Jersey Guy Became Hometown Hero with the Super Bowl Champion NY Giants

The Wake Forest guard turned Giants starter became one of Bill Parcells' most trusted linemen during New York's Super Bowl era.

Oct 23, 1988; Atlanta, GA, USA; FILE PHOTO; New York Giants guard Billy Ard (67) on the sideline against the Atlanta Falcons at Fulton County Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Manny Rubio-Imagn Images | Manny Rubio-Imagn Images

It almost was as if there had been a script written, sitting on a shelf and collecting dust until just the right time for someone to set the project in motion.

Enter Bill Ard Sr., a longtime New York Giants season ticket holder from Watchung, N.J., a town located nearly 30 miles southwest of the old Giants Stadium.

His son, Billy, achieved All-American status as a guard at Wake Forest in 1980 while serving as a team captain and earning invitations to the Senior Bowl and Hula Bowl.

Ard had built up a reputation as a smart and dependable player during his three seasons as a starter for the Demon Deacons before entering the 1981 NFL Draft.

And since the league held its annual player selection process at the Sheraton Hotel in New York City, it made perfect sense for some of Ard's friends and family to be in the crowd.

His dad sat behind one of the group members who held up a sign reading "Let Ard be your guard."

Then, it happened in the eighth round when the Giants selected Ard, who wound up beating out Terry Falcon as a rookie.

And when starting left guard Roy Simmons missed a game against Washington in Week 11 because of a rib injury, Ard seized the job and held it for the following seven seasons.

His timing was perfect because fellow Jersey native Bill Parcells replaced Ray Perkins (left for Alabama) as the Giants' head coach in 1983 and began building the team that would win Super Bowl XXI.

A significant part of this process would be the coach's reliance and affection for the blue-collar work ethic of the offensive line, a group of no-nonsense guys who shunned the spotlight and subscribed to the team's hard-nosed mentality.

The linemen from that squad insist that it was Parcells who came up with the idea to dub them the "Suburbanites" at some point during the 1985 season. He also handed out individual nicknames.

Ard became "Biff the Paper Boy" with Parcells often entering the locker room asking him if he had finished his morning route.

"It's kind of like the (Commanders) Hogs or the (Bears) Black and Blues Brothers. For us, this name fits," center Bart Oates told the media during Super Bowl week.

"We're all the same type of guys. We're all married. We all have little kids. We all live out in the suburbs. We even all do yardwork."

Oates, Ard and the rest of the “Suburbanites” also did one heck of a job protecting quarterback Phil Simms. 

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