Denzel, meet Spider.
Some celebrities only need to go by their first names. That’s certainly the case for legendary actor Denzel Washington. And it was true in the 1960s for former New York Giants safety Spider Lockhart.
One day, long before Washington was an Academy Award-winning leading man, the two crossed paths.
Washington, while recently discussing his new movie “Highest 2 Lowest” with NBC, recalled a childhood memory of the day he met Lockhart, a two-time Pro Bowler who played for the Giants from 1965 to 1975.
“I went to a clinic as a kid, one of those youth football clinics at the old Yankee Stadium,” Washington said. “I met Spider Lockhart. Yeah, I’ll never forget it.”
Lockhart, a Dallas native whose first name is Carl, played at North Texas State University before being drafted by the Giants in the 13th round of the 1965 NFL Draft. He spent his entire 11-year professional career with the Giants.
“One of the great names in all of sports,” Washington’s co-star Jeffrey Wright said.
Denzel Washington and Jeffrey Wright, stars of the new Spike Lee film “Highest 2 Lowest,” talk about what makes Lee the best “coach” in the game.
Lockhart died of lymphoma in 1986 at the age of 43. The Giants honored him by wearing a “Spider” patch on the front of their jerseys during their 1986 Super Bowl-winning season.
Lockhart was one of many sports legends to play on the hallowed grounds of the original Yankee Stadium – which was built for Babe Ruth and the New York Yankees in 1923 and also served as the home of the NFL’s Giants from 1956 to 1973.
Wright wondered why such an iconic venue is no longer standing, having been torn down when the new Yankee Stadium opened in 2009.
“I’m just over here wondering why they tore down the old Yankee Stadium,” Wright said. “Well, it’s like consider the Roman Coliseum, they haven’t had a ballgame there in thousands of years, that thing is still sitting there.”
“It’s still sitting there,” Washington said of the nearly 2,000-year-old arena that was built in 80AD. “Yeah, but the facility, the infrastructure.”
“Yes, I guess they had to move on to something. I guess pieces were falling on people’s heads,” Wright said with a laugh.
“Yeah, that part,” Washington added.
