SU Alum David Tyree Speaks

Canadian Press — David Tyree found out recently that there's a downside to being a Super Bowl hero. The man whose helmet-top catch was the highlight of the New York Giants' Super Bowl upset over New England last year was being looked at funny by one of the many teenagers he works with as part of his street ministry team.

"Then he says 'Hey! I know you! You're with the Giants. You're Tyree!"' the wide receiver recalled. "After that, it was harder to get them to treat me like the person I am. You want them to talk with you, not worship you."
It's been a strange 12 months for Tyree, especially now as his team is back in the playoffs. He's stuck watching after being sidelined all season by knee and hamstring injuries, still working at Giants Stadium a couple of days a week but not playing football.
A valued but obscure member of the Giants for five seasons, Tyree suddenly became the symbol of his team's upset victory over previously unbeaten New England with his 32-yard third-down catch that kept alive New York's winning drive late in the fourth quarter.
It was a leaping grab of Eli Manning's desperation heave, pinning the ball to his helmet as he fell to the ground with the Patriots' Rodney Harrison trying to pry it away.
An instant classic was born by a classically obscure player who acknowledges, "I have no vertical." Tyree was drafted out of Syracuse strictly as a special-teams player in the sixth round of the 2003 draft, made the Pro Bowl in that role in 2005 and also worked his way into be the third, fourth or "sometimes fifth" spot at receiver.
With one huge catch on his sport's biggest stage, he became a celebrity - a talk-show star, an author and a temporary A-list interview subject. He was back in demand at the end of 2008 because his catch was so often celebrated by various media outlets as the "play of the year." Just to make his life a little busier, his wife, Leilah, gave birth to twins less than three weeks after the Super Bowl. Follow Story Here