Still Super for Hostetler

BY JIM BAUMBACH | jim.baumbach@newsday.com

January 27, 2008

All these years later, it's easy to forget that Super Bowl XXV wasn't technically over when Buffalo kicker Scott Norwood missed wide right. There still were four seconds remaining, so the Giants had to take one final offensive snap before they could officially be crowned the champions.

Jeff Hostetler made the most of that snap.

After the Giants quarterback took a knee for the final play of the game, he tucked the football away in his right arm as if he were a running back doing everything he can to avoid a fumble. There was absolutely no way Hostetler was going to give up that ball, no matter how crazy the on-field celebration became.

Today, that football - the last football used in the last Super Bowl the Giants won - sits in Hostetler's house in Morgantown, W.Va. It's one of his prized mementos from the biggest game of his career, a game that he is constantly reminded about every day of his life.

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"It's amazing the stage the Super Bowl holds," Hostetler, 46, told Newsday yesterday, "and it's amazing the outreach of New York Giants fans. I can't believe how many people saw that game and remember that game."

What he did that year, taking over for an injured Phil Simms with two games left in the regular season and winning the Super Bowl, is an inspirational story that resonates with fans 17 years later. He still receives letters and phone calls to his house. And people frequently approach him in public.

"When I look back at it, it was a real special game, especially because of what was going on in our country," Hostetler said. (Just 11 days before that game, the United States invaded Iraq, beginning what would be known as the Persian Gulf War.) "That was the serious stuff, and seeing everyone in the stadium waving the flags, that was something else. It was a great game to be part of it, and even better to win it."

Like a lot of his former teammates, Hostetler sees similarities between this season's Giants and his 1990 Giants team. Both teams suddenly gained momentum right before the playoffs and carried it through the postseason. Both teams had a quarterback who wasn't exactly the most outgoing person on the team.

"In a lot of ways, I relate to Eli because he's more of a quiet guy, more reserved, and sometimes you take heat for that," Hostetler said.

Hostetler also believes the underdog role has served both teams well. He said the way people counted his team out after Simms got hurt is similar to the way many thought the Giants were done this season when they were 0-2.

Hostetler repeatedly said he's happiest for Manning for not giving up.

"I can relate to Eli with how early on, people really got on him for being the weak link and not being able to get it done," Hostetler said. "But he's quietly kept plugging away and let his performance speak for itself."

And if Eli is anything like Hostetler, he'll probably do his best to stay out of the spotlight this week. Hostetler remembered spending all of his free time in his hotel room studying game video, leaving only a few times for food. And he always used a secret back exit out of the hotel.

"I knew all the ins and outs through the kitchens, the back doors and all that stuff," he said.

These days, Hostetler mostly is a homebody. He has owned a bagel shop and a residential construction company and is big into developing property. But his true passion is his charity work, The Hoss Foundation, which he founded in 1985 to help families and kids who are going through tough times.

"I'll tell you, winning the Super Bowl was phenomenal," he said. "But some of the faces and emotions I come across from being able to help others, that ranks right up there, too."

Hostetler won't be going to Arizona to watch the Giants because of a previous commitment: He's planned a family reunion in which many of his extended family will be coming in to visit. "But don't worry," he said. "The game will be on."