CANTON, Ohio — Michael Strahan began walking to the black Hall of Fame car waiting beneath the thunder that clapped outside McKinley Senior High School — undoubtedly Wellington Mara applauding — when he was asked what it means for him to go into the Hall of Fame as a New York Giant.
“One team, 15 years, you kidding me?” Strahan told The Post. “I don’t have a choice to make on what I go in as, which is nice. And then to go in with an organization that’s known as a storied organization, one of the originals, one of the best organizations in football, and still is, is amazing. And to have them play in this game makes it even more special.”
He had just finished his 45-minute press conference and was greeted warmly in the hallway by Hall of Famer Harry Carson. I asked him how he lasted 15 years in New York.
“A little bit of insanity, a little bit of luck, and a lot of work,” he said.
A woman in charge of ushering Strahan away said: “Thank you, I need him, sorry.”
“I’ve known him for 15 years,” I told her, and Strahan corrected me.
“Actually 20,” Strahan said.
“That doesn’t matter,” she said, and for some reason began laughing.
Sorry, it mattered.
“Serby, last question,” Strahan said as he entered the passenger side.
I asked Strahan if his bronze bust would have a gap-tooth smile.
“Of course. … Anything less would be uncivilized,” he said.
Then I asked: “And how did you become friends with [Derek] Jeter, by the way?”
“We’re both New York guys, we’ve been around for 20 years!” Strahan said, and chuckled. “Of course you’re going to see somebody and hang out a little bit.”
He was seated now, the door still open.
“What would you want Giants fans to remember you by, or as?”
“I’d like them to remember me as a member of a great team that pulled off one of the most improbable Super Bowl victories. Not me as an individual, to be honest with you,” he said.
He was so proud, and it was all surreal and overwhelming and humbling to him. Carson described Strahan as “all ears” at the Hall of Fame luncheon earlier, at which Mean Joe Greene, Ronnie Lott, Floyd Little, Dave Robinson and John Madden spoke, and everyone assumed Lawrence Taylor was on the golf course.
“This is something you can’t buy yourself into, you can’t get a break from somebody to get into, you can’t bribe somebody to get into,” Strahan said. “I mean, this is something you truly have to earn.”
He had walked through Fawcett Stadium and pictured himself standing on the stage surrounded in seats by his Hall of Fame brothers and looking out at his parents and kids, and he wondered whether there could be tears of joy along with the cheers.
“It might be a little tough,” Strahan said. “I am not going to be the first one to crack — guarantee you that — because I’m the last one to speak [laugh]. I just told the guys, ‘If you’re going to cry, this is the opportunity to cry. This is an opportunity to cry when nobody can say anything to you. But just don’t be an ugly crier. Don’t be an ugly crier, please I beg you, and if you get out of hand, I will — even if it’s not protocol — go up there and get you and pull you away to save your family.’ ”
Not Live With Kelly and Michael. Live With Michael.
“A lot of men who used to come up, congratulate me on football are now congratulating me on Kelly And Michael, or GMA [chuckle] or something like that, it’s a little weird,” Strahan said. “But it’s cool. It means that I’ve done something right, and I look at it as a compliment.”
“The biggest thing is going to be, ‘Just don’t sleep in it,’ ” Strahan said.
He recalled one of his personal highlights of Super Bowl XLII Week in Glendale, Ariz.
“We’re at the Cardinals facility where we practiced, and I’m watching Tom Coughlin eat an In-N-Out Burger,” Strahan said, “because he had an In-N-Out truck come. And just to see this man who was so stern and so strict get sloppy with a burger — And then go back for another one? — was the highlight of my week. And it let me know that we were very, very, very relaxed. I’ll never forget that image. I actually have it on tape.”
He thanked Coughlin for preparing him for life after football. And Jeremiah Davis for scouting him at Texas Southern and steering him to the Giants.
“And Eli,” Strahan began, “what can I say? I watched him go from Peyton Manning’s little brother to Eli Manning, his own man, his own player. And he won a Super Bowl for me. The things that he pulled off to win that game, helped me retire. I don’t know if I would have if we didn’t win.”
Saturday night, he officially becomes one of the Giants of the franchise and the sport. Strahan mentioned fellow Giants Hall of Famers LT, and Carson, a big brother to him, and Andy Robustelli.
“To hear names like that, and think I’m in that same group is unbelievable,” Strahan said, “because I never planned on it.”