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.

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