Versatile Pro Football Hall of Famer Gifford dies at 84

The trio of Gifford, Don Meredith and the incomparable Howard Cosell as the broadcasting team for ABC’s Monday Night Football found three prolific wordsmiths with three distinctly different styles and personalities melding together like the metals that make a fine sword, cutting through the airwaves with razor precision – and the stately Frank Gifford gripping above the pommel to hold everything together.

Frank Gifford won the 1956 NFL title with the New York Giants and was inducted into the American Football Hall of Fame in 1977. His wife, Kathie Lee Gifford, is a host for NBC’s “Today“. 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.

After his playing career he moved into TV commentary, working for ABC’s Monday Night Football from 1971 to 1997.

He also hosted ABC’s Wide World of Sports and covered several Olympic Games for the network.

In a statement released to NBC News, the Gifford family said: “We ask that our privacy be respected at this hard time and we thank you for your prayers”. He was married to Kathie Lee Johnson, known to us as Kathie Lee Gifford, since 1986.

“Not my greatest game”, Gifford told the AP in 2008. By the time he retired for the second and last time, after the 1964 season, the Giants and the N.F.L. had gained the national sports spotlight, and the versatile and handsome Gifford had become a celebrity.

Gifford passed away on Sunday. “He was the face of our franchise for so many years”.

By the time of his Hall of Fame induction, Gifford’s broadcasting career was well-established.

ESPN says “Gifford amassed 9,753 combined yards and his 78 touchdowns is still a Giants record”. The Giants routed the Bears 47-7 at Yankee Stadium, where Gifford shared a locker with Mickey Mantle.

Of course, the play he may be most associated with was that nasty hit he took in 1960 from Eagles linebacker Chuck Bednarik, who laid him out after a pass reception and celebrated over him as he lay unconscious.

His voice hasn’t been a part of watching the game of football for many years, but for an entire generation, he’ll be the yardstick of comparison for many years to come. 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.

When he wasn’t on the field, Gifford tried to put his movie-star good looks to use in Hollywood, appearing in about a dozen films, most notably the 1959 submarine movie “Up Periscope”.