Gary Phillip Reasons is a former American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 linebacker

Linebacker

A linebacker is a position in American football that was invented by football coach Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen...

 for the New York Giants

New York Giants

The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

 of the National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

, winning Super Bowl XXI

Super Bowl XXI

Super Bowl XXI was an American football game played on January 25, 1987 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California to decide the National Football League champion following the 1986 regular season. The National Football Conference champion New York Giants won their first Super Bowl by defeating...

 and Super Bowl XXV

Super Bowl XXV

Super Bowl XXV was an American football game played on January 27, 1991 at Tampa Stadium in Tampa, Florida to decide the National Football League champion following the 1990 regular season. The National Football Conference Champion New York Giants defeated the American Football Conference ...

 as a member of the team.

Biography

Reasons was also a part of two key plays during his career.
The first came during a critical late-season December 1989

1989 NFL season

The 1989 NFL season was the 70th regular season of the National Football League. Before the season, NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle announced his retirement...

 game against the Denver Broncos

Denver Broncos

The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver, Colorado. They are currently members of the West Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 at snowy Mile High Stadium

Mile High Stadium

Mile High Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium, that stood in Denver, Colorado, from 1948 until 2001.It hosted the Denver Broncos, of the AFL and the NFL, from 1960-2000, the Colorado Rockies, of the National League, of the MLB, from 1993-1994, the Colorado Rapids, of MLS, from 1996-2001, the...

. On fourth-and-goal from the Giants 1-yard line, John Elway

John Elway

John Albert Elway, Jr. is a former American football quarterback and currently is the executive vice president of football operations for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League . He played college football at Stanford and his entire professional career with the Denver Broncos...

 handed off to Bobby Humphrey

Bobby Humphrey

Bobby Gene Humphrey is a former professional American football player who was selected in the first round by the Denver Broncos in the 1989 NFL Supplemental Draft after a stellar career at the University of Alabama...

, who went airborne trying to break the plane of the goal line. But Reasons also went airborne; his hit sent Humphrey spinning backward like a helicopter. The Giants, propelled by an incredible 57-yard touchdown on a screen pass to speedy David Meggett on third-and-31, went on to win that game and the NFC East that season before falling to the Los Angeles Rams in the infamous Flipper Anderson

Flipper Anderson

Willie Lee "Flipper" Anderson, Jr. is a former American football wide receiver who played for the Los Angeles Rams , the Indianapolis Colts , the Washington Redskins , and the Denver Broncos...

 game at Giants Stadium

Giants Stadium

Giants Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium, located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. Maximum seating capacity was 80,242. The building itself was 230.5 m long, 180.5 m wide and 44 m high from service level to the top of the seating bowl and 54 m high to...

.

The second came during the playoffs of the 1990-1991 season

NFL playoffs, 1990-91

The NFL playoffs following the 1990 NFL season led up to Super Bowl XXV.The league expanded its playoff system from a 10-team to a 12-team tournament...

. During the NFC Championship Game versus the San Francisco 49ers

San Francisco 49ers

The San Francisco 49ers are a professional American football team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team was founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference and...

, Reasons ran for 30 yards on a fourth-quarter fake punt play, which helped the Giants win 15-13 and advance to the Super Bowl. Only a tackle by 49ers punt returner John Taylor

John Taylor (American football player)

John Gregory Taylor is a former American football wide receiver with the San Francisco 49ers. Taylor attended Pennsauken High School and was one of six NFL players to come from PHS during the 1980s. Taylor attended Delaware State College and was a member of their football team, the Hornets...

 prevented Reasons from scoring, but Matt Bahr

Matt Bahr

Matthew David Bahr is a former professional American football placekicker in the National Football League. He attended Neshaminy High School in Langhorne, Pennsylvania where he excelled in both football and soccer...

 did cap the drive with a field goal

Field goal (football)

A field goal in American football and Canadian football is a goal that may be scored during general play . Field goals may be scored by a placekick or the now practically extinct drop kick.The drop kick fell out of favor in 1934 when the shape of the ball was changed...

 that brought the Giants to within 13-12.

Reasons was the first player to be named three times to the Division I-AA All-America

All-America

An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...

 team while playing college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 at Northwestern State

Northwestern State University

Northwestern State University, known as NSU, is a four-year public university primarily situated in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a nursing campus in Shreveport and general campuses in Leesville/Fort Polk and Alexandria. It is a part of the University of Louisiana System.NSU was founded in 1884 as...

 and in 1996 he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame

College Football Hall of Fame

The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...

.

In 2004 and 2008 Reasons served as the Head Coach for the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz

Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz

The Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz was a member of the new Arena Football League. The team began play as a 2004 expansion team of the original Arena Football League's now-defunct minor league af2...

arena football team, and currently is employed by Longwave, Inc.