Giants Among Men: How Robustelli, Huff, Gifford, and the Giants Made New York a Football Town and Changed the NFL

by Jack Cavanaugh

From the mid-1950s to the early 1960s, when basketball’s Boston Celtics were piecing together a run for the ages, when Montreal’s Canadiens were in the midst of notching a record-setting five straight Stanley Cups, and when the New York Yankees were the once-and-future kings of the diamond, one team boosted the NFL to national prominence as none the New York Giants.

In Giants Among Men , Jack Cavanaugh, the acclaimed author of Tunney, transports us to the NFL’s golden age to introduce the close-knit and diverse group that won the heart of a city, helped spread the gospel of pro football across the nation, and recast the NFL as a media colossus.

Central to Cavanaugh’s narrative, and emblematic of the Giants’ bond with their followers, was a hard-nosed future Hall of Fame defensive end named Andy Robustelli. A World War II combat vet, a graduate of Arnold College, undersized and nearing age thirty, Robustelli nevertheless anchored a Giants defensive unit so ferocious that they were the first team to inspire crowds to chant “Dee-fense!” But Robustelli and the Giants were a hit on the gridiron, playing in six NFL Championship Games in eight seasons between 1956 and 1963, the most remarkable aspect of this team was perhaps its relationship to the fans. These Giants were largely composed of ordinary joes who were equally at ease hobnobbing with Gleason and Sinatra at Toots Shor’s as they were rubbing elbows with working-class rooters on the IRT en route to Sunday games in the Bronx–like many of their fans, nearly all Giants players worked second jobs off-season to make ends meet. But the Giants of this era didn’t merely affect the fans’ relationship to the game; they changed the game itself. The team launched the careers of future head-coaching geniuses Tom Landry and Vince Lombardi, as well as those of a galaxy of stars and future Hall-of-Famers including Frank Gifford, Sam Huff, Emlen Tunnell, Roosevelt Brown, Y. A. Tittle, Charlie Conerly, Rosie Grier, and Pat Summerall. The Giants teams of this remarkable era were tagged with the soubriquet “Mara Tech” (for the Mara family, who had owned the franchise since its inception)–due to the number of players and coaches who later found success in the boardroom, the broadcast booth, and behind the bench.

Filled with historical and cultural insight and vivid portraits of larger-than-life characters and indispensable everymen, Giants Among Men transcends nostalgia and sports trivia to faithfully depict a watershed era for both football and the American nation.


Praise for Jack Cavanaugh’s Tunney

“Impressively researched and richly detailed . . . a long-overdue portrait of a fascinating fighter.”
–Sports Illustrated

“A winning tale . . . Jack Cavanaugh brings Tunney , Dempsey and the fight scene of the Roaring Twenties back to life.”
– Fort Worth Star-Telegram

“[A] sprawling new biography . . . The boxing scenes are spun gold.”
–The New York Times

“Filled with vivid characters from one of boxing’s most glamorous eras, this tale goes fifteen rounds and delivers plenty of punch.”
–Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“One of the primary elements to the greatness of this biography is Cavanaugh’s ability to plumb the confusing depths of celebrity in America.”
–The Denver Post

Genres: Sports, Football, Nonfiction

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN · Rating 5 out of 5]

RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: “WHEN THE NFL WENT FROM INFANCY TO MANHOOD.”
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This book is ostensibly about the NFL New York Giants from the mid-1950’s to the early 1960’s… rest assured the author surely provides you with intimate details about the Giants during this time period… but if that’s all you’re expecting… and believe me… that’s plenty… you’re going to be more than pleasantly surprised… you will be blown away. Any old-time-old-school football fan will think they’re having a dream or a flashback… to the time when football was really football! The quarterback wasn’t wearing a dress in those days… there were no GUARANTEED one-hundred-million-dollar-plus contracts. All the players had fulltime jobs during the winter, and some even had second jobs during the playing season.

The New York Giants football team of this burgeoning era had so many famous All-Pro and future Hall Of Fame players that the potential reader will understand without hesitation why this was the time… and this was the team… that helped lead professional football onto center stage… a stage that the NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE still dominates today. Some of the Giant players that you will be introduced to (or… reintroduced to) include Andy Robustelli, Pat Summerall, Frank Gifford, Sam Huff, Charlie Conerly, Kyle Rote, Y.A. Tittle, Rosey Brown, Del Shofner, Emlen Tunnell, Alex Webster, Jack Katcavage, Dick Lynch, Rosey Grier… and many others.

OH YEA... Two of their ASSISTANT COACHES… THAT’S RIGHT I SAID ASSISTANT COACHES… ARE TWO OF THE MOST LEGENDARY COACHES IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL!
**VINCE LOMBARDI AND TOM LANDRY**

Though the core and the title of this book is built around the New York Giants, the author Jack Cavanaugh seamlessly integrates every team and every noteworthy player that had an impact on the historical coming of age of this monolith… that is today’s NFL. The reader is right there when Jimmy Brown the greatest running back in the history of the NFL comes into the league with the Giants greatest rival the Cleveland Browns. Brown is given complete recognition for his unmatched combination of POWER-SPEED-ATHLETICISM and competitive nature. Another powerful part of this book is how it educates the reader on teams and accomplishments that lead to the current state of affairs of the league at the time the book depicts. Such as the fact that the Cleveland Browns from the late 1940’s to the early 1950’s PLAYED IN CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES TEN-YEARS-IN-A-ROW! “The first four of those ten championship games had been played in the All-America Football Conference, all of which the Browns won. But the last six had been in the NFL, whose title it had won three times – including 1950, the Browns’ first year in the NFL. This came much to the astonishment of the League establishment, which had regarded the AAFC as inferior.” There is also a detailed look at a young quarterback that was cut by the Pittsburgh Steelers without ever letting him get into a real game. This unknown quarterback then played semi-pro football for $6.00 per game. This football reject is then given a chance with the Baltimore Colts and becomes one of the greatest quarterbacks in history… Johnny Unitas. The author flawlessly weaves Johnny’s story into the flow of the Giants tome… which dovetails into what is known around the world by any knowledgeable football fan as *THE-GREATEST-GAME-IN-THE-HISTORY-OF-FOOTBALL”… the 1958 World Championship Football game between the New York Giants and Baltimore Colts.

There are untold sub-plots and character studies that will keep the true football fan turning the pages faster than an Olympic sprinter going for the gold. But I would like to share one unique tale about one lesser known Giant named Hardy Brown. A chapter is named after him: “THE MEANEST MAN IN THE NFL”. Hardy played for eight years “and had been the scourge of the NFL, knocking out scores of opponents and breaking as many, if not more, noses and jaws with his patented shoulder tackle. Though only six-feet-tall and about 190 pounds, Brown had a well-deserved reputation as the most devastating hitter in the NFL, a hell-bent-linebacker who flattened quarterbacks, running backs, receivers, and opposing linemen, usually by using his shoulder as a lethal weapon.” Hall Of Famer Y.A. Tittle said. “He was a regular knockout artist and inspired us. I remember how in his first game with the Colts against the Redskins in 1951, he knocked out all three running backs. Altogether that year, he knocked out twenty-one players. AND WHEN I SAY KNOCKED OUT, I MEAN KNOCKED OUT COLD WITH HIS SHOULDER TACKLE TO THE POINT THAT THEY HAD TO BE CARRIED OFF ON STRETCHERS. I NEVER SAW A FOOTBALL PLAYER WHO COULD HIT HARD AS HARDY BROWN. HE BROKE A LOT OF NOSES BEFORE PLAYERS BEGAN WEARING FACE MASKS IN THE MID-FIFTIES, AND THEN, AFTER PLAYERS BEGAN WEARING FACE MASKS, BUSTED A LOT OF THEM WITH THAT VICIOUS SHOULDER TACKLE.”

The historical information in this book will hit the old-school football fan like a Hardy Brown shoulder-tackle!

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an entertaining and informative look at the New York Giants football teams of the mid-1950s through the early 1960s.

The Giants won the NFL championship in 1956 and reached the championship game five more times, only to come up short each time. There were many stars on the roster, including numerous future Hall of Famers. Even in an era when the New York Yankees were perennial champions in baseball, the football Giants became the toast of the town. And because New York was the media capital of the United States, the successful and charismatic Giants helped to popularize the National Football League in the early days of television.

It is clear that Cavanaugh did a lot of research for the book. He conducted numerous interviews of players and others connected with the team, the NFL, and the media of the time. Based on his research, he succeeded in crafting an insiders' account of the Giants in this special era. There is a lot of season-by-season, even game-by-game detail, so if you're not a fan, it may be a little too much. But it's a great, even essential, read for Giants fans.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great look into the football Giants from the mid 1950s thru the mid 1960s. The book is noteworthy for its insights into the private lives of the players, who worked during the off season to supplement their modest NFL wages. A simpler time and a simpler game compared to today’s modern version of the NFL, you can’t help but come away with passionate feelings about this era when the NFL began to make inroads locally and nationally while Major League Baseball was still king of professional sports.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got this for my mom to read and checked out parts of it. Really good.

[Mark Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an outstanding history of the New York Giants football team from 1950-1965. It is well-researched and intricately detailed. An excellent read.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, a look at the Giants dynasty that helped popularize American football in the 1950s, was eerily similar to Summer of '49, a detailed look at the 1949 Yankees -- so much so that I checked to see if it was the same author (it isn't, that was written by David Halberstam). Both books give extremely detailed overviews of the games, the players, the times and the culture, and are written in a similarly authoritative and informed manner. Both books are also about favorite teams of mine, albeit decades before I was born, and gave me a greater respect and appreciation of the team's history afterward.

Reading this, I learned about a time in football when players played both sides of the ball, and often punted and placekicked in addition to that; players worked other jobs in the off-season, bagging groceries or selling insurance to make ends meet; players interrupted their careers for WWII; and players formed a union to ensure they had travel expenses to training camp paid and to ensure they still got paid in event of injury. I learned about the birth of the 4-3 defense, the first "fearsome foursome" front-line, which was also the first to inspire chants of "DE - FENSE", and the first center to snap without looking at the quarterback.

I also learned a great deal about legendary football personalities such as Vince Lombardi, Tom Landry, Wellington Mara, Andy Robustelli, Sam Huff, Frank Gifford, Pat Summerall, Charlie Conerly, YA Tittle, Jim Brown, Johnny Unitas -- all before they were legends they would become.

My only complaint, and it is a very minor one, is that there is a section of glossy pictures in the middle of the book, and it is interjected right in the middle of the chapter on The Greatest Game Ever Played, which is just poor planning on the publishers part.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Baseball is much more important to me, and has probably generated more, and more important books than football, both historical and fiction. That being said, this seems like an important book. Almost an obligation to read for a sports fan, and/or someone from the greater NYC metro area. Also comes recommended by a friend.........Update: Old fashioned sports book. Solid history of a great team at an important time for the NFL. Even the sports-impaired will recognize many of the players here, Mr. Kathie lee, for example.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jack Cavanaugh will never be mistaken for the likes of John Finestein, David Maraniss, or David Halberstam. Still, for a look at the NFL just prior to the hey days of the early-mid 60s, this is a fairly enjoyable read.

[Mahlon · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're most interested in information on the 1956-58 Giants, you'd be better off reading "The Glory Game" by Frank Gifford. This book's real strength is the post 58-early 1960's era.