Villager Joe Kelly has been a Frank Gifford fan for most of his life.
Kelly was just a kid when Gifford – who died Sunday at 84 – and the New York Giants lost in overtime to the Baltimore Colts in the famed 1958 NFL Championship Game.
That contest has been called “the greatest game ever played” and it catapulted the National Football League into the big time.
“I remember watching that game on television and it still hurts,” said Kelly, who grew up on Long Island and is president of the New York Giants Club in The Villages. “I always liked Frank Gifford, he was special. I’m glad he had a good and a long life. He gave Giants’ fans some great memories.”
For most people, Gifford was best known as the voice of Monday Night Football, teaming with the late Don Meredith and Howard Cosell in the 1970s. They turned that show into a cultural phenomenon that powered the rise of pro football as entertainment spectacle.
Gifford remained a sportscaster until the late 1990s and also gained more media attention as the husband of television host Kathie Lee Gifford. She tweeted Sunday:
“Deeply grateful to all 4 ur outpouring of grace. We r steadfast in our faith & finding comfort in knowing where Frank is. Phillippians 4:13.” She added that he died of natural causes.
For millions of baby boomers, Gifford was the Hollywood handsome football idol of the Giants in the media center of the world, New York City.
“Frank Gifford was Mr. Broadway long before Joe Namath came along,” Kelly said, adding that any Villagers interested in the Giants club can contact him at joekellyy@aol.com. Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford and Billy Martin were the hot sports celebrities in the Big Apple back in the ’50s. They were baseball players for the Yankees but Gifford created his own spotlight as a football player and helped put the Giants in the media map.
“He was always in the papers and on television,” Kelly said. “When I was a kid I looked up to him. Frank Gifford was the kind of athlete everybody liked.”
The Giants drafted him in 1952 out of the University of Southern California. Gifford was a quick and slick running back and also fast enough to play defensive back.
The Giants won an NFL championship in 1956, and were a dominant team through the early 1960s. Gifford’s career came to a halt midway during the 1960 season, when he was brutally tackled by Chuck Bednarik of the Philadelphia Eagles in a game played at Yankee Stadium. To see the play to to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1EHius5Y88
Bednarik slammed Gifford with a blindside hit that knocked Gifford out cold. “It was a clean shot, he hit me with his shoulder,” Gifford would say later. He suffered a spinal concussion and fractured neck.
After the injury, Gifford sat out the rest of the 1960 season and also 1961. He came back in 1962 and helped the Giants reach a couple of championship games, but they never won another title. Gifford retired in 1964 and became a sports announcer.
During his 12-years with the Giants, Gifford had 3,609 rushing yards and 34 TDs. He caught 367 passes for 5,434 yards and 43 TDs. He is a member of the Professional Football Hall of Fame.
Gifford always had a knack for performing off the field.
Even as a young player, he appeared in a couple of movies, including “The All-American” (1953) and “Up Periscope” (1959).
Gifford’s big media break came in 1971, when ABC’s Roone Arledge put him in between “Dandy” Don Meredith and Howard Cosell.
Cosell was a lawyer and intellectual who tended to pontificate and lecture the audience. Meredith was a Texas country boy, who used to sing, “turn out the lights, the party’s over” at the end of the game.
Gifford was the straight man who just announced the game. “I was cast as the nice guy,” Gifford wrote in his autobiography. “The guy who got the numbers and the names down and the game played.”
At times, MNF was more entertainment than football and it became the hottest show on television.
“I couldn’t stand Cosell and I got a kick out of Meredith,” Kelly said. “But it was Gifford who kept everything under control. He just told you what happened. He was a good announcer.”
To see a clip of MNF:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahl5y0Y8YJo
Kelly, like many others, believes people remember the announcing but forget that Gifford was a Hall of Fame player.
“He was fast and tough, and the fans loved him,” Kelly said. “Back in those days, the Giants had a great defense with players like Sam Huff, Rosey Grier and Andy Robustelli. Gifford was the one everyone knew on the offense.”
Kelly heard about Gifford’s death on Sunday afternoon.
“It hits you when you hear about someone like that dying, but we’re all getting older and it happens,” Kelly said. “You never get used to it but you think of the memories and it makes you feel better.”
Steve Tisch, the Giants co-owner described Gifford’s legacy this way: “He will always be remembered as a Giants’ Giant.”
