Pro Football Hall of Famer Frank Gifford dead at age 84

Gifford was the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 1956 when he led the New York Giants to a league championship.

Gifford was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1975 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977, and also was a member of the 1994 inaugural class of USC’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

Frank Gifford doesn’t become Frank Gifford without being a part of the “Greatest Game Ever Played” – the 1958 NFL Championship – and without all he did as a New York Giant both on and off the field.

Gifford, who was married to TV talk show hostess Kathie Lee Gifford, died suddenly of natural causes at his Connecticut home, his family said in the statement released to NBC. He became a play-by-play announcer on ABC’s iconic Monday Night Football program, as well as a revered NFL commentator.

While he worked with others, including Dan Dierdorf, Al Michaels, Joe Namath and O.J. Simpson, Gifford was most known for the eight years he served as a calming influence between the folksy Meredith and acerbic Cosell.

“Howard pontificated. Don Meredith was the country guy who kept the big city slicker straight”. But Gifford’s legend started out as the right guy at the right time as a major sports star in Los Angeles at USC.

A controversy over an affair with airline stewardess Suzen Johnson resulted in a reduced role on the pregame show in 1998, after which Gifford left Monday Night Football.

Following his retirement from the NFL, Gifford continued as a broadcaster on CBS. “No matter how many mistakes he makes during a telecast, no matter how glaring his weaknesses as a performer, nothing sticks to him”.

Gifford’s 5,434 yards receiving were a Giants record for 39 years, until Amani Toomer surpassed him in 2003.

Born August 16, 1930, in Santa Monica, Calif., Frank Newton Gifford was the son of an itinerant oil worker.

The Giants made him their No. 1 draft choice in 1952 and in his 12 seasons with them, he played defensive back, running back, wide receiver and quarterback, as well as returning punts and kickoffs.

Later in life he stayed in the spotlight through his marriage to Kathie Lee Gifford, who famously called him a “human love machine” and “lamb-chop” to her millions of viewers.

Gifford had five children, three with his first wife Maxine Avis Ewart, and two with his second wife, popular television host Kathie Lee Gifford.