Big Blue Goes Black : Jerry Reese GIANTS GM

The New York Giants hired Jerry Reese as their general manager, making him the first African American GM in NY Professional Football history, and only the third black GM in the NFL. Reese, will replace Ernie Accorsi, who held the post for nine seasons before retiring. Reese was introduced on Tuesday, January 17, 2006 at a press conference.

A graduate of the University of Tennessee at Martin, Reese first joined the Giants' scouting department in 1994 after working on the coaching staff at his alma mater. As the Giants' player personnel director, he oversaw college scouting and had most of the responsibility for the draft. Reese had served as assistant director of pro personnel for three years.

The other black general managers in the NFL are Baltimore's Ozzie Newsome and Houston's Rick Smith. This move signals a step forward in the NFL front office hiring of minorities. The league, which had seven African American coaches, last year (Dennis Green and Art Shell were both fired at the end of the season) has been slow to fill the void in the front office.

The Giants made it clear in a statement that the hiring was based on ability not color. Co-owner John Mara said, "We felt very strongly that he was the guy, regardless of the race issue." The Mara's have always had great relationships with there African-American players. This was evident during the passing of Wellington with recently retired Giants all-time leading rusher Tiki Barber at his bedside. Still, it is hard not to notice a black GM in a historically white organization. Speaking to the issue of race Reese himself noted, "...I don't take that lightly. There are many African-Americans coming along behind me saying, 'Man, look at Jerry.'"

Reese, will not have a lot of time to enjoy his celebrate regardless from where it comes. He must confront a third year quarterback in Eli Manning who was expensive and has yet to pay off. He will have to replace Tiki Barber who accounted in recently years for most of the Giants offense and deal with a coaching situation that while currently settled (Tom Coughlin was given a 1 year extension) is far from satisfactory.

While race may not have been the significant factor in the Giants' decision to hire Reese, it's impossible to downplay its importance. It resonated with Doug Williams, the first black quarterback to win a Super Bowl, who is now a personnel executive with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The bottom line is at the end of the day what Reese must do is get the Giants winning. NY was an unlikely 2000 Super-bowl team and this was before Eli Manning or the resurgence of now retired Tiki Barber. After going back to back playoff appearances for the first time since the 1989-90 season; Giants fans feel like they have a team that is again among the elite. If Reese can fix some key areas that have held the Giants back, his color won't be an issue, his job security will.