt. Col. Greg Gadson Is Giants' Inspirational Co-Captain
Lieutenant Colonel Greg Gadson Is Giants' Inspirational Co-Captain
Eli Manning celebrates NFC title with U.S. Army Lt. Col Greg Gadson, who lost both legs to a roadside bomb in Iraq but, as honorary co-captain, has become part of the Super Bowl-bound team.
His name is Lt. Col. Greg Gadson and he used to wear No. 98 for the Army football team and was with the Second Battalion and 32nd Field Artillery, on his way back from a memorial service for two soldiers from his brigade when he lost both his legs to a roadside bomb in Bahgdad. It was the night of May 7, 2007, and Lt. Col. Gadson didn't know it at the time because he couldn't possibly have known, but it was the beginning of a journey that brought him to Lambeau Field Sunday night. He was there as an honorary co-captain of the Giants, there on the sideline at Lambeau because this Giants' season has become his season now and he wasn't going to watch from some box. This is a Giant at the Super Bowl worth knowing about, as much as any of them. He played at West Point between 1985 and 1988, and one of his teammates was Mike Sullivan, who played cornerback and some safety and is now one of Tom Coughlin's assistants with the Giants. When Sullivan and so many other of Gadson's teammates found out what had happened on the night of May 7, found that Gadson had first lost his left leg to arterial infections and then his right, it brought that old Army team back together. Sullivan visited Gadson at Walter Reed, came back in June, this time with a No. 98 Giants jersey, Gadson's own name on the back, signed by several Giants players. When Sullivan left that day in June, he said to Gadson, "What else can we do?" Greg Gadson said he'd love to take his family to a Giants game. It was the Giants-Redskins game, in Washington, third Sunday of the season, Giants 0-2 by then. The tickets were arranged and then the Friday before the game Mike Sullivan called and asked if Gadson would be interested in addressing the team on Saturday night. Gadson's wife Kim drove him to the Giants' hotel. Lt. Col. Greg Gadson, Second Battalion, 32nd Field Artillery, old outside linebacker from Army, spoke to the Giants. And just as no one knew that the Giants would begin a 10-game road winning streak the next day, just as no one knew this could ever become a Super Bowl season, no one in that room including Gadson himself knew that the soldier in the wheelchair was joining the season that night. He watched from the sidelines at Lambeau as the team he met at 0-2 played the way it played against the Packers and played itself to the Super Bowl, watched as the Giants came back from that missed field goal at the end of regulation, finally saw Lawrence Tynes kick it through from 47 yards out. The boy ran for both of them. .
Wild Thing's comment........ I really liked what Lt. Col. Greg Gadson said to the team as well it is a great and touching story about one of our soldiers. Posted by Wild Thing at January 23, 2008 12:44 AM
Wow, what a story! Posted by: Lynn at January 23, 2008 04:34 AM
Lt. Col Gadson is an inspiration for all wounded combatants and an example for the youth, it's my suspicion that the reason the media doesn't touch a story like Gadson's is their anti-military bias and the fear that Gadson might inspire a youngster to set the military as their career goal. What a man and what an example he sets. It takes one tough individual to accomplish what this man has done. Posted by: Jack at January 23, 2008 12:33 PM
Great story. I hope he gets at least a mention during Super Bowl coverage. Would't it be neat if Col Gadson could get an assistant coaching job at West Point. Posted by: TomR at January 23, 2008 12:44 PM
Lynn, your so right, he is a man and not some kind of throw away human being. This story should have been on the front page of every paper and not only that but also in every sports section too so more people would see it. Talk about it on sports shows and news shows too. Posted by: Wild Thing at January 23, 2008 05:46 PM
Jack your so right, gosh I just can't believe how much the media just can't even give an inch on these stories. Like you said too, it is so inspiring and what a story to share with young people....that would be so great. Posted by: Wild Thing at January 23, 2008 05:48 PM
Tom that would be so fantastic if that could happen. Posted by: Wild Thing at January 23, 2008 05:49 PM
With a Co-Captain like Lt. Col. Greg Gadson the Giants will be the Super Bowl XLII Campions. Go Giants! Posted by: Les at January 23, 2008 08:24 PM
Les, I love things that have a lot of heart and this story and the man, Lt. Col. Gadson have such heart it is so special. Thanks Les. Posted by: Wild Thing at January 23, 2008 11:59 PM
When the Giants accepted their NFC George Halas trophy in the locker room, Mr. mara's first words were "We'd like to thank our Divine Inspiration for our victory today..." One more road game to go for the Broadway Blue Road Warriors! The GMEN won't even need the insulting +13 point spread either!! Posted by: darthcrUSAderworldtour07 at January 24, 2008 01:04 AM
Darth, this will be an exciting game. I am really looking forward to it. Posted by: Wild Thing at January 24, 2008 04:34 AM
"Me being a part of this team," Gadson was saying Monday night from his home in Virginia, having made it back there from Green Bay, "really starts with the team I played on at West Point."
"My injury turned out to be a catalyst event," Gadson said. "These were guys who hadn't talked in years, but now were rallying around me, and my family. Some of us had stayed in contact, but not to any great degree. But now an incident in a war reminded us that we were still brothers."
"I just spoke from the heart, as a soldier and as a former football player," he said, "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."
"When the ball went through, you could feel the elation on our sidelines, and hear the stadium go quiet at the same time," Gadson said. "It was like the air being let out of a whole state's soul. And then the next thing I saw was my son jumping in the air and running on that field."
Comments
See, the media didn't show this.
Why? Were they afraid the kids watching
might get offended by a man who lost
both his legs? God forbid.
He's a man. And a great one at that.
He rallied the troops and they won
over and over again. Now, they're going
to win the Super Bowl for him.
Thanks Lt. Col. Greg Gadson
