Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart might be known by most — but not all.
U.S. Olympic rugby player Ilona Maher falls into the latter category, admitting on her “House of Maher” podcast on Tuesday that she had no idea who Dart was when she met him at a Super Bowl party back in February.
“When I was at the Super Bowl, I went to this party and there’s a lot of like football players from the Giants were there,” Maher told her sisters, Olivia and Adrianna Maher, on the podcast. “There’s this one guy, he’s like blond, he’s an attractive guy, young-looking, and I’m like, ‘Hey what’s up man?’ ”
She continued, “I’m like, hey, you play football?”
Even when the Giants QB confirmed that he did, Maher continued pressing him.
“I’m like, ‘What team do you play for?’ Mind you this is Giants’ (Cam) Skattebo’s party,” she said. “And I was like ‘Sweet, man that’s awesome. What position are you?’”
Maher finally realized her gaffe once Dart answered that he was indeed the quarterback.
“No idea,” she told her sisters. “I mean he knew who I was.”
Maher, 29, who has represented the U.S. at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2024 Paris Olympics, has recently spoken out against her alma mater, Quinnipiac University, after they abruptly cut their NCAA women’s rugby program.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Quinnipiac said a realignment of their athletics program was necessary “to support long-term competitive, financial, and Title IX objectives.”
“These decisions are never easy, but they are essential to ensuring that Quinnipiac Athletics remains equitable, competitive, and sustainable for the long term,” Director of Athletics Greg Amodio said in the statement.
In response to the news, Maher took to social media, posting an Instagram story captioned “Shame on you,” while tagging the school’s athletics account.
Maher, who graduated in 2018, helped lead Quinnipiac to three straight National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) while earning a spot on the NIRA All-AmericanTeam for three consecutive years herself.
She eventually went on to win a bronze medal for Team USA in rugby sevens at the Paris Games.
