Twitter reacts to Hall of Famer Frank Gifford passing

The Giants halfback harbored no ill-will toward Bednarik. You had to live in New York in the ’50s and ’60s to truly understand what a huge figure Frank Gifford was.

Taylor explained, “He caught passes, and threw passes, and blocked and was a good overall football player”. That injury prompted Gifford to retire, but he unexpectedly came back in 1962, switching to flanker. “But he came back and he, he got to be the Comeback Player of the Year”.

We found out how tough he was, too. Legendary television announcer who reached generations of sports fans who never got to see him play, yet still recognized his name, his voice, his sense of decency and his fair-minded outlook. Picture all of the Giants’ history as one organic body, and it’s fair to label Gifford its heart. After his football career, Gifford transitioned to the booth and became one of the most recognizable voices in the NFL. He teamed up with Dan Meredith and Howard Cosell. “No matter how many mistakes he makes during a telecast, no matter how glaring his weaknesses as a performer, nothing sticks to him”. “Heady stuff-and I loved it”.

Cosell blasted Gifford in his 1985 memoir, “I Never Played the Game”, as well as the “jockacracy” of athletes-turned-broadcasters in general as incompetents who ended up in broadcasting because of their on-the-field stardom.

Glauber has been Newsday’s national football columnist since 1992.

Even now, more than 50 years after he retired, Gifford still ranks as the Giants’ all-time leader in touchdowns. “We loved him and will miss him terribly”.

Lorenzo Bevilaqua/ESPN Some Giants get together at the premier of a film about the ’58 chamionship game: Pat Summerall, Aaron Ross, Justin Tuck and Gifford are shown here. Outside of Monday Night Football, he broadcasted the United States vs. Soviet Union Gold Medal Men’s Basketball game in 1972, in which the Soviet’s won in controversial fashion. “He was the face of our franchise for so many years.”.

There was heartbreak along the way, when his son Kyle was badly injured in an automobile accident. He was married to Kathie Lee Johnson, known to us as Kathie Lee Gifford, since 1986. He was a wonderful partner, a great teammate.

Frank Gifford, a golden boy who helped usher the NFL into its golden age, died Sunday, exactly a week shy of his 85th birthday. A guy we all can look to with pride as to how it is supposed to be done. Period. Beginning in college, and then 12 seasons with the New York giants, where he was made an icon of the era.