JIM KANICKI
Defensive Tackle
No. 73
Michigan State
Jim came to the Giants from the Browns with running back Ron Johnson and linebacker Wayne Meylan in exchange for wide receiver Homer Jones in a major trade after the 1969 season. Starting all 14 games in 1970, he solidified the New York defensive line during the Giants' near-playoff 9-5 season in which the defense was greatly improved.
A No. 2 draft choice of Cleveland in 1963, Jim became a starter the following year when the Browns won the NFL championship and was part of three more Eastern Conference champs. Although he suffered a broken leg midway through the '69 campaign, he returned for the championship game against Minnesota.
Jim earned three varsity letters in an All-American career at Michigan State. Named most valuable lineman of the North-South Game, he also distinguished himself for the College All-Stars against the Green Bay Packers.
ROLAND LAKES
Defensive Tackle
No. 76
Wichita State
"Work as a consistent swing man between offense and defense failed to help the morale or the weekly play of Roland Lakes, who decided last year that he wanted to make the grade as a defensive tackle. Only 20 when he became a 49er, he's now matured to the point where he's ready to start at his berth for the next few seasons.
Added weight- which did not cut down on his speed- helped him to a starting offensive tackle spot in 1962 where his initial inexperience at 'reading' defenses had been a handicap. Back to defensive duty last season, Lakes was one of the few who did not permit the club's overall performance to affect his every-Sunday standard.
Lakes was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi."
-Don Schiffer, Pro Football 1964
"The shuttle system seemed to end for Roland Lakes last season when he settled down to a regular spot at defensive tackle in the front four. He was understandably rankled by constant shifting between offense and defense, and requested steady play and got his wish. It did wonders for his play as he turned into an aggressive pass-rusher and used his 265 pounds to ward off onrushing offensive linemen.
Roland played his college football at little Wichita and was the 49ers' second draft choice for 1961."
-Jack Zanger, Pro Football 1965
"Roland was the 49ers' second draft choice for 1961. He played defensive end that year, moving to offensive tackle in '62, and to first-string right tackle in '63."
-1965 Philadelphia No. 178
"From the beginning of his pro career, Roland Lakes has been regarded by the 49ers as potentially a brilliant defensive lineman. That was eight years ago.
Last season was his best by far as a pro, and the 49ers think it was worth waiting for. A towering 6-4, 265-pounder who played his college football at Wichita, Roland put on a fierce pass rush last year.
He spent his first couple of seasons with the 49ers trying to find himself, first as a defensive end, then as an offensive tackle. But since shifting to tackle on defense, he has seemed more at home."
-Jack Zanger, Pro Football 1968
"Roland was selected as the Most Valuable Lineman and made All-Conference in 1960 at Wichita and earned honorable mention as an All-America pick. He played in the Copper Bowl, the All-America Game and the College All-Star Game.
The second-round draft choice of the 49ers prior to the 1961 season, Roland has been a regular defensive tackle for the past seven seasons and is now rated to be one of the better ones in pro football. He began his pro career as a defensive end and switched to tackle during his second season.
Roland was a basketball star in college."
-1970 Topps No. 27
FRED DRYER
Defensive EndNo. 89
San Diego State
A West Coast surfer in the off-season, Fred Dryer is probably the fastest defensive end in the league.
The Giants' number one draft choice in 1969, Dryer had a great first half last year. However, as his 235-pound weight slipped to 215 near the end of the grueling campaign, his play slipped, too. The club is hoping a weight-lifting program will build him up- without fat- and that the 6-6 Dryer will have the stamina to go all the way.
Probably the best indication of his potential are the offers the Giants have received for him from other teams."
-Brenda Zanger, Pro Football 1971
FREDDIE DRYER: A FREE SPIRIT AT RIGHT END
"To say that Fred Dryer is a free floating spirit might be stretching it a bit ... but not far. Let's just say the Giants' great young defensive end is different and leave it at that.
On second thought, though, it's hard to leave it at just that- as an N.Y. Post columnist discovered one day last season when he interviewed Dryer at Yankee Stadium. Searching for the key that would unlock the real Dryer, Milton Gross asked, 'Are you a character?'
Fred wrinkled his brow, twirled the question around in his mind for a minute, and replied, 'Sure I'm a character. Isn't everyone?'
Maybe so, Freddie, but most of us don't like to admit it.
Dryer is not deterred by such vanity. He is happy in his role- even if at times he himself is not sure just what it may be. Fred is quiet but outgoing. He doesn't profess to be an intellectual but he can hold his own in any conversational league. He has a burning interest in life in general, not just in pro football. He isn't a way-out but he's no conformist, either. He's Freddie Dryer and, well, 'take me or leave me.'
The football Giants are glad they 'took' Dryer as their No. 1 draft pick two years ago. In that time the 6-6 240-pounder from San Diego State has blossomed into one of the NFL's truly fine defensive ends, an intense competitor with range and aggressiveness and seemingly endless stamina.
'But I don't really dig practicing,' admits Fred, not at all concerned that such candid baring of the soul might bring the wrath of an entire coaching staff down on his shaggy blond head. Freddie Dryer always tells it the way it is, even when it hurts a little where the dagger point breaks the skin. He's too much in love with life and people and everything to hold back. His thoughts are everyone's to share and mull over, a gift to the world.
There's no one better prepared to play football at 1:05 P.M. every Sunday than Dryer but Freddie confesses that 'it's tough to stay up for practice during the week.'
The handsome 25-year-old native of Hawthorne, California has never been accused of dogging during practice sessions ('He puts out a hundred per cent all the time,' says defensive line coach Jim Katcavage) but Freddie says there are moments when his free-floating mind is far from Yankee Stadium- maybe taking him back to catch a 'big one' at Boomer Beach, the hot surfing spot in San Diego; or putting him astride a roaring motor bike among the sand dunes; or perhaps in a canoe paddling down a remote river in South America; or maybe even in a store buying pink material that he will sew into cool sheets for his Volkswagen camper.
Freddie's enthusiasm and appetite and imagination for living know no bounds. He loves football (' ... the challenge and the contact') but says the game is merely a 'phase' in his life, leading him onward and upward to yet-unconquered horizons. He's not certain just where his star will guide him but he's positive he'll have a lot of fun and good company along the way.
Dryer's manner of 'having fun' on Sunday afternoons rarely meets with the approval of rival quarterbacks. He's become a virtual terror to them, a fierce hound among the hares, a lean, hungry wolf in the hen house.
In 1969, his rookie season, Freddie caught a lot of teams by surprise. The brash, confident youngster flattened Minnesota's Garry Cuozzo twice in his very first regular-season game, and the following week he spent a good deal of the day in the hair of Detroit's quarterback, Bill Munson. By the time the Giants reached Pittsburgh, the word was out: 'Watch out for the kid wearing No. 89.' The Steelers watched while Freddie sacked Dick Shiner three times. ('That's why I was delighted when they traded me to the Giants,' says Shiner, now the No. 2 man behind Fran Tarkenton.)
Dryer received some mention in the 1969 Rookie of the Year balloting, establishing himself as one of the game's up-and-coming defensive linemen.
Last year, though, he paid the price for his sensational rookie campaign. Most Giant rivals were prepared for the rangy end the second time around, and he was double and sometimes even triple-teamed. It often appeared that the combined effort of the entire offensive line was aimed at keeping Freddie off the quarterback's neck.
This special attention irked Dryer ('It's like fighting an octopus,' he says) but it did not dampen his spirit or turn aside his charge. He remained a constant thorn in the side of enemy clubs, a lithe tiger with boundless energy and bottomless determination.
Close study of Freddie's play does not always guarantee the other side pertinent intelligence which can later be used to stop him. This is because Freddie's style, like his life style, lacks a pattern of consistency. It is effective and professional but it is difficult to analyze.
'The best thing to do with Fred Dryer,' said Giants' pro personnel director Jim Trimble when the youngster reported as a rookie, 'is not to coach him. Leave him alone. Show him where the field is and let him do his thing.'
This is not to intimate that Dryer is uncoachable or that he rejects sound counsel. On the contrary, he is a willing and dedicated pupil. It's just that- well, some folks feel too much coaching might spoil the real Freddie Dryer, you know, kind of put a halter on the free spirit and all that. He is, they maintain, a special type of player, loose and relaxed, a bird soaring on unseen wind currents. The idea of Freddie being reshaped into a textbook end is unthinkable to them.
Dryer prepares himself for a game just as the other members of defensive coach Norb Hecker's unit. He plots the course of the enemy in his playbook, he memorizes frequencies and he gets bug-eyed watching films; even though not greatly motivated by the practice scene he nevertheless drives himself all week to learn his assignment. He also listens and absorbs. 'Katcavage has helped me a helluva lot,' he says, 'and so has Matt Hazeltine. When Matt's out there behind me, we play the right side with my legs and his brain.' (Hazeltine, of course, is the 37-year-old veteran linebacker with 15 NFL seasons under his belt.)
In the heat of battle, Freddie reverts to his true nature, playing his position instinctively and without inhibition. He hits and pursues. He leaps and whirls. He meets plays head-on one time and brings the ball-carrier down on the opposite side the next time. 'He is,' said one frustrated opponent, 'all over the damned field.'
Dryer starts the season at 240 pounds but wears himself to a frazzle and checks out in December at a gaunt 225. 'He burns up so much energy,' explains coach Alex Webster, 'that we can't keep weight on him.'
'I don't need weight,' answers Dryer, as if extra pounds were shackles that would restrict him and keep his lean body chained to one small piece of the universe. 'I want to be able to move, to swing out there, you know ... '
Yeah we know, Freddie, and we agree."
-1971 New York Giants Official Yearbook
BOB LURTSEMA
Defensive End
No. 71
Western Michigan
"The Baltimore Colts signed Bob as a free agent in 1966 and kept him on the taxi squad that year. In 1967 he was traded to the Giants for a high draft choice and immediately became a regular on the defensive line. A versatile athlete with quickness and strength, Bob has played both end and tackle for New York and has been one of the club's most consistent pass rushers.
Bob began his football career at Michigan Tech and then switched over to Western Michigan and developed into one of the school's top linemen, playing offense end and defensive end and tackle. He was Michigan Tech's MVP one year and was a two-time All-Conference selection while also earning a letter in baseball.
Bob has developed some of his own patents."
-1971 Topps No. 241
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