Tough Stuff

by Sam Huff, Leonard Shapiro

Sam Huff is one of the legends of professional football, the man in the middle of the great New York Giants' defenses of the 1950s and 1960s. When he and his fellow defenders jogged onto the field during home games, 62,000 fans would chant "HUFF! HUFF! HUFF!" and "DEE-fense! DEE-fense!" As a rookie in 1956, he started on a world champion team (the Giants' last until 1986); he appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1959; he was the subject of a breakthrough television documentary, The Violent World of Sam Huff, narrated by Walter Cronkite; and, after being traded in 1964 and playing five years with the Washington Redskins, he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Tough Stuff is Sam Huff's life story, from his youth in West Virginia mining country through his extraordinary career. Football fans will savor every anecdote about the rough, gritty days of football past, Tom Landry developed the Giants' famous 4-3 defenseHuff's great rivalries with Jim Brown and Jim TaylorThe inside story of "the greatest game ever played": the New York Giants/Baltimore Colts showdown in the 1958 championship gameThe day they thought Frank Gifford had been killed by a violent tackleWhy Huff will never forgive Allie ShermanThe Sonny Jurgensen, Vince Lombardi, and the RedskinsFilled with vivid recollections of teammates and rivals--Rosey Grier, Andy Robustelli, Charlie Conerly, Pat Summerall, Y.A. Tittle, Johnny Unitas, Mike Ditka, and many other--Tough Stuff is the real stuff on the golden age of football.

250 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 15, 1989

Reviews

[Will Wright]

The autobiography of New York Giants legend and Pro Football Hall of Famer, Sam Huff. It was cool to read about a time when professional football was an up-and-coming sport in America, and the brutality the players put their bodies through. Huff writes about growing up in small-town Farmington, WV and working at John Manchin's shop; then playing football at West Virginia University under Pappy Lewis; he then writes about his time with the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins from 1956-1969; then concludes with writing about his post-football career working with the Mariott Corporation as an executive, as well as his time in the broadcast booth for Washington Redskins. 3.5 / 5 stars 🌟