The strength of three: The 30 greatest trios in NFL history
By Ian Cummings
. Wellington Mara, Bill Parcells, Lawrence Taylor. New York Giants. Rise of Giants . 15. player. 31
This trio is a bit unconventional, but it speaks to the versatility with which the New York Giants came to be as Super Bowl champions in the late 20th century.
By that point, Giants owner Wellington Mara was no stranger to winning. He’d been with the Giants since 1925 and he’d been with the organization for four NFL championships. In 1927, he won as a ball boy. In 1934, he won as an 18-year-old co-owner. And in 1938 and 1956, Wellington Mara, as general manager, steered the Giants to the top.
In the late 1970s, however, it became clear that Mara, now the owner and president of the franchise, needed to adapt. His team was not winning and other franchises were finding ways to cultivate competitive advantages in an ever-evolving field.
So Mara made some changes; he hired George Young to oversee football operations and he also brought along Bill Parcells as a defensive coordinator.
By 1983, Parcells was the team’s head coach. After a brief spell of controversy at quarterback, Parcells had the Giants back in the winning conversation. Mara enabled the success as the owner, and Parcells catalyzed it as a motivating head coach. Now, the team needed a star to garner that success. And in Lawrence Taylor, one of the best to ever play the game, they found that star.
With an efficient offense led by serviceable signal-caller Phil Simms and with a ferocious defensive unit labeled the “Big Blue Wrecking Crew”, headlined by Taylor, the Giants finally validated themselves in the new era of football, winning Super Bowl championships in 1986 and 1990.
It took a cohesive vision from ownership to on-field play. And after years of silence, the Giants managed to return to glory. The Maras set that foundation, and later, they’d oversee two more Super Bowl championships, adding to the legacy that Wellington started.