Giants Summer Questionnaire: Defensive Tackle Chris Canty

Today’s installment of the Giants summer questionnaire is a bit of a changeup to our usual routine because it’s a “live” Q&A instead of the ones we usually collect at minicamp and then spread over the next six weeks.

I spoke with Chris Canty on Thursday at his “Camp of Champions” event at George Washington High School in Washington Heights, New York. Canty is a guy who actually, truly enjoys the charity work he does because of the strong influence of his parents. Together with the Police Athletic League, the United Way of New York City and Verizon, Canty and a handful of other NFL players (including Giants linebacker Michael Boley) put youngsters through football drills and plan to do so once again this morning for the final day of the camp.

Canty, who missed all of the on-field work during the spring while recovering from knee surgery, talked about his charitable work as well as his desire to get back on the field very quickly. The Bronx native also showed his unselfish, charitable side when asked about his goals for this upcoming season.

You’ve done this camp in Charlotte, where you spent many of your formative years, but you felt the need to make it happen here?

Well I’ve been doing the Camp of Champions for six years now and this is the first year we’re doing it in the New York area. Obviously, I recognize I’m here all year round, my platform is here, I play here, I’m originally from here. So I definitely want to have the opportunity to bring my guys and be able to give back to this community.

You’ve done a couple of other events here – the Thanksgiving-week dinner at a food shelter and a Christmas toy drive.

Absolutely. Because I’m here and because I’m playing for the Giants and originally from here, I’ve had a tremendous platform to be able to give back and be of service to my community. I’ve been blessed and I’ve been given a lot. And to whom much is given, much is required. So I try to take time to give back to the community and I try to inspire others to give back as well. Out here, we’ve got all these guys from around the NFL, they love kids. To have them here to share and build that platform even bigger to give back to these kids is going to make a huge impact in their lives.

What have you heard from the kids this week that has stuck with you?

‘I’m tired.’ (Laughs) They’re telling me they’re tired. I said, ‘Guys, we don’t have time to be tired. We’re here to work.’ Obviously, we want to show them anything is achievable through hard work and discipline. That’s the biggest thing, to be able to instill a small measure of discipline and let them understand in order to achieve any kind of success you have to discipline yourself, you have to make priorities in your life and when you have that discipline on the gridiron, through these lessons we teach them in football drills, it permeates through every aspect of their life, through their academic life, their social life, their life at home. If we can provide that spark for them and get them thinking a little different way, the sky is the limit for all of them.

What have they said in regard to the Super Bowl?

Well, we’ve got some adamant Giants fans. I had one of my buddies from the Patriots (James Ihedigbo) speak and it’s clear these kids around here aren’t Patriots fans.

They gave him the business?

Oh yeah, they gave him the, ‘Boooooooooo!’ I told them, ‘Champions are respectful, even if the guy speaking is from Boston.’ But it got ugly for a second.

Do all of these drills have you thinking of camp and wishing it was here?

Absolutely. It does.

Really? I was only kidding.

No, I’m serious. It brings it out, man. It’s football. When you love ball, you love ball. You can’t help it.

Will you be ready to go day one?

I think I’ll be ready to go. Obviously, we have to defer to (team physician Russ) Warren and the medical staff, but I feel great. There’s no swelling in my knee or anything like that. There’s nothing inhibiting me right now. I feel good. We want to be smart about it, but also I have the itch right now and I’m ready to get back into football stuff.

I bet you’re in the minority there. I’m sure a lot of guys don’t want to get back into camp right now.

I’ll tell you what, I know what it’s like when you don’t have football. I know what it’s like. I don’t want to go without that. I remember my first year here (in 2009 when he missed eight games to injury). It was an awful year. So I know what it’s like to not have ball and I never want to go through that again.

What are you looking from yourself this season?

I want to make my teammates better through my performance and my leadership in the locker room. I think last year I was able to have a small measure of individual success (a career-high four sacks), but I didn’t feel like I did enough to elevate the play of the guys around me and that’s definitely something I’m looking forward to doing this coming year.

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Canty is the face of his event and certainly puts a lot of work into it, but his brother Joseph does a lot of the hustle work for Chris' charitable endeavors.

"I see a dream come true, a whole lot of work that's paid off, a whole lot of prayers and being consistent in what you stand for," Joseph Canty said of the increased charity work the family has done in this area. "And it's worked out tremendously well. It's one we hope a lot of kids try to emulate and that a whole lot of families realize they can give back. It's not about how much you do, it's about doing something."

This article originally appeared in the Star Ledger, on June 29, 2012 and was authored by Mike Garafolo: mgarafolo@starledger.com