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 Gifford, who was married to TV talk show host Kathie Lee Gifford,
died suddenly of natural causes at his Connecticut home, his family
said in the statement released to NBC.
"Deeply grateful to all 4 ur outpouring of grace," Kathie Lee
Gifford tweeted, adding his family was "finding comfort in knowing
where Frank is."
One of the National Football League's best and most versatile
players in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Gifford's skill, good
looks and gracious manner made him an all-around celebrity in New
York City.
Gifford was a key player for the Giants during their 23-17 loss to
the Baltimore Colts in the 1958 NFL title game, which was decided in
the league's first sudden-death overtime period.
It came to be known as "the greatest game ever played" and sports
historians say its dramatic finish and national TV coverage set
football on a path to become the most popular sport in the United
States and a multibillion-dollar industry.
Gifford, who played mostly as a running back and wide receiver, led
the Giants to the NFL championship in 1956 while winning the
league's most valuable player award, and helped take them to the
title game in five other seasons.
Gifford's career was interrupted in 1960 in one of the most
notorious plays in NFL history, a brutal but legal hit by
Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Chuck Bednarik that left Gifford
unconscious. Gifford retired from playing but returned in 1962 and
played three more years.
He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977.
"Frank Gifford was the ultimate Giant. He was the face of our
franchise for so many years," Giants President John Mara said in a
statement.
Calling Gifford "an icon of the game," NFL Commissioner Roger
Goodell said in a statement: "Frank’s talent and charisma on the
field and on the air were important elements in the growth and
popularity of the modern NFL."
Gifford had dabbled in broadcasting during his playing career and
became part of the Giants television team after retiring. ABC hired
him in 1971 for the second season of its "Monday Night Football,"
which brought the NFL into prime-time viewing hours and became a
must-see ritual for sports fans.
TEAMED WITH COSELL, 'DANDY DON'
Gifford was teamed with another retired NFL star, former Dallas
Cowboys quarterback Don Meredith, and the sharply opinionated Howard
Cosell. Gifford handled the play-by-play work while Cosell and
"Dandy Don" provided running analysis.
Much of the broadcast's appeal came from the interplay of the folksy
Meredith and the acerbic Cosell, while Gifford played straight man.
"Howard pontificated. Don Meredith was the country guy who kept the
big city slicker straight. I kept law and order," Gifford said in an
interview that aired when "MNF" ended its run on ABC and moved to
the ESPN network for the 2006 season.
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"Monday Night Football" was a steady winner in the ratings. Gifford
stayed with "Monday Night Football" for 27 years, before retiring in
1998.
Cosell blasted Gifford in his 1985 memoir, "I Never Played the
Game," as well as the "jockacracy" of athletes-turned-broadcasters
in general as incompetents who ended up in broadcasting because of
their on-the-field stardom.
"Like President Reagan, he is a Teflon man," Cosell wrote of
Gifford. "No matter how many mistakes he makes during a telecast, no
matter how glaring his weaknesses as a performer, nothing sticks to
him."
Gifford wrote his own book describing Cosell as insecure and
vengeful.
Gifford was born on Aug. 16, 1930, and grew up in oilfield towns in
the Southwest and California. He was an All-American at the
University of Southern California and a popular figure on campus who
married the homecoming queen.
The Giants made him their No. 1 draft choice in 1952 and in his 12
seasons with them, he played defensive back, running back, wide
receiver and quarterback, as well as returning punts and kickoffs.
In 1986, he married his third wife, Kathie Lee Gifford, who was 23
years younger and who often spoke glowingly about their marriage on
her talk show, "Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee."
She wrote in a memoir that she and Gifford would always be faithful
to each other, but a tabloid newspaper revealed in 1997 he had been
having an affair with a flight attendant. Their marriage survived.
Gifford had three children with his first wife, Maxine, and two with
Gifford.
(Reporting by Bill Trott and Peter Cooney in Washington; Additional
reporting by Larry Fine in New York; Editing by Chris Reese and Eric
Walsh)
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