Frank Newton Gifford (born August 16, 1930 in Santa Monica, California)
was an American football player and one of the better-known American
sports commentators in the latter part of the 20th century who made
the transition from an athlete to broadcasting. Member of Phi Sigma
Kappa Fraternity Southern Cal. 1952
After earning All-American honors at the University of Southern California,
Gifford began his NFL career with the New York Giants by playing both
offense and defense, a rarity when platoon football became popular after
World War II. His career led him to eight Pro Bowl appearances and five
trips to the NFL Championship Game, the forerunner of the Super Bowl.
Gifford's biggest season may have been 1956, as 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 the victim
of one of the most brutal, though completely legal, hits in NFL history.
During a 1960 game against the Philadelphia Eagles, he was cleanly blindsided
by Chuck Bednarik on a pass play, suffering a severe head injury that
led him to retire from football. However, Gifford returned to the Giants
in 1962, changing positions from running back to wide receiver (then
known as flanker). Despite having to regain his skills after his long
layoff and learn a new position, he became a star once again. His eight
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, and would be
enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977.
After his playing days ended, Gifford became a commentator mainly for
NFL games on CBS. His big break came in 1971 when he replaced Keith Jackson
as play-by-play announcer on ABC's Monday Night Football, joining Howard
Cosell and Don Meredith, and would continue on as a commentator until
1998, amid controversy regarding an affair he had with airline stewardess
Suzen Johnson. Gifford also served as a reporter and commentator on other
ABC programs, such as their coverage of the Olympic Games and skiing,
and has guest hosted Good Morning America on occasion. In 1995 he was
given the Pete Rozelle Award by the Pro Football Hall of Fame for his
NFL television work.
Currently, Frank is best known as the longtime spouse (since 1986) of
former television talk show host and singer Kathie Lee Gifford. He is
known for passing out money to underpaid sweatshop laborers who had been
making his wife's clothing line for Wal-Mart in 1996 and for a highly
publicized (and photographed) affair with former TWA flight attendant
Suzen Johnson in 1997.
His daughter, Victoria, was married to Michael Kennedy, who died in
a skiing accident on December 31, 1997.
