Frank Gifford dies at 84
Monday, Aug. 10, 2015 – Frank Gifford dies at the age of 84. It’s a national story certainly, but also a local one and a regional one in both aspects of his professional career. Most football fans today know him as the play-by announcer on ABC-TV’s Monday Night Football from the series’ second year on the air, 1971, through 1997. For much of that time, Gifford and analysts Howard Cosell and Don Meredith had as their spotter the great Steve Bozeka, a salesman at Sears at what was then Belden Village Mall in Jackson Township and the uncle of John Bozeka, who handles sports at WHBC radio. The Monday night guys and Bozeka met when they were paired together for the telecast of the annual Pro Football Hall of Fame at what was then Fawcett Stadium, and they liked Bozeka so much that they offered him a gig as their corner man, so to speak. He jumped at the chance to do it. Neither party was sorry. Everwhere Bozeka went in these parts, he was known as “the Monday Night Football guy” and he would graciously acquiesce and tell as many stories of those days as fans, friends, relatives and total strangers who stopped him wanted to hear.
That’s the way the late Bozeka was in every aspect of his life. He was a friend to all, whether he knew you or not. One time, while covering the likes of Joey (before he went as Albert) Belle, Jim Thome and the like at a Canton-Akron Indians game at Thurman Munson Stadium in 1990, I picked his brain so much while he was running the press box that I didn’t watch the game and as a result wrote a horrible story. It was well worth the grief I took from my editor.
Bozeka’s tales were classic. Gifford was working a game in Cleveland when he came across a young right tackle with the Browns named Cody Risien. He liked the name Cody so much that he went home and told his pregnant wife, Kathie Lee, about it. She agreed, and they ended up naming their son Cody.
Old-timers out there will also recall Gifford as a Hall of Fame halfback and wide receiver from 1952-60 and 1962-64 for the New York Giants, the Browns’ bitter, bitter, arch rivals during that time. Really, their rivalry was the best in the NFL then, and one of the best in the history of pro football. It may also be the best rivalry the Browns have ever had – even better than that with the Pittsburgh Steelers — for nearly every game between the two teams meant something – a whole lot of something, actually. For the 16-year period from 1950, when the Browns entered the NFL from the All-America Football Conference, through 1965, they and the Giants combined to win all but of the Eastern Conference titles. The Giants handed the Browns their first two NFL losses, sweeping the season series in 1950 to force a tie for first place, then Cleveland beat New York in a special playoff to advance to the NFL Championship Game.
The Browns won the conference title the next five seasons as well, with the Giants finishing second two times and third twice. The Giants beat the Browns twice in Gifford’s rookie season of 1952, though. The Giants won in 1956. Cleveland won in 1957 with New York second. The teams finished tied atop the East in 1958 and then New York won a special playoff to move on to the league title game. The Giants won in 1959 with the Browns second. The Giants won in 1961 with Cleveland third. The Giants won in 1962 and ’63, edging out Cleveland by a game in the latter season. The Browns won in 1964, clinching the conference title by smashing the Giants at Yankee Stadium by the whopping score of 52-20, and then won again in 1965. With all of that history between the two teams then, and with this being long before the days of free agency so that clubs pretty much remained intact over the years, the Browns grew to really hate – but really respect – the Giants, and the Giants grew to very much hate – but very much respect – the Browns. That hatred – and respect — still exists today in the hearts and souls of the players who are still around. Gifford was an integral part of that rivalry. He was to the Giants what Hall of Famers Otto Graham, Lou Groza, Len Ford, Mike McCormack, Bill Willis and Jim Brown were to the Browns. Many of the players on those teams have passed away, and in each instance, a little of the rivalry fades away. That happened again Sunday morning, making it a sad and somber day in every respect in every part of the country.
Frank Gifford dies at 84 was written by Steve King
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