Super Bowl XXV was held at Tampa Stadium on January 27, 1991. The event was memorable for so many reasons. Now deceased Pop singer Whitney Houston sang a rousing rendition of the National Anthem in front of 74,000 fans to kick things off. The NFC Champion New York Giants and AFC Champion Buffalo Bills played a hotly contested battle that evening that wasn’t decided until the game’s final play. The final play, a missed 47-yard field goal by Bills’ placekicker Scott Norwood that went wide right, enabled the G-Men to escape with a 20-19 decision and their second Lombardi Trophy in five years.
The 13-3 Giants were led all season long by their stifling defensive unit which included future Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor at outside linebacker. The Bills, led by their high-scoring backfield tandem of Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas and defensive stalwart Bruce Smith, took a 19-17 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter when Thomas scored on a 31-yard run from scrimmage. His touchdown eclipsed the 1,000-points-scored plateau in Super Bowl history (1,001 with the extra point). The Giants eventually battled back and took a 20-19 lead off Matt Bahr’s 21-yard field goal with just over seven minutes left in the game. This all set the stage for Norwood’s heart-stopping 47-yard attempt which sailed wide right by just a few feet as time expired.
Featured in this lot are the very cleats Lawrence Taylor wore that game. The white size 13 Nike/Pro cleats show considerable game wear and are covered with grass stains, dirt and even chunks of lime from the field littering the sides and bottom of both cleats. The original shoe laces remain intact. The consignor of the cleats is Taylor’s old Giants teammate and fellow linebacker, Gary Reasons. They teamed together in both of the Giants two Super Bowl victories and since their lockers were always right next to one another - Taylor wore No. 56 and Reasons wore No. 55 – spent ample time talking shop before and after the games. Reasons took possession of the cleats that very night in Tampa as Taylor looked at him and said, "I guess I won’t be needing these for a while" (he was headed to Honolulu to play in the Pro Bowl on a turf field), and left the pair in front of his locker. Reasons put them in his travel bag and has held on to them for the past 25 years. It must be noted that several cleats have come detached due to wear and aging; they have been super-glued in their respective spots on the outsoles. One shoe is missing 1 cleat and the other has all 12.
Includes detailed Letter of Provenance from ex-Giants Linebacker, Gary Reasons.