Frank Gifford (1930-2015), All-American

President Reagan talking with Christopher Reeve and Frank Gifford during a reception and picnic in honor of the 15th Anniversary of the Special Olympics program in the Diplomatic Reception room. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We've all heard the myth of the All-American athlete.  The kind of man (and they're usually men) who looked like he stepped out of a Hollywood movie to score the winning touchdown, marries the head cheerleader, then goes on to a great career in the big city before living happily ever after.  Not many of them ever got to do that in real life.

Frank Gifford came close.  He was the Golden Boy from the first time he stepped onto a football field to the last time he hung up his microphone.  He died Sunday at 84.

After a stellar career at the University of Southern California, Gifford played twelve seasons in the NFL for the New York Giants in the 1950s and 60s.  Playing both offense and defense, Gifford still holds the record for most touchdowns by a Giant with 78.  His teams played five times for the NFL championship (no Super Bowl then), winning only once in 1956 when the Giants defeated the Chicago Bears 47-7.  Gifford participated in the first overtime championship game in 1958, when the Giants lost to the Baltimore Colts at the first Yankee Stadium.

Sometimes All-Americans take their lumps on the field.  Chuck Bednarik of the Philadelphia Eagles laid out Gifford in a 1960 game in what was considered one of the most violent hits ever, back when this type of thing was celebrated.  We know this because of newsreel footage and a widely-seen sports photograph, with TV not having been properly utilized in football coverage yet.  Because of that hit, Gifford had to quit playing the sport for a season before going back in.

Unlike most All-American athletes who disappeared after their playing days were over, Gifford had a second career ready and waiting--television.  He had joined CBS in New York while he was still playing for the Giants, moving up the ranks before becoming an analyst on the network's NFL coverage.

Then Gifford moved to the big time in 1971, calling play by play on "Monday Night Football" for ABC.  He had to put up with the antics of Howard Cosell and Don Meredith in the booth while trying to call a football game.  But he held on to the job for more than a decade before becoming host and analyst beside Al Michaels, leaving in 1997.

Gifford did other things at ABC Sports, including covering a few Olympics and events for "Wide World of Sports".  There, he was mostly known for covering some of Evel Knievel's motorcycle jumps.

As time went along, Gifford ceded the spotlight to his wife Kathie Lee, who became a successful daytime TV personality.  First with Regis Philbin on "Live", then with Hoda Kotb on the fourth hour of "Today", Kathie Lee regaled her audience with little tidbits about life with Frank and the kids--some of it embarrassing.

For Frank Gifford, it's time for this All-American to ride off into the sunset, just like the others before him.  He may not have always been faultless, but what a legacy he left behind on the field and off.