Frank Gifford

[Moran]

In the middle of all that Frank and the gang would go after a game to the Conerly's for cocktails and then get on the subway and travel down to Toots Shor's for a dinner and a nightcap (or two) at P.J. Clarke's -

[SixtiesFan]

I vividlyremember Frank Gifford as a player in 1963. He caught 5 passes in the Giants win over the Steelers in the last game of the 1963 season which clinched the Eastern Division title. This game was on national TV and was heavily publicized, like a playoff game is today. One of Gifford's catches was one handed.

In the NFL Championshop game against the Bears, Gifford faked out Bear CB Bennie McCrae and caught a TD pass from Y.A. Tittle to put the Giants ahead 7-0. On their next possession, the Giants drove into Bear territory and Tittle hit Del Shofner in the end zone with a catchable pass but Shofner dropped it. Had the Giants gone up 14-0 there, they might have won in a rout.

Soon after, Larry Morris rolled into Tittle's knee and he was crippled the rest of the day, threw two interceptions resulting in short Bear touchdown drives and a 14-10 loss.

[oldecapecod11]

by Moran » Wed Aug 12, 2015 9:50 pm
"In the middle of all that Frank and the gang would go after a game to the Conerly's for cocktails and then get on the subway and travel down to Toots Shor's for a dinner and a nightcap (or two) at P.J. Clarke's -"

Ahhh, Mike, you shake the dust from memories of the long, long ago.
While visits to Toots Shor's were few and far between, many a flagon was quaffed at P.J.'s and with many a celeb in sight.
In the city that never sleeps, there is a celebrity on almost every corner. It is no big thing. It is just the way it is - or was.

Most of the Giants - and the Yankees and Dodgers and baseball Giants were often seen on the NYC subway system.
It was the best way to get around town - other than a taxi-cab.
No doubt, after a night at Toots Shor's or P.J. Clarke's, the best way "home" was by taxi.
There was very little OUI because there were very few cars.

In every NYC subway car there were EIGHT places to post 2 x 2-1/2 advertising posters -
1 on either side of the two doors amid-car and 1 on either side of the doors between cars.
The New York Football Giants and the New York Yankees dominated the celebrity status in subway advertising.
In fact, the next nearest rival was the Miss Rheingold contest which was the second largest "election" in the Free World.

Two of these posters always contained maps of the entire (BMT, IND, IRT lines) subway system.
Those were usually diagonally opposite the loading doors.
The configuration was something pretty close to the diagram shown.
The upright poles in the photo were for standing passengers to hold on while in motion.
The horizontal bars above were actually straps in the olde days and the seats were wicker.
Note: Just above eye-level on both side was a line of smaller ads.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... Subway.jpg

http://missrheingold.com/history/

[Ken Crippen]

Speaking of discussion on the obit board, is there a way to just have a dedicated thread to COMMENTS about an obit, so that they don't interfere with the thread for OBITS?

You can start a new thread for the player in the Football Obits forum. That or start a thread in the main forum, like this thread.

[Mark L. Ford]

No mention on this board or on Football Obituaries of the Sunday death of Frank Gifford ? ? ? I am surprised to say the least, figured there would be discussion and a re-hash of his career on and off the field.

I was surprised as well that it would take until nearly a week after his death for there to be a discussion about Gifford. I knew, of course, that it would be on the regular obits section that keeps track of all players, famous and lesser known. He was quite the guy. I remember him, of course, from Monday Night Football, but a decade before that, he was famous for beating the odds and daring to return to the NFL after the encounter with Bednarik. He wasn't the same, of course, but he had spent all of 1961 recovering and then made it back onto the Giants' roster-- he had guts.

[oldecapecod11]

Here's a couple of those poster-type ads from the subway days.
The slightly larger one was also used as a full-page ad in tabloids, such as: The New York Daily News, The Boston Herald,
and some of the tabloids in other NYC suburbs like Albany, Buffalo, Hartford, and the Jersey Shore.
By the way, someone asked in an e-mail...
If you viewed the subway photo link, please be assured that a NYC subway car was NEVER that clean.
Also, the motorman;s compartment is just about discernible. The diagram is misleading.
The compartment was about the size of a vertical coffin.
Enjoy...

[mwald]

He was indeed quite the guy. Mr. Manhattan before Joe Namath. He had the world by the tail most of his life, the type of success story only America could produce.

Even in his announcing days, when his on-air compatriots perhaps surpassed him in polish and technical chops, he just oozed star power, giving any production he was part of an air of NFL legitimacy that no one else could. The biggest guy in the booth. And a class act.

[oldecapecod11]

by mwald » Thu Aug 13, 2015 9:22 am
"...And a class act."

No one could say it better: truly, a class act.
In victory or defeat; in glory or in disgrace; and, when he had to eat crow, he made it seem palatable.

Here's a Vitalis ad...

[oldecapecod11]

An interesting aside concerning Frank Gifford...

First, of course, is that we lost both men who were the subjects of one of the most iconic photos of the last century.
Chuck Bednarik left us in March and, now, Frank Gifford is gone.

The moronic media in its ravenous quest for sensationalism plastered the photo of Bednarik leaping above the stricken Gifford.
At the time, NONE indicated, by caption or otherwise, that the leap of (seeming) joy was because of the fumble -
not the fallen opponent.

Only the New York Times published this photo, taken just moments later, showing a concerned Bednarik (likely) hoping
his enemy was okay.

Wanna bet Chuck was there with Dandy and Howard when music filled the air to welcome Frank?

Turn on the lights; the party's startin'.

[BD Sullivan]

I recall a story of Bednarik getting in Cosell's face soon after Humble Howie implied that the hit was a cheap shot/illegal/etc.