When Colts Beat Giants in 1958, Modern NFL Was Born

Sudden death. Ironic words to describe the ending of a game many believe gave sudden life to pro football. But dreams died hard under a dark, drizzly sky at Yankee Stadium for the New York Giants on Dec. 28, 1958, while the rainbow-bright moment of triumph lives forever for the Baltimore Colts.

For players on both teams, the 40th anniversary of the most significant NFL championship game in history produces a cloudburst of memories and emotions--some painful, some joyous--that pour out quickly with little prompting.

The gifted halfback blames himself; the proud linebacker is still angry that his defense failed; the talented quarterback remains analytical and detached; the cocky defensive back admits to fear; the hefty defensive tackle relishes his role as the raunchy, raucous court jester.

“Some people say it was the greatest game ever played, but it may have been my worst,” said Frank Gifford, the Giants’ Hall of Fame halfback. “I fumbled twice and we lost. If I don’t fumble, we win the game. I try to laugh about it now, but it’s not easy.”

Sam Huff, the Giants’ Hall of Fame linebacker and a symbol for the violent world of pro football that was emerging in the 1950s, spits the words out carefully, not wanting to offend the victors. “I was angry--I’m still angry--because I was such a competitive football player. I’m angry the way John (Unitas) could throw the ball to Raymond Berry against us, over and over. ‘Unitas to Berry, Unitas to Berry.’ After 40 years it still rings in my ears!”

Johnny Unitas, Baltimore’s Hall of Fame quarterback who completed 12 passes to Berry, another Hall of Famer, led the Colts on two epic drives. One tied the game at the end of regulation; the other won it in overtime. Unitas is almost clinical in his recollection. “I never worried about pressure on those drives,” Unitas said. “I just had to pick the right play at the right time. I studied the defenses more thoroughly than I studied my own offense. The guys made the plays. I just called them.”

One player admitted he didn’t want his number called. Johnny Sample, Baltimore’s rookie defensive back who went on to write a book entitled “Confessions of a Dirty Player” and later played for the Jets when they shocked the Colts in Super Bowl III, was a hard-hitter who supposedly was fearless. Not on that day. “In OT, I went in for Milt Davis who turned his ankle. When I ran onto the field, I couldn’t get the thought out of my head that they were gonna throw a long pass on the new guy and they’d catch it and I’d be the goat,” Sample recalled. “I was scared to death that I’d be embarrassd in front of my parents in the stands.”

Art Donovan never gets embarrassed. The 280-pound tackle who has carved out a career making himself the brunt of jokes about his life in pro football, finds much material in the ’58 game. “Today, I see them celebrating on TV by spraying champagne all over the place,” Donovan cracked. “Here we were in the great Yankee Stadium, some of us who served in World War II, and what did we celebrate with? Orange soda!”

Still, the game offered plenty of reasons to celebrate:

-- It was played in New York, hub of national print and broadcast media and Madison Avenue marketing.

-- It was on national TV (though blacked out in New York), bringing into millions of homes a sport that still was far behind baseball in popularity. For weeks afterwards, people talked about the game as if they’d seen pro football for the first time. Many had.

-- It featured 15 future Hall of Fame players and coaches. “I doubt there ever have been that many in one game,” Gifford said.

-- It was the first overtime game in the history of the league. (NFL rules allowed for regular-season ties and no title game had ever needed extra time to decide the outcome.)

Two sequences played a signicant role in creating the tie that binds the two teams forever in league lore. One was a near-miss, the other a direct hit.

On a third-and-4 with 2:30 left in the game and the Giants leading 17-10, Gifford took a handoff at the Giants 40. He moved upfield and was met by end Gino Marchetti, linebacker Don Shinnick and tackle Gene “Big Daddy” Lipscomb, who fell on Marchetti, breaking the Hall of Famer’s right leg. “We ran a 47 Power on third-and-4,” Gifford said. “A running back knows when he gets a first down. I didn’t even look to the sidelines, I just knew I had it. Then I heard someone yell. It was a frightening yell--you knew someone was badly hurt. It was Marchetti. Turned out he broke his leg. They had to stop the game and carry him off the field. The official didn’t pay attention to where he marked the ball. When they measured, we were short. I was stunned.

“I wanted to go for it. We had a good defense. Vince Lombardi, our offensive coach, wanted us to go for it,” Gifford said. “But our head coach, Jim Lee Howell, the tough old ex-Marine, wouldn’t budge.”

Don Chandler’s punt drove the Colts back to their own 14, setting up the other crucial regulation series: a Unitas drive that would make John Elway proud. Baltimore had to go 86 yards in 1:56 without any timeouts. “I looked down the field and the goal posts looked like they were in Baltimore,” Berry said. But Unitas and Berry shrunk that distance quickly in an efficient eight-play march. The pair hooked up for consecutive gains of 25, 15 and 22 yards to put the ball on the Giants’ 13. With seven seconds remaining, Steve Myhra kicked a 20-yard field goal to force the historic overtime. “I told myself I better not miss it,” Myhra said, “or it would’ve been a long, cold winter back on the farm in North Dakota.”

Unitas wasn’t through ruining a New York winter. After the Giants won the toss, received the overtime kickoff and quickly were forced to punt, the Colts took over on their own 20. They had the Giants right where they wanted them. “Our defense was standing on the sidelines saying if we got John the ball, we were going to win the game,” Donovan said. “We knew it was all over. That’s how confident we were.”

Ten plays later--including a crucial 22-yard run up the middle by fullback Alan Ameche on a trap -- the Colts stood poised for a coronation with the ball on the New York 8. Today, a team would kick a field goal on first down. Back then, it was a foreign notion. “I never even thought about kicking a field goal,” Unitas said.

Ameche gained a yard, then Unitas completed a six-yard pass to tight end Jim Mutscheller, putting the ball on the 1. Ameche rumbled through a hole on the right side so big Donovan could’ve gotten through. The final score was 23-17. It was 4:51 p.m. Dusk for a day, dawn for a new era in pro football.

“We weren’t trying to create history. It just happened,” Gifford said. “What I remember most is that I felt terrible in the locker room afterwards. I had flown my dad in from the Alaska oil fields--he worked in the oil fields all his life. He felt so bad for me; I felt so bad and was all beat up. Then Lombardi came over, put his arms around me and whispered, ‘Don’t feel bad about it. We wouldn’t have gotten here without you.’ I’ll always remember that. It made it a lot easier to live with.”