All of this from the man who admits he's certainly not the finest player on the Yale squad. "He doesn't have an inordinate amount of ability," Samko adds, "but he gets more out of himself than anyone."

Giella obliged when the call came the summer before his sophomore year, asking if he'd move from offensive guard to defensive tackle when he returned to campus. All he wanted was a shot to play, and though hw spent much of that sophomore year behind two All-Ivy tackles, the move proved a blessing in disguise.

Gaining valuable playing experience in mop-up appearances. Giella spent the year under the tutelage of then All-Ivy tackle Serge Mihaly "Serge gave so much of himself." Giella says now, "especially to the younger guys. He spent time with me, showing me the very things I use today."

The leadership that Giella saw in Mihaly during that Ivy championship year of 1981--a year in which the Elis amassed a remarkable 9-1 record--is what he now gives to the younger players.

The last two years have been far from easy for Yale's 107th football captain, though.

Injuries and losing records have taken their toll on him. "There have been a lot of firsts." Giella says of this year in particular, "like the first time Columbia has won in the Yale Bowl since I was born and the first time Brown has won since I was born. That's pretty hard for me to take."

But through it all there still remains a quiet confidence in Giella, a knowledge that virtually none of this in his fault and that this is just another of life's learning experiences.

"To me football is life on a small scale, says the strongest member of the Elis who will close his football career against Harvard.

"A lot of times in your life you're going to have a lot of problems, you'll be trying hard and you'll fail. But it's not the end of the world, you just have to pick yourself up and work harder."

It is with that very belief that the History major approaches his teammates. And as the squad continues to suffer, he preaches something he has learned from Cozza. "I always say that if it works out, fine. But if it doesn't it doesn't make you any less of a person. You just get back up and try again."

"When you're winning, everything's fine," he adds. "Life's a lot harder when you're losing."

Giella will give it one last try this Saturday when Harvard visits the Yale Bowl. "I've been thinking about this game since my freshman year," Giella says, "and now here it is--the climax of my entire atletic career."

"A win there would set off the whole season," he adds. Like the great coach at Yale [T.A.D. Jones] said before the Harvard game: 'Men you're about to play Harvard; this is the most important thing you'll ever do in your entire life.'

"Well I don't know if it's the most important thing you ever do in your entire life, but as far as anything I've ever done in my life so far, it'll all culminate in that game."

Adds Cozza: "He's suffered more than anyone connected with us. But not once has he ever given up--anything."

Except perhaps a bowl of ice cream