Punter Dave Jennings Passes Away: Former Giants punter Dave Jennings passed away Wednesday morning at the age of 61. Jennings had suffered from Parkinson’s disease since 1996.
Jennings played for the Giants from 1974 to 1984. He still holds the franchise record for punts (931) and punting yards (38,792). Jennings was voted to the Pro Bowl four times (1978-80, 1982) and was named All-Pro twice. Jennings was inducted into Giants’ Ring of Honor in 2011.
“Dave Jennings was one of the all-time great Giants,” said Giants’ President/CEO John Mara. “He was a valued member of the Giants family for more than 30 years as a player and a broadcaster, and we were thrilled to include him in our Ring of Honor. More importantly, he was an outstanding person who battled his illness with rare courage and dignity. We will miss him dearly.”
“Dave is and always will be a Giants’ Giant,” said Giants’ Chairman/Executive Vice President Steve Tisch. “He lived his life with class and dignity, and he was the ultimate professional as a player and commentator.”
“Dave was the very first player I met when I came to the Giants,” said former Giants linebacker Harry Carson. “When I met him I felt so welcomed. Dave was a guy that everyone not only liked, but loved. Anyone who knew Dave would say he was a great guy. He was a terrific person with a bubbly personality. The Giants were not very good when Dave and I were teammates in the 1970s. Dave was one of the few bright lights on those teams as a punter.”
“Dave could have participated in different sports, but he had punting down to a science,” said Carson. “He could position the ball where he wanted it to go. He had a terrific sense of placement. He took his job very seriously and he made it his own little science to punt the ball where it needed to be.”
Jennings also served as a radio analyst for Giants’ games from 2002 to 2007.
A video on Jennings’ career is available at Giants.com.
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Eric Kennedy
Eric Kennedy is Editor-in-Chief of BigBlueInteractive.com, a publication of Big Blue Interactive, LLC. Follow @BigBlueInteract on Twitter.
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