Jerry Foley was on two radio shows early in the day before he sat down to watch—and cover—the New York Giants season opener.
A Robbinsville resident since 2003, Foley has always been a huge Giants fan, and he always has kept his fandom on unabashed display, whether it was his ’91 Plymouth Voyager painted in homage to his beloved team, or his garage and basement, both adorned with Giants memorabilia.
“I used to go every week as a fan before I moved here,” Foley said. “You’d see me tailgate on my lawn. That’s how Robbinsville saw me. I would do road games on the lawn. And I’d go to Giants Stadium or MetLife (Stadium) for home games.”
In recent years, however, Foley has been not only a fan but also a voice for the fans after catching on first as a writer and then this year ascending to editor for “The Giant Insider,” which has brought with it an increasing number of radio appearances.
“I still consider myself more of a fan,” Foley said. “I write from the perspective of a fan, other than when I’m writing previews or when I’m writing post-game stuff and I have to be more professional. Most of the stuff I write is opinion.”
Foley is widely regarded as a knowledgeable source of all things Giants. He calls in from his Robbinsville home as the regular co-host on CBS Sports Radio’s Game Face with Steve Fratt every Sunday morning from 9 a.m. until 10 a.m.
“I’ve had previous producers, previous co-hosts,” said Fratt, who is based in Danbury, Connecticut. “Jerry is the fifth in the 10 years, and I also did the show solo for a while before Jerry came along. I’ve never had the chemistry with previous hosts that I have with Jerry Foley.”
Fratt was a fan of Foley’s writing in “The Giant Insider” before they started working together. Foley rose rapidly from a fan writing letters to the editor to overseeing the publication that comes out bi-weekly in-season plus regularly in the offseason.
“It’s not a normal progression,” said Ken Palmer, who was editor of “The Giant Insider” since 1995. “He didn’t go to school to be a journalist. He didn’t take writing classes. He’s got such a good handle of the English language, which a lot of people don’t, and he knows so much about football and the Giants, he’s put it together to be the self-made ‘The Giant Insider’ editor. I’m definitely really proud of him. He took on something big.”
Foley never foresaw adding the side job in the media world.
“I always say I took my Catholic grammar school English at St. Joachim’s where you would diagram sentences, and I guess it serves a purpose now,” Foley said. “It’s kind of taken on a life of its own.”
Foley grew up in Trenton, and went through St. Joachim School before graduating from Notre Dame High School and Richard Stockton College. For 14 years, he worked at DeLorenzo’s Pizza until he moved into the financial sales world, his “real job” still while “The Giant Insider” is a passionate hobby.
“The second this gets in the way of that, I have to consider dropping it,” Foley said. “It’s a really cool gig, but it can’t get in the way of real life.”
Though Foley was raised right on the dividing line for fans of the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants, his choice of football teams was never in doubt. His father, also named Jerry, loved the New York Yankees, New York Rangers and New York Giants.
“He was a big Mickey Mantle fan,” Foley said. “I just followed him and became a fan of his teams.”
They watched Giants games together, and Foley developed an eye for the nuances of the game while deepening his passion for his favorite football team. Foley had just turned 10 when his father took him to his first Giants game, a 28-27 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in 1984.
“It was a comeback win,” Foley recalled. “Zeke Mowatt had the day of his life with 137 yards receiving. But my dad and I mostly watched games each Sunday together. We only went to a few games together live.”
Foley, 42, started going to Giants games regularly in 1999. He would buy individual game tickets then drive up and tailgate and lead cheers with a bullhorn from Lot 13-A outside Giants Stadium. A personal three-page letter to then-Giants owner Wellington Mara got him jumped up the long waiting list for season tickets in 2001. In 2006, he bought the Voyager, painted it Giants blue and had Joe’s Lettering and Signs in Robbinsville add Giants decals. The van lasted almost 10 years.
“It died,” Foley said. “I’m working on the next one. It’ll probably be the 2010 van we have, but I just haven’t done it yet. I used to bring it down to the end of the driveway and that’s where I would tailgate for road games. For home games, I would drive it up there and basically pray it got there because it was a death trap. It never broke down, but there were so many things wrong with it, I would just pray I’d get there alive. It broke down a couple years ago.”
Replacing it is in the planning stages.
“I’m in between that (2010 van) or do I do something bigger?” Foley said. “It’s probably a year or two away. I’m in between deciding if it’ll be something a little smaller or more grandiose.”
Foley has appeared on national shows like CBS Sports Radio’s ‘Ferrall on the Bench’ as well as SIrius XM Fantasy Radio.
For now, he’s adjusting to being “The Giant Insider” editor on top of his regular job, and being married to high school sweetheart Kristina and raising three daughters. It’s a lot to balance.
“There’s no doubt he’ll be committed to it,” Palmer said. “He’s just so passionate and into it. I really didn’t take him initially as a guy to take over because he’s so busy. He has three girls, a full-time job and everything. I figured maybe he could help out a little with the transition. Once I knew he wanted it, it was easy.”
Foley organizes and puts together each “The Giant Insider” issue. He answers mail, comes up with the cover and the topics on the covers as well as writing in the publication.
“The balance between being a fan and doing this, it’s tough because you can’t be completely unprofessional and write what you want to write,” Foley said. “You have to dial it back a bit. I still try to write like a fan, like the most level-headed version of myself.”
On Sundays, he comes up with three columns following each game including the “First Down” column that is the responsibility of the editor. He adds a lighter side to his writing that also showcases deep insight and knowledge.
“I’ve gotten better at as time has gone on, writing quickly under the gun,” Foley said. “There’s position by position breakdown, what went right, what went wrong, keys to the game and then my 800-word opinion about the game which is new this year because I’m the editor now.”
Foley grew up reading “The Giant Insider” that his father subscribed to, and when he moved out he got his own subscription. Subscriptions are available now at magzter.com. Foley was contributing opinions on the Giants early and often.
“He used to write in a letter to the editor almost every issue,” Palmer said. “A, I could tell the guy was passionate, and B, I could tell the guy could write. A lot of his letters were better written than some of my staffers’ articles. Through that, through him writing in, and our banter back and forth, we then got together, got a couple beers, and I knew he’d be perfect to write an article. One article an issue turned to two, turned to three, turned to he was doing everything for me.”
Foley remembers his first article that Palmer published in “The Giant Insider.” Foley was at the Meadowlands for one of his daughter’s dance competitions, and he wrote an article on a tour of MetLife Stadium that he took between dance performances. Palmer asked him for more…and more…and more.
“I started doing a weekly column for it,” Foley said. “Then 2014 came around, and he said, can you do your weekly column and a little more, so I would write a little more. I would do some post-game stuff. I would do it from my house. I was doing it mostly on road games, and he’d have me go to a couple road games each year. In 2015, he started giving me more to write. In 2016, I think I was writing half the paper, and then he said he was going to step aside.
“It’s not a position that’s a full-time gig, but I enjoy it and now I’m doing a lot of editing for it,” he added. “It kind of just happened over time. It started off with one small column and then I was writing more and more.”
“The Giant Insider” is owned by American Sports Media. They own other NFL team publications, but “The Giant Insider” is the only one that is bi-weekly. It’s a lot of work for Foley, who only five years ago was known just as a fan.
“The initial was definitely him writing in as the 12th man,” Palmer said. “He had a great command of writing and always made great points. I always thought, ‘Wow, I’m editor of ‘The Giant Insider’ and this guy knows more than I do.’ It always drew me to him.”
Now, Foley is considered an expert. When Foley started writing for him, Palmer started passing his name along to radio shows that asked for a Giants expert. Once, a radio show replied back that they only wanted a professional and Palmer told them that Foley knew more than he did. Foley has appeared on national shows like CBS Sports Radio’s “Ferrall on the Bench” as well as Sirius XM Fantasy radio, “Chad Dukes Vs. the World,” and on shows looking for a Giants perspective oftentimes leading up to a weekend matchup. Co-hosting with Fratt is his one regular weekly show. That commitment also took off quicker than anticipated.
“I read all Giants publications because I’m a big Giants fan,” Fratt said. “I was reading ‘The Giant Insider’ a couple years ago, and I read a couple of his articles. I liked the way he wrote. I found his writing to pull you in, and you were fixated on his articles.
“I seemed to enjoy Jerry’s articles more than everybody else’s. I enjoyed them more than reading the local papers like the New York Post and the New York Daily News. I contacted somebody I knew over there at ‘The Giant Insider.’ I asked if Jerry would be available to come on the show as a guest. After that one time, I thought, this guy’s really good on the air just like his articles are. So I had him on again not long afterward and again and again. Next thing you know, I’m asking him to co-host with me.”
‘It’s nothing magical,’ Foley said. ‘You pour your heart into it, and you’ll get there.’
Fratt has found Foley easy to work with and says the Robbinsville man brings plenty to the show.
“He knows the New York Giants just as well as I do,” Fratt said. “I know that team inside and out. He’s very knowledgeable about football overall. He’s a very good writer, and he’s a great communicator. He’s smooth. I’ve been doing radio for over 30 years, and I have never experienced a scenario like this one where the chemistry between myself and somebody else was at the level it’s at right from the get-go. That’s something you normally have to build on and work on.”
Palmer, too, has gotten to know Foley beyond being a fan. They are good friends who have tailgated together and see each other occasionally in Wildwood. Palmer has read with interest “The Giant Insider” since giving up the reins to Foley.
“It’s a little bittersweet, but they’re so good,” Palmer said. “He’s done such a good job. He’s added a few writers that give it more of his own flavor. It’s got more of his writing and a couple new guys he added as well as keeping some of the other guys. After the first few issues, he gets an A-plus from me.”
Foley, too, is enjoying his role with “The Giant Insider.” Feedback from fans, neighbors, family has been positive. They know how important it is to him. It spreads to all aspects of his life and family.
“My wife was pretty much sports agnostic,” Foley said. “Now she can’t help it. She’s a Giants fan, mainly to make sure I’m in a good mood all the time.”
Their daughters never had a choice.
“I told them if you want to root for the Devils or Mets, I don’t care,” Foley said. “You’re rooting for the Giants and nothing Philly.”
During the Giants’ final drive of Super Bowl XLII in 2008 that featured the David Tyree “Helmet Catch,” his middle daughter, only 4 years old at the time, prayed the rosary so that “the Giants would win and Daddy would be happy.”
Foley enjoys following Giants alumni players as much as the current team. Talking to New York’s former greats is a thrill in itself, just one perk of the job.
“The coolest thing was I was able to go to an Eli Manning camp for kids and I brought my daughters, and they all caught touchdown passes from Eli at MetLife Stadium,” Foley said. “We got a picture with him and used it for our Christmas card. It said, ‘Merry Christmas from the Foleys and Eli Manning.’”
Jerry Foley didn’t grow up dreaming of being editor of “The Giant Insider,” or a national expert on the New York Giants. He’s always been a huge fan, and he is thrilled to be able to share his passion in a new way.
“It’s nothing magical,” Foley said. “You pour your heart into it, and you’ll get there.”
Jerry Foley’s TV room amply reflects his love for the New York Giants.,
