1960 Profile: Frank Gifford

Halfback
No. 16
USC

GIFFORD WANTS TO EVEN SCORE WITH BALTIMORE

"Frank Gifford has plenty on his mind as a prospective TV star and a budding business tycoon, but nothing outweighs the brilliant halfback's resolution to even the score with the Colts for the 31-16 loss in the championship game last December.

Gifford does not have the idea of revenge, but rather the desire to prove to New York fans that the team did not play up to its peak against Baltimore.

'We were beaten by the best,' Gifford comments, 'and none of us offers an alibi, but we do wish the circumstances were different. We were not sharp,' he explains, 'because we had nothing but a track meet in our last few games against Cleveland and Washington. Then we had to meet the best two weeks later without adequate practice, because the snowstorms forced us indoors where it was so stuffy we were all plugged up, and couldn't even breathe properly.'

Gifford brings up an eternal question in sports, whether it is better to coast into a title game, or fight and claw all the way. The Colts had to win their last five games or fall into a sectional tie. The Giants led all season and breezed with 10-2. Their closing 'track meets' were 45-14 and 24-10 over the Redskins and 48-7 over the Browns."

-Giant Touchdown, July 1960

"Frank is the only NFL'er in history to make All-Pro as a defensive back ('53) and as an offensive back ('54). His versatility also includes line-smashing, broken-field running, wide sweeps, forward passing and pass catching. He learned his trade well as a single-wing tailback at Southern California.
Frank led the 1959 club in rushing and receiving, carrying 540 yards for a 5.1 average and gaining 768 yards with 42 receptions, seventh best in the circuit. He even completed five of 11 aerials.
He has made TV and movie films."

-1960 Pro Football Handbook

THEY CAN'T KEEP GIFFORD DOWN LONG: Mr. Versatility of the Giants Swings Back into All-Pro Stride
"Pride spurs the champion. As Frank Gifford lay strapped in the aisle on the plane coming back from Pittsburgh last October, under sedation and groggy with the pain of a torn rib cartilage, it would have been easy to write him off for 1959.
The injury came at a bad time. The first two offensive plays against the  Steelers had resulted in touchdowns, with Conerly pitching to fleet Frank in the clear. Forgotten was the abortive effort to make him a quarterback; the Giants couldn't spare his talents at half, the versatility the former USC All-American had provided since 1952, until a Steeler landed on him.
A week later, still tightly strapped, Gifford vowed he'd miss only one game (losing his All-Pro rating in 1958 had rankled). And still taped but right on his own time schedule, Frank came back to lead the Giants over the Cards, both in carrying and catching the ball. He regained his All-Pro designation, topping the Eastern titlists in rushing as well as receiving- a Gifford hallmark.
The 1960 season will find him a spry 30 and eager to play a big role in the Giant offense. Frank keeps busy off the field, too, working in TV and posing for swimsuit ads- interests that have prompted him to think of moving Maxine and their three kids east."

-Murray Olderman, Sports All-Stars 1960 Pro Football