NFL Player, Broadcaster Frank Gifford Dies
Published on August 10 2015 6:25 am
Last Updated on August 10 2015 6:25 am
He was at least as famous a broadcaster as he was a player. And in his later years, which he spent as a football statesman, his wife's public profile was probably higher than his was. But long before all of that, Frank Gifford was a New York Giant -- as much a New York Giant as anyone who has ever lived. Picture all of the Giants' history as one organic body, and it's fair to label Gifford its heart.
Gifford died Sunday at the age of 84, and the news stirred memories nationwide of him as part of Monday Night Football's all-time team. Gifford, Howard Cosell and Don Meredith were the faces of the televised pro football revolution. As part of that endeavor, Gifford played a major role in building the NFL into the dominating brand it is today.
But before that, Gifford belonged to New York and to the Giants in a way that mattered viscerally. Before he helped make the NFL cool, Gifford made the Giants cool.
The Giants of the 1950s were a perennial championship contender, sharing a stadium with the most dominant New York Yankees teams of all time and strutting around the Big Apple like the bona-fide sports celebrities they were. Gifford hung with Frank Sinatra and Mickey Mantle at Toots Shor's Restaurant. He appeared in movies with Tony Curtis, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. He had matinee idol looks and Hall of Fame talent. He was a star before the NFL really made stars. Among the children of the era who wore his No. 16 jersey was a young John Mara, who was born to the Giants' owners in the third year of Gifford's career.
"Frank Gifford was the ultimate Giant. He was the face of our franchise for so many years," Mara said Sunday. "More importantly, he was a treasured member of our family. My father loved him like a son and was proud to act as his presenter for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, a favor Frank returned years later by presenting my father in Canton. For my siblings and me, Frank was like a revered older brother whom we looked up to and admired. We loved him and will miss him terribly."
