1976 NFL Draft: Giants great Harry Carson recalls 50 years since franchise selected him

Fifty years ago this week, Harry Carson sat in his dorm room at South Carolina State waiting for a phone call. It was the only way he’d find out if an NFL team had drafted him.

It’s a reminder of how different the NFL Draft was on April 8-9, 1976. There was no oversized television special. Carson, in fact, left his room at one point to go to the dining hall and meet some friends.

“There was no ESPN at the time and you just had to wait until they called you up,” Carson told Newsday. “I didn’t know what was going on and I got tired of waiting.”

He’d learn about his future by watching the evening news. The sportscast revealed that two players from the state of South Carolina had been drafted.

Clemson tight end Bennie Cunningham was a first-round pick by the Steelers. Then, with the 105th overall pick, the Giants drafted Carson in the fourth round.

It began a journey in which Carson made nine Pro Bowls, won a Super Bowl and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He remains one of the most revered players in Giants history.

“He defined what being a Giant is, period,” said former teammate Carl Banks, now the radio color analyst for Giants broadcasts.

Carson has been in reflection mode as various 50th anniversaries occur more often. Last year, South Carolina State honored his team winning the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship in 1975. So when he realized his Giants draft anniversary was this year, it reminded him again how fast time has passed.

“That’s when the reality of it all hit me,” said Carson, 72. “And I thought, wow, that’s pretty cool. What can I do to commemorate 50 years being drafted and playing with the Giants?”

Before the draft, his dream team wasn’t the Giants. He knew the area because he had visited Newark several times after his mother moved there from South Carolina to find work, but Carson wanted to play professionally in a warm-weather city.

“If I played for a West Coast team, then I probably wouldn’t have to wipe the snow off of my car every other day,” Carson said.

He also knew very little about the Giants, who were 9-32-1 in the three seasons before he arrived. So Carson researched the team’s legends after he was drafted — players such as Frank Gifford, Sam Huff and Andy Robustelli, who also was the team’s general manager in 1976.

They became players for Carson to emulate, even as a rookie.

“I wanted to be named in the same breath as those players who were those iconic players for the Giants,” he said.

He also thought about the coach who changed his career trajectory. Marty Schottenheimer, the team’s linebackers coach in 1976, led the push for the Giants to draft Carson.

During rookie minicamp, Schottenheimer asked Carson to play inside linebacker. He had never played the position; he was a defensive end and nose tackle in college. Schottenheimer, however, thought he could be an asset with his ability to stop the run.

“I realized Harry was driven by this pride that compels him to be the very best even when no one is watching,” Schottenheimer told The Washington Post in 1987. “He became my pet project, the guy you lay yourself on the line for and commit yourself to.”

For four weeks before training camp, they worked on the nuances of the position. If Carson made mistakes, Schottenheimer encouraged him to play through them and learn from them. That trust empowered Carson to maintain his confidence.

There were few Black middle linebackers in the NFL in 1976. Willie Lanier (Kansas City) and Garland Boyette (Houston Oilers) were the first Black pro players to start at middle linebacker in 1967. Like quarterback, it was seen at the time as a thinking man’s position, mostly for white players.

So Carson faced a double risk: pushing against stereotypes as he learned a new position. He figured it out, becoming a starter by year’s end, making the All-Rookie team and remaining a starter in his 13 seasons.

For that, he appreciated Schottenheimer, who died in 2021. Schottenheimer won 200 games as a head coach, but that first season with Carson not only altered the linebacker’s career but the Giants’ direction as well.

“He’s one of the best people that I’ve ever known because he took an interest in me and he believed in me when there were other coaches who did not,” Carson said.

Carson became a face of the Giants’ transition from 1970s cellar-dwellers to Super Bowl champions in the 1986 season. The Giants had one of the NFL’s best run defenses during Carson’s peak years, and he served as a captain for 10 seasons.

Carson remembered that fans were loyal in those down years. It fed his drive to be the best and he passed that message on to his teammates.

Banks recalled how Carson often reminded his teammates not to embarrass themselves with their effort. Then he’d lead by example to back up his words.

It taught Banks what the Giants’ standard was and remains. He called Carson a “giant amongst men” who embodied what being a captain meant.

“Win, lose or draw, [Harry] wanted to make sure that the fans got our best,” Banks said. “That was important. That’s what defines Giants football.”

Fifty years ago, Carson hoped to be among the Giants’ legends. Now he sits among them the way he once sat in his dorm waiting to hear who had drafted him.

He couldn’t have predicted it at South Carolina State, but one television broadcast and a position change set him on a path that made him and the Giants better together.

“I’m pretty happy with the way I played the game,’’ he said, “and how I was able to make that transition from one position to another and master it.’’

By Evan Barnes

evan.barnes@newsday.comevan_b

Evan Barnes covers the Giants for Newsday. He previously covered the Brooklyn Nets, Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.