John Mara’s first memory as a fan of the Giants goes back to 1959, when as a five-year old he sat on his mother’s lap at Yankee Stadium “in the cold, trying to see the field from behind one of those beams.’’
It is safe to say the Giants are in Mara’s blood. They are a family creation, with his late father, Wellington, the franchise patriarch.
It has been quite a ride and in 2024, the Giants commemorate a special anniversary. On Monday they unveiled the plans for their 100th Season Celebration.
“It’s something we’re excited about,’’ Mara, the team co-owner, told the Post. “Not many franchises have been around for 100 years and it’s something we’re proud of. And the fact we have this fan base now, I hear from people who are third generation and now we’ve got fourth generation fans and ticket holders, that’s something that is really unique, only a few franchises and fortunately we’re one of them.’’
The Giants are the fourth NFL franchise to reach 100, following the Cardinals, Bears and Packers.
There are four essential elements the Giants wanted to make sure were represented in the anniversary celebration.
They were cognizant not to show recency bias to their four Super Bowl teams by also highlighting the four pre-Super Bowl championships (1927, 1934, 1938 and 1956). They wanted to salute their home field history in the Polo Grounds, Yankee Stadium and Giants Stadium. They wanted to make sure their fans would be represented in the storytelling. And they wanted to bring in the work the franchise does in the community in a meaningful way.
A 100-year anniversary patch will be worn this season, prominently displayed on the left side of the players’ jersey. The details were designed in-house by the team’s creative department and some of the features in the patch are quite subtle and well-researched.
“We needed to tell our story within the logo that could really capture the 100 seasons,’’ Nilay Shah, the Giants’ senior vice president, marketing & brand strategy, said. “We came up with 100 different variations of the logo and narrowed it down to four to present to ownership and it was unanimous with the version we ultimately picked.’’
There are eight elements included in the special patch.
The border is shaped identically to the unusual configuration of the Polo Grounds. The shape of the inside of the zeros in the “100’’ is the exact shape of Giants Stadium. The red banner was inspired by the classic single red helmet stripe. The banner flanks mimic the stripes on the sleeves of the legacy uniforms. There is a blue football shape with eight laces; the laces represent the eight championships and the football symbolizes “The Duke’’ ball honoring the late Wellington Mara.
“Including that as part of the logo was particularly meaningful for us,’’ John Mara said.
There is a version of the classic Giants Skyline logo from the 1950s — a John Mara favorite.
The “1’ in the “100’’ is the same font as the classic ‘ny’ that adorned the Giants’ helmets for many years.
The Giants wanted to find a way to salute their 18 years playing at Yankee Stadium and Aug. 4, with the Blue Jays in town, will be designated as Giants 100th Season Day at Yankee Stadium.
Eli Manning will throw out the first ball and the first 18,000 fans will receive a special Eli Manning bobblehead featuring Manning in Yankees pinstripes. The plan is to have a Super Bowl trophy and also the 1956 NFL championship trophy — clinched with a 47-7 rout of the Bears at Yankee Stadium — on display at the game.
On June 20, the team will host Giants 100: A Night with Legends at The Theater at MSG. In addition to current players and coaches on hand to discuss the 2024 season more than 20 Giants legends will be in attendance, including Tom Coughlin and Bill Parcells.
Starting in July, the Giants will reveal their “Top 100 Players’’ as voted on by an independent committee of NFL historians, media members and fan contributors.
The Giants during the season will designate three games to celebrate the 100-year anniversary and the franchise’s eight championships. For the pre-Super Bowl championships, a Frank Gifford bobblehead will be given to the first 25,000 fans.
For the two Super Bowls in the 1986-90 era, a Lawrence Taylor bobblehead will be distributed and for the Super Bowl titles in the 2007-2011 era, a Tom Coughlin bobblehead will be handed out.
Gifford was one of John Mara’s all-time treasured players — “probably the first player I ever loved’’ as a kid growing up. He includes Tucker Frederickson, Spider Lockhart, Rosey Brown and Emlen Tunnell — who Mara knew as a scout and a coach — as other childhood favorites.
As for what his father would think of this 100 season celebration, Mara said, “He wasn’t much for doing big events and things like that but I think he would appreciate the effort that was made to capture so much of the history he was a part of.’’