Summer Reading Volume 4

Jun 27, 2008, 4:11:24 AM by Bob Gretz - FAQ

Fifty years ago the world of pro football reached a plateau that would prove to be the launching pad for a wildly successful next half-century.

The date was December 28, 1958. The place was Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. The event was the NFL Championship Game.

The Best Game Ever: Giants vs. Colts, 1958, and the Birth of the Modern NFL is testimony to one of the greatest moments in the sport’s history. It chronicles the rise of both the New York Giants and Baltimore Colts through that ‘58 season and their head-to-head match-up for the championship that went to sudden death overtime, the first game to end under those rules in league history.

Because this game has been profiled many, many times, in books, documentaries and magazine stories, there is not a lot of new ground unearthed by author Mark Bowden. But the veteran writer-reporter does a good job of pulling together all the elements of the story. Bowden puts his primary focus on one player from each team: wide receiver Raymond Berry of Baltimore and linebacker Sam Huff of New York. These two members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame are familiar stories to those who study the history of the game.

But younger fans may not know the remarkable story of each man. Berry revolutionized the wide receiver position, despite the fact he had pedestrian speed and was not gifted with a lot of athletic ability. But he studied the game so thoroughly and prepared himself that he became the prototype for the position over many years.

Huff became the classic middle linebacker thanks to then Giants defensive coordinator Tom Landry. It was Landry that led the NFL’s move to the 4-3 defense. Prior to that, most league teams had played a 5-2 defense. But the 4-3 put a lot of emphasis on the middle linebacker, and Landry was able to make the switch because Huff was perfect for the position. He was smart, athletic and mean. Huff would be followed in the next 20 years by guys out of the same mold: Ray Nitschke, Dick Butkus, Jack Lambert and the like.

In this age of Spygate, Bowden does reveal in the book that the Colts actually spied on the Giants practice sessions before the game:

“In the week before, the Colts had spied on the Giants practices from the roof of an apartment building outside the Yankee Stadium right centerfield wall. Bob Shaw, a former player who worked as an advance scout had worried about getting caught and incurring the wrath of the NFL. (Colts owner Carroll) Rosenbloom had promised him a job for life in one of his other companies if that happened. So Shaw just strolled into the chosen building’s lobby, took the elevator to the top and then found a flight of stairs to the roof. He sat up there with binoculars, watching the Giants run through the assortment of plays they would employ against the Colts. He hadn’t seen anything new or radically different, which was welcome news …”

Colts coach Webb Ewbank was convinced that the Giants had the Yankee Stadium locker room bugged and he acted accordingly in his pre-game speech to his team:

“Back in the locker room, Weeb got the team together. He always scripted the first three plays of the game and after that he left the game to God and John Unitas.

“He was convinced that the Giants had the locker room bugged. He looked under the benches and then pointed at the ceiling to let the players know that he knew that they were being overheard. Then he mouthed the first three plays.”

If the NFL game of 50 years ago is unfamiliar territory, then The Best Game Ever is must reading simply to understand how far the game, sport and league has come in the last half-century.

The Best Game Ever: Giants vs. Colts, 1958, and the Birth of the Modern NFL by Mark Bowden from Atlantic Monthly Press. Available at all major bookstores and amazon.com.

The opinions offered in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the Kansas City Chiefs.

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A former beat reporter who covered the Pittsburgh Steelers during their glory years, Gretz covered the Chiefs for the Kansas City Star for nine years. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Board of Selectors. He has been the senior columnist for the Chiefs web site since its inception.