Deeply embedded in the depths of the city known as the “concrete jungle”, are the roots of the Bronx’s own Sam Garnes. New York is where Garnes has called home his entire life, besides when he played his college ball at Cincinnati. It is where he played his entire professional football career with both the Giants and Jets. It is also where to this day, Garnes continues to work with and help mold both the youth and community as a whole. Garnes says ” Ive traveled all over around the league while I was with the Giants and Jets and coaching, but no where compared or gave me chills in the tunnel when waiting for my name to be announced than back home in New York”. I’ll tell you right now while he was speaking about this, I could almost hear the roar of the crowd myself and every single hair on my body stood straight up!
Garnes, a 5th round pick to the New York Giants in 1997, felt a little dissappointed during that draft at first. “Tampa originally called me and told me they were going to take me in the 2nd round. The pick came and went and I was still waiting for the call. Finally either Saturday evening or Sunday afternoon, I got the call from the New York Giants and I couldnt have been happier”.
When Sam got to the Giants, they were not a winning team. They had struggled for a few years, but coupled with Ike Hilliard and Tiki Barber and some solid additions on defense, that changed rapidly. There were times when the players needed to call themselves together and regroup as a unit during the 1997 and 1998 campaign. Garnes recalls ” There was one particular practice where I was awful. I was trying to do too much. I was trying to be someone I wasn’t out there”. Solace came from a close friend ” My best friend on the team Jessie Armstead pulled me to the side and told me to stop doing too much, stay true to who you are and what got you here”. The rest is history. Speaking on the bond like in which he shared with Armstead, Garnes says ” I’ve never felt a sense of comraderie and brotherhood than I did when I was the part of a football team. Whether NFL or the kids I coach now, we develop a bond that can never be broken. We are family”.
Garnes was also a coach in the NFL, acting as an assistant secondary coach for both the Denver Broncos and the Chicago Bears. He followed the trail of his good friend and former coach with the Giants, John Fox. Fox always admired Garnes’s approach and how he was “a true student of the game”. Garnes aided in the development of future standout defensive backs like Chris Harris Jr and Duke Ihenacho. Their ability to step up their play under the tootiledge of the staff Garnes was a part of, propelled Denver to a Super Bowl berth. Speaking on the relationships he developed as a coach of that team Garnes says ” I remain in contact with all of those guys from Denver, they’re my guys, my brothers”.
Since stepping away from coaching in 2015, Garnes has worked tirelessly to aid in the development of football with the youth and coaches in the Tri-State area. He founded the Sam Garnes Football Academy, which in Sam’s words, he doesnt like to “use promotion as a tactic, but would rather the results speak for themselves”. It provides an opportunity for the focus to be on the young men who excel in the sport to gain more notoriety in the recruitment process for colleges. ” States like Ohio and Texas are well known when it comes to high school football and with this program, the young men in our area are provided more of an opportunity to make it outside of our area and further their potential”. This academy is not what one would think of upon hearing that word. It is not some sports camp. “What we do is we go in there and work with the coaches first. We help them reform their program and become the best coach that they can be. By the time we do bring the kids in on it, they dont look to me, the ex NFL star, but rather they look at their coach for guidance and answers” Garnes says, epitomizing humility in every sense of the word. He has also founded the Sam Garnes Foundation, which provides the opportunity for contributors to be a part of providing camps, workshops and even career opportunities outside of football for the young men and women of the community. Garnes also has had a major hand in developing “SportsHi”, an app that aids high school student athletes to be able to get their game footage to coaches across the country and vice versa. It gives them an opportunity to get their name out there and provide themselves the chance to show what they got, which can be the hardest part of the recruitment process.
As a fan, talking with Sam today was nerve wracking at first. I’m a diehard Giants fan. Ive watched him compete on TV and in person. Pure joy was coarsing through my veins with every story of a teammate or game day memory he shared. It took all of 30 seconds to calm down and realize, im just a fan talking with a player about things we happen to both be passionate about. The best part of the entire phone call was not those things though , but it was getting to know Sam Garnes the human being rather than just the player. His passion, his knowledge, and his effortless ability to willingly share those things with others is what makes the human being far more impressive.
So whats next for Garnes? Well, he is currently a sports analyst for nationally syndicated radio show, The Ryan Show Fm (which I also happen to be affiliated with). But in typical Sam Garnes fashion, hes “ready to take it to the next level”. He is anxiously anticipating the NFL draft in April, saying “with football being over, this is the stage where we can really get things moving and be able to launch ourselves into another realm covering sports”. With that tenacious attitude and ability to articulate into words that passion and knowledge he carries, there is no doubt in my mind that it will be a successful endeavor. After all, that is what makes Sam Garnes, as he says, “New York Through And Through”.
To The Rack With Mac 