NEW YORK

“BACK AT HOME, THE TALLEST THING I EVER SAW WAS A TWOSTORY HAYLOFT, AND NOW I’M IN NEW YORK CITY,” Harper said.

ERNIE KOY, former Giant teammate, recalled, “For the first month or so, all the rookies, including Charlie, walked around New York City and stared with their mouths open up at the skyscrapers. I kiddingly told them they were going to get their tonsils sunburned! When Charlie came in, he helped right away. Not flashy. You could count on him getting his job done. A very smart player.”

Harper said, “When we were there, Linda got on The Price is Right TV show, hosted by BILL CULLEN , and won the darned thing.”

During Harper’s time in New York, Monday Night Football was launched, and in the booth was former Giant FRANK GIFFORD

“Amana, an appliance maker, was one of their sponsors,” Harper said. “We needed a refrigerator. One afternoon Frank was in our locker room. One of my teammates suggested I tell him I needed an icebox. No way was I going to do that. My teammate did, and a few days later a huge side-byside, an avocado green one, was delivered to our home. We kept that darn thing forever. New York City was exciting and we enjoyed it … saw a lot of places.”

Back then the Giants practiced and played their games in Yankee Stadium.

“First time I’m in the stadium locker room, my eyeballs about pop out,” Harper said. “Mickey Mantle was stenciled on the locker that I was assigned! Back then he was every kid’s hero. To this day it’s still a great memory for me to have used his locker.”

Mantle, of course, is the legendary Yankee from Commerce, Okla.

“Another time that first year in the stadium, I’m getting ready for a kickoff in a regular season game against the Colts. I look across the field and there’s number 19, already a legend and a future hall-offame quarterback, JOHNNY UNITAS , and I think, ‘Man is this a dream or what?’”

JOE TAFFONI was a Giant teammate.

“(Charlie was) a great teammate, fun to be with. We rented houses across the street from each other out on Long Island so we carpooled together into the city, became good friends, drank some beer together after practice. My wife, Susan, is from Ponca City and was an OSU grad.”

“Charlie could read defenses, very intelligent, and called offensive blocking assignments. If one of our halfbacks missed his block, Charlie would chew him out when he got back to the huddle. Mondays were our day off, and a group of us regularly played golf. Charlie took everybody’s money. Heckuva golfer, hit it a mile — and straight.”

Before he became a Giants’ teammate, JERRY SHAY played with Harper in several college all-star games, including the Coaches All-American Game and in a contest against the Green Bay Packers.

“Charlie was a lot of fun to be with,” he said. “A group of us players went to buy some bell-bottom trousers when they were just coming out. The legs were slender except where the bottoms flared out, but they couldn’t fit Charlie because his legs were too muscular. We kidded him about that.”

In Harper’s seven years, the Giants missed the playoffs twice by one game. Four times, Harper received a bonus given to the top 22 players who logged the most playing time.

Listed as the fifth down lineman on the depth chart, and in what seems to be an unbelievable scenario, Harper could play all of the offensive line positions

“No matter where I was, when the play was called, I visualized it and knew what my assignment was and did it,” Harper said.

“Probably my best game ever was against the Rams in Los Angeles. My good friend, Jim Click , who was center on the team when we upset OU, was working in L.A. and came to the game. One of our guys got hurt so I played against DEACON JONES for one-and-a-half quarters. Then another teammate had to come out because of the heat, and I blocked MERLIN OLSON for one-and-a-half quarters. Then a third teammate got kicked out, and I went against LAMAR LUNDY for a quarter. All three of those guys, at one time or another, were All-Pro, and I can honestly say, on that day, I didn’t get beat on a single play. For the season, I would play more than most of the starters. I also started a lot of games. What kept me around was I didn’t make mistakes or get penalties.”

During the offseason, Harper decided against becoming an optometrist and sold appliances and took a few agronomy classes.

“I never did anything professionally with those classes, but I always had the greenest lawn in my neighborhood.”

Asked about his best play ever, Harper smiled, “We are in Yankee Stadium. I broke my hand earlier in the game, had a splint put on it. We lined up for a kickoff — you’re supposed to protect your area on a kickoff. I don’t know what happened cause I’m the first guy down the field, and this little scatback is about to catch the ball. I’m going straight at him, not going to let him fake me out. I hit him with the cast going full blast right in the belly, absolutely fileted him. He fumbled! THE DEAFENING ROAR OF THE CROWD WAS SCARY ... AN INTENSE MEMORY.

“That whole experience — the Giant team was family, like OSU. Owner WELLINGTON MARA would sometimes be on the practice field but never told us what we should have done. Sometimes he’d ask me how Linda was doing.”

During his seventh season, Harper was injured the majority of the time and only played in one game.

“I figured it was time to quit. We moved back to Broken Arrow, and I went into the insurance business with State Farm.”

The most Charlie earned in a single season was $45,000. Adjusting for inflation, that works out to be $248,000 in today’s dollars versus the minimum of $435,000 paid today to NFL rookies.