Fathers and Sons: The legendary family legacies in New York Giants history

On this Father’s Day, we’ve decided to look back at the fathers and sons in New York Giants history. To our surprise, there haven’t been many father-son duos who have played and/or worked for the franchise in its century-long existence.

Here are the most famous father-son duos in the history of Big Blue.

Tim founded the Giants back in 1925 for an entry-level fee of $500 and led the team to four NFL titles (1927, 1934, 1938, 1956). He ran the club until he died in 1959 at the age of 71. He was part of the 17-man inaugural class elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963. When Tim passed, he left his two sons, Wellington and Jack, each with 50 percent of the team. When Jack passed away in 1965, his son, Tim, inherited half of the team, setting off a decades-long internal feud as the two sides did not see eye-to-eye.

Wellington, as stated above, was a half-owner of the Giants from 1959 to his death in 2005. He also served as president and general manager. During his tenure, the Giants won two Super Bowls (XXI, XXV) and reached a third (XXXV). John took over as president and CEO in 2005, and the Giants have won two more Super Bowls (XXII, XXLI) since. Wellington was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997.

Bob Tisch, president of the Loews Corporation and former Postmaster General of the United States, bought Tim Mara and his family’s 50 percent stake in the Giants in 1991. Tisch owned the club on a 50/50 basis with Wellington Mara until both men died three weeks apart in 2005. Upon Tisch’s death, his share was passed to his son, Steve, and, up until this year, the stake was still in the family. Steve, although no longer an owner, is still the Giants’ Chairman. His siblings, Jonathan and Laurie, are also board members.

The most famous Giants’ father/son player tandem. Steve, who came to the Giants in a trade with Dallas in 1989, played both linebacker and long snapper for the Giants through 1993 and was a member of the Giants’ Super Bowl XXV championship team. Zak was a fourth-round pick of the Giants out of Brown in 2007 and played on two Super Bowl championship clubs (2007, 2011). He played 199 games in his 13 years with Big Blue, the fifth-most in team history. Zak, mainly a long snapper and special teams captain, was selected to the Pro Bowl twice (2008, 2010).

Don was a massive tight end (6-foot-7, 245 pounds) who came to the Giants for one season, 1985, after an eight-year career spent mainly with the New England Patriots. He played in just seven games for Big Blue in 1985 before retiring from football. He did manage to go out on a high note, catching a touchdown pass from Phil Simms in the Giants’ 17-3 postseason victory over the San Francisco 49ers. Tim was one of Don’s two sons who went on to play quarterback in the NFL. Matt is the more famous one, having led the Seattle Seahawks to the Super Bowl. Tim played for eight different NFL teams in his eight-year career, the Giants being one of them as Eli Manning’s backup from 2005-2006.

This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: Fathers and Sons: The legendary family legacies in New York Giants history