Nobody, it seemed, liked Kerry Collins very much. Nobody, it seemed, was especially happy he was aboard, signed to play quarterback for the Giants in 1999.

The reputation he lugged through the door was not good. He was a drunk (as evidenced by a DWI arrest). He was a racist (the assumption after an off-color joke angered some African-American teammates with the Panthers). He was a quitter (for allegedly telling Carolina coach Dom Capers he didn’t want to start any more).

“He’d been accused of just about everything,” former Giants coach Jim Fassel yesterday recalled to The Post.

This was the broken-down player — a former first-round pick in 1995 — and person the Giants gambled should be entrusted to occupy the most important position in professional sports. When a veteran, cornerback Phillippi Sparks, saw that the locker next to his was set up for Collins, Sparks immediately emptied his own locker and moved to the other side of the room. Another new teammate, fullback Charles Way, was more open-minded and moved his stuff into the locker adjacent to Collins’ locker.

Respect for Collins was not a given, but boy, did he earn it with the Giants, resurrecting his career, turning a soiled image into one of great distinction. Collins, who yesterday announced his retirement after a prolific, up-and-down 16 years slinging the football for the Panthers, Saints, Giants, Raiders and Titans, is not going to get inducted into the Hall of Fame, but he will be remembered as a class act who, with the Giants, turned skepticism into loyalty from teammates who grew to adore him.

“I’m proud of a lot of players for different reasons, but I can’t think of a player I’m more proud of than him,” Fassel said.

Collins, 38, could have returned for another season with Tennessee, but in a statement he said after much “introspection” he decided enough was enough.

“While my desire to compete on Sundays is still and always will be there, my willingness to commit to the preparation necessary to play another season has waned,” he said.

Collins, near the top 10 in many NFL all-time passing categories, did more than toss 81 touchdown passes and 70 interceptions in his five seasons (1999-2003) with the Giants, as his ever-strong right arm extended far beyond the field. He regularly (and quietly, unannounced) visited Rusk Institute for Rehabilitation Medicine, developing a relationship with kids coming back from all sorts of physical ailments, donating $100,000 for a computer center. Although he was a relative newcomer to the New York scene, he was deeply moved by the events following 9/11, and, without fanfare, stopped by Fire House Ladder 5 on 14th Street not long after the terrorist attacks. Collins was so impacted that he created “Heroes Fund” to benefit families of firefighters lost in the Twin Towers.

“And how about the Harlem Boy’s Choir?” recounted former Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi, who dug deep into his Penn State roots to determine signing Collins, a Nittany Lion, was worth the risk.

After seeing a television report the choir lost funding for a trip to Israel, Collins decided he would pick up the cost of the entire trip.

That’s how Collins weaved his way into the hearts and minds of all who came in contact with him during his time with the Giants. His crowning achievement was a near-flawless performance in the 2000 NFC Championship Game, throwing five touchdown passes in a 41-0 rout of the Vikings at Giants Stadium.

“I’ll never forget him standing on the stand with the trophy,” Accorsi told The Post, “standing up there with Mr. [Wellington] Mara and thinking ‘My God, who would have ever dreamed, this fast, this would have ever happened to him and to us.’ ”

Two weeks later, the bubble burst when Collins threw four interceptions as the Giants were hammered by the Ravens in Super Bowl XXXV. There were certainly no hard feelings. Fassel — currently running the show for the Las Vegas franchise in the UFL and the head coach during Collins’ time with the Giants — immediately left a message with his former quarterback after hearing that Collins was leaving football.

“Everybody needs somebody to walk in their life at the right time,” Fassel said. “He walked into my life and I walked into his life at the right time. From a personal standpoint, he’s kind of the comeback player of the decade. It’s a phenomenal comeback story.”

paul.schwartz@nypost.com

