Francis Newton "Frank" Gifford (August 16, 1930 – August 9, 2015) was an American football player and television sportscaster. He spent his entire 13-year NFL career with the New York Giants, playing both offense and defense. He participated in five NFL Championship games and eight Pro Bowls, and won the leagues's Most Valuable Player Award in 1956, the same season he won his only NFL Championship, In 1977, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. After retiring from the NFL in 1964, Gifford later became a commentator and play-by-play announcer for NFL games on CBS and most notably on ABC's Monday Night Football. Gifford was married to television host Kathie Lee Gifford from 1986 until his death.Gifford was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of Lola Mae (née Hawkins) and Weldon Gifford, an oil driller. After graduating from Bakersfield High School, Gifford was unable to gain an athletic scholarship to the University of Southern California (USC) due to his low grade point average. Undeterred, he played a season for Bakersfield Junior College, making the Junior College All-American team while making the grades needed to enroll at USC. At USC, Gifford was named an All-American athlete and player and graduated in the class of 1952. In 1951 he ran for 841 yards on 195 carries.
He began his NFL career with the New York Giants by playing both offense and defense. He made eight Pro Bowl appearances and had five trips to the NFL Championship Game. Gifford's biggest season may have been 1956, when he won the Most Valuable Player award of the NFL, and led the Giants to the NFL title over the Chicago Bears. He lost 18 months in the prime of his career when he was laid out by a hard tackle. During a 1960 game against the Philadelphia Eagles, he was knocked out by Chuck Bednarik on a passing play, suffering a severe head injury that led him to retire from football in 1961. However, Gifford returned to the Giants in 1962, changing positions from running back to wide receiver (then known as flanker).
His Pro Bowl selections came at three different positions—defensive back, running back, and wide receiver. He retired again, this time for good, in 1964, after making the Pro Bowl as a receiver. During his 12 seasons with the New York Giants (136 regular season games) Frank Gifford had 3,609 rushing yards and 34 touchdowns in 840 carries, he also had 367 receptions for 5,434 yards and 43 touchdowns.[7] Gifford completed 29 of the 63 passes he threw for 823 yards and 14 touchdowns with 6 interceptions. The 6 interceptions is tied with Walter Payton for most interceptions thrown by a non-quarterback in NFL history, while the 14 touchdowns is also the most among any non-quarterback in NFL history. Gifford was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on July 30, 1977.
