Chuck Bednarik and Frank Gifford

drizzellla · ‎03-14-2010

Read an interesting article about Chuck Bednarik and Frank Gifford today. It was about Chuck Bednarik tackling Frank Gifford so hard that he knocked out Frank Gifford.

I never followed football but you can't help but hear about past and present players and games. The tackle happened 60 years ago today.

I have seen Frank Gifford on old TV shows. And he was quite a handsome, well spoken and polished man. So it shocked me when I was reading in this article about Frank Gifford's family life. His family was so poor that his mother sometimes served her children dog food for dinner. And members of a local church would deliver hot meals to the Gifford's house because the Gifford's could not afford them. Frank Gifford moved 47 times before high school.

Not a good start in life but he sure accomplished alot.

wonderfulworld · ‎12-05-2012

He sure did accomplish a lot from such a humble start. Didn't he develop some type of dementia associated with closed head injuries in sports? I think his family donated his body to science to research this condition.

drizzellla · ‎03-14-2010

@wonderfulworld wrote:
He sure did accomplish a lot from such a humble start. Didn't he develop some type of dementia associated with closed head injuries in sports? I think his family donated his body to science to research this condition.

Yes, you are right.

I looked it up

"In November 2015, Gifford's family revealed that he had suffered from cronic traumatic encephalopathy. The family said, "After losing our beloved husband and father, Frank Gifford, we as a family made the difficult decision to have his brain studied in hopes of contributing to the advancement of medical research concerning the link between football and traumatic brain injury ... We decided to disclose our loved one's condition to honor Frank's legacy of promoting player safety dating back to his involvement in the formation of the NFL Players Association in the 1950s."

grandma r · ‎10-26-2010

@drizzellla. Those were the days when players were leather helmets. Basically a hat with chin straps and no protection. No face masks and very little in the way of safety. Football was a tough, gritty sport. There were no multimillion dollar contracts. Most players worked other jobs to make ends meet. Travel was by bus with no luxury accommodations. Many of those men suffered from debilitating injuries that lasted a life time.

Chuck Bednarik played offense and defense. He worked hard on and off the field. He lived in the Bethlehem area in a modest home and always gave back to his community.

drizzellla · ‎03-14-2010

@grandma r wrote:
@drizzellla. Those were the days when players were leather helmets. Basically a hat with chin straps and no protection. No face masks and very little in the way of safety. Football was a tough, gritty sport. There were no multimillion dollar contracts. Most players worked other jobs to make ends meet. Travel was by bus with no luxury accommodations. Many of those men suffered from debilitating injuries that lasted a life time.
Chuck Bednarik played offense and defense. He worked hard on and off the field. He lived in the Bethlehem area in a modest home and always gave back to his community.

In the article it said that Chuck Bednarik was a cement salesman during the off season. Therefore, his nickname Concrete Charlie.

It is amazing to see what the football players used for "protection" years ago.