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Speaker 1: Welcome to another edition of Papa's Perspective. I'm Bob Papa's

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Speaker 1: The Giants celebrate one hundred seasons of Giants Football. Papa's

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Speaker 1: Perspective is brought to you by Bob's Discount Furniture, the

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Speaker 1: official furniture store and a Mattress partner of the New

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Speaker 1: York Giants. So on this segment, as we continue our

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Speaker 1: one hundred season celebration, we have with us as a

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Speaker 1: very special guest, Bob Robastelli, whose dad Andy is one

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Speaker 1: of the all time great players in not only Giants

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Speaker 1: history but NFL history. And Bob has a new book

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Speaker 1: out and it's called The Pope of the NFL. Bob,

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Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining us. And what inspired

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Speaker 1: you to write this book about your dad?

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Speaker 2: You know, I think after he passed, I think it

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Speaker 2: became a situation of a little bit of closure. Started

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Speaker 2: to do a lot of research. I wasn't sure where

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Speaker 2: it would go or where it would take us. But

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Speaker 2: in the end, as we started moving along with and

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Speaker 2: writing and writing and rewriting and editing, we got it

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Speaker 2: to a pretty good point where we thought it was

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Speaker 2: a very good idea to publish. So I worked with

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Speaker 2: Peter Golenback, who's a well known sports writer in the area.

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Speaker 2: And it's a it's a legacy to a to a

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Speaker 2: to a great man, and I think a very very

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Speaker 2: humble and family orientateed man.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: I mean the family is a big part of the

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Speaker 1: whole thing, right, and and what your dad meant to

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Speaker 1: the entire family and the part of the Giants family.

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Speaker 1: And it's funny we use that word family. But was

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Speaker 1: there anything in the book that you uncovered of some

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Speaker 1: stories that maybe you didn't even know about.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, there were certain aspects of it. One of them

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Speaker 2: was his warriors. He never spoke about the war. He

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Speaker 2: was on the USS William C. Cole in the Pacific Theater.

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Speaker 2: He was a gunner and they were a destroyer, escort

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Speaker 2: vessel and a canal.

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Speaker 3: So I learned a lot about that through research.

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Speaker 2: The other things that I learned, basically were the way

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Speaker 2: that the people that he interacted with interacted with him.

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Speaker 2: He did everything based on I think one basic principle,

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Speaker 2: and I think that basic principle was do the right thing.

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Speaker 2: And that was not only with the rope Stelly family,

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Speaker 2: which is pretty huge, but with this Giant family and

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Speaker 2: even his corporate service family. I mean Robostelly corporate Services

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Speaker 2: after his years was playing this girls and ladies and

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Speaker 2: gentlemen who's still to this day meeting and have cocktails

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Speaker 2: and reminisce about the family that we were. So I

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Speaker 2: think it was a combination of a lot of different things.

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Speaker 3: But the biggest thing I found was the war year

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Speaker 3: is very very interesting.

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Speaker 1: Bob, when you think about your father. Obviously he was

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Speaker 1: in charge of football operations for the Giants. They didn't

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Speaker 1: call it a GM at that point in time, right,

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Speaker 1: But some of the things that I noticed in the

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Speaker 1: book was his post playing day passion for still being

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Speaker 1: involved in the sport. Talk a little bit about that

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Speaker 1: to our audience.

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Speaker 2: Well, you know, I think that football but naturally within

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Speaker 2: his blood. I mean I remember being a little boy

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Speaker 2: and he'd come home after practice and he'd sitting in

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Speaker 2: our den and he'd just watched film. In those days,

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Speaker 2: it was the click, you know, the two per eight.

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Speaker 2: It wasn't what they have now, So I think his

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Speaker 2: passion for it remained. He did have a stint with

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Speaker 2: NBC as a commentator for one year.

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Speaker 3: Didn't think he was doing a good job, so we quit.

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Speaker 2: They went walked in and said, look, I just can't

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Speaker 2: do a good job on this, so I'm leaving. So,

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Speaker 2: you know, the only one time that I remember him

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Speaker 2: ever really failing at anything. He then hooked up with

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Speaker 2: Jackie Robinson for the Brooklyn Dodgers, a semi pro lake

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Speaker 2: for a couple of years, and then I think in

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Speaker 2: nineteen seventy three, when the Giants were kind of in

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Speaker 2: that fifty to fifty ownership situation, they asked him to

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Speaker 2: come in and try to work things out, and just

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Speaker 2: because he knew it was the right thing to do,

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Speaker 2: that's what he did.

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Speaker 1: When you think about his playing days and the fact that, yeah,

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Speaker 1: he comes to the Giants, they start winning championships. The legacy,

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Speaker 1: you know, my mom could still recite the Giants starting defense.

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Speaker 1: They made defense, They made defense sexy, the chan of defense.

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Speaker 1: It was your Dad's group kind of created liking defense

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Speaker 1: to be cool.

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Speaker 3: No question about it. I mean, in those days, they

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Speaker 3: always introduced the.

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Speaker 2: Offense first before the game at Yankee Stadium, they started

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Speaker 2: doing the defense. Those days of the Giants I think

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Speaker 2: were the best thing that could have ever happened to

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Speaker 2: my father. I think when he got traded from the

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Speaker 2: Rams to the Giants because of a family matter. He

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Speaker 2: just I think blossomed into who he was being home

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Speaker 2: being in Connecticut. I remember when we were in la

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Speaker 2: I was very young, but we'd go out there for

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Speaker 2: five six months and then come back. His base was

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Speaker 2: always Standford, Connecticut where he grew up. So in that

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Speaker 2: time he was able to interact with a lot of

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Speaker 2: different things and a lot of different people, and the

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Speaker 2: Giant years were the best, and I think there he

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Speaker 2: also met one of the men that he most respected

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Speaker 2: in Wellington.

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Speaker 1: You know, your father is interesting because, uh he built

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Speaker 1: this unbelievable business, you know, and how much of what

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Speaker 1: he was as a football player, as far as his

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Speaker 1: attention to detail, his discipline, his determination, how did that

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Speaker 1: carry over into the family business.

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Speaker 2: Well but I think it was a major part. I mean,

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Speaker 2: you know when they talk about the four to three

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Speaker 2: defense from the Giants perspective in Tom Lander, I mean

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Speaker 2: Tom Landry, he invented it, There's no question about it.

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Speaker 2: I think my father had a pretty good part in

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Speaker 2: refining it with him. All of that structure for him

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Speaker 2: and the organization that he found I think within the

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Speaker 2: Giants at that time helped him in his business. He was.

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Speaker 2: He was motivated in business from the time he was

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Speaker 2: ten years old. I mean he was selling you know,

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Speaker 2: the little ink mix, a little middle park to the

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Speaker 2: shot down the street to raise four or five dollars.

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Speaker 2: In college, he sold ties and sporting goods, so he

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Speaker 2: was always acclimated to that. I think the biggest thing

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Speaker 2: that he did and what made him so successful in

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Speaker 2: the morning was disciplined.

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Speaker 3: There's no question.

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Speaker 2: But he was organized, more so than any man I've

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Speaker 2: ever known. He'd have organizational charts and he'd changed them

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Speaker 2: all the time. He'd constantly be working on themselves. His

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Speaker 2: passion for business and his passion for taking care of

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Speaker 2: that business as a family, I think is what made

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Speaker 2: him the man he was.

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Speaker 1: In the book, what are some of the like football

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Speaker 1: related stories that the audience is going to enjoy reading about.

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Speaker 2: I think part of the training camp issues when they

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Speaker 2: were in Fairferral County and how we all hung out

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Speaker 2: as the kids with the players. I think the games

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Speaker 2: and what went on before the games, Like on Saturday,

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Speaker 2: they used to have a run through. All of us

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Speaker 2: kids would get together to get for the roads and

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Speaker 2: we'd be up in Roger morris Land and right field

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Speaker 2: they're playing touch football while they were practicing. So it's

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Speaker 2: a lot of family fun stuff that I think they'd

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Speaker 2: enjoy this. There's a lot more in there than just football,

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Speaker 2: but there's a lot of football too.

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Speaker 1: How cool is that you think about those Yankee teams

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Speaker 1: and those Giants teams and Giants winning a championship the

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Speaker 1: first year in Yankee Stadium, Yankees won the World Series

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Speaker 1: that year, Giants are perennially in these championship games, Yankees

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Speaker 1: are winning most of them. Giants unfortunately, are not winning

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Speaker 1: most of them. But it must have been a really

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Speaker 1: cool experience for the players and the families to cross

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Speaker 1: pollinate with the Yankees in that early part of the season.

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Speaker 3: No question about it.

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Speaker 2: And the one thing that my father always was amazed

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Speaker 2: at was that Joe D's.

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Speaker 3: Locker was right next to my father's locker.

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Speaker 2: Never forgot it, I mean to him, you know, as

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Speaker 2: well known as he was, he still knew Joe D.

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Speaker 3: Was the man. And all of.

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Speaker 2: The inter reaction between the players themselves and that time

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Speaker 2: in New York, it was just a special time. I

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Speaker 2: mean Yankee Stadium. Yankee Stadium was the mecca. There's no

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Speaker 2: question I mean, that's where it all happened.

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Speaker 3: Uh.

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Speaker 1: Where does the term the pope come from?

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Speaker 3: Well, the pope the pope term comes from.

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Speaker 2: The story goes that they were all out one night

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Speaker 2: and then away the game, and I guess they were

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Speaker 2: some of the guys who drinking and some of the

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Speaker 2: guys who you know, doing whatever. And my father basically

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Speaker 2: went up to them and said, hey, guys, we got

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Speaker 2: a game tomorrow, let's talk.

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Speaker 3: Get out of here and go home and do what

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Speaker 3: we're supposed to do.

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Speaker 2: And at that point, Dick Lynch knelt down, kissed his

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Speaker 2: ring and called him the Pope.

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Speaker 3: That's the story.

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Speaker 1: Why does that not surprise me that it was my

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Speaker 1: former broadcast colleague, Dick Lynch, that would be the wise

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Speaker 1: guy to come up with that.

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Speaker 2: You know. And and Dick Lynch, would you know when

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Speaker 2: the guys used to come over with the house, Yeah,

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Speaker 2: it would be Dick lynn he would be Roosevelt Brown,

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Speaker 2: it would be Eric Barnes, Jack Stroud. When Dick Lynch

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Speaker 2: came over, he always brought ice cream. So Dick Lynch

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Speaker 2: in our house was known as the ice cream Man.

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Speaker 1: That I could see too. And I can see him,

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Speaker 1: I bet you brought a lot of it.

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Speaker 2: He did, he would David then, you know, he was

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Speaker 2: a great guy. They were all just great guys. Cat

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Speaker 2: and Mow and you know Sam Hoff. They were great,

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Speaker 2: great people and.

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Speaker 1: All part of the one hundred greatest players in the

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Speaker 1: history of the franchise, including your father who was one

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Speaker 1: of the great players in the history of the whole

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Speaker 1: in the NFL. So, where can people buy the book

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Speaker 1: right now?

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Speaker 3: The book is don't play on Amazon, Amazon Books. It's there.

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Speaker 2: We're looking for further distribution. We have some meetings with

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Speaker 2: people that we're going to. We're going to book shows

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Speaker 2: and and doing a lot of promotions around here, you know,

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Speaker 2: hopefully in New York. We're looking at getting it's on

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Speaker 2: good Reads, so you know, it's it's starting to get

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Speaker 2: out there.

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Speaker 1: Well, it's good. It's a it's the perfect gift for

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Speaker 1: someone with the holiday season coming up, a giant fan.

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Speaker 3: Right, it really is.

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Speaker 2: And again it's such a cross section of faith, family, business, football.

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Speaker 2: I mean, it's it's uh, it's pretty good, I.

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Speaker 1: Think, Bob, Bob, we appreciate a couple of minutes, Thank

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Speaker 1: you so much. As we continue the one hundred season

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Speaker 1: celebration of the New York Giants to be a part

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Speaker 1: of the Popper's Perspective podcast.

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Speaker 3: Bob, thank you very much. I appreciate you having me on.

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Speaker 3: I really do thank you.

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Speaker 1: That's Bob Robistelli joining us here on this edition of

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Speaker 1: Popper's Perspective, brought to you by Bob's, the official furniture

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Speaker 1: store and a Mattress partner of the New York Giants.