Sam Huff

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Sam Huff
Sam Huff on Time, November 1959
Date of birth	October 4, 1934
Place of birth	Farmington, West Virginia
Position(s)	Linebacker
College	West Virginia
NFL Draft	1956 / Round 3/ Pick 30
Career Highlights
Pro Bowls	5
Honors	NFL 1950s All-Decade Team 70 Greatest Redskins Redskins' Ring of Fame
Stats
Statistics	Pro Football Reference DatabaseFootball
Team(s)
1956-1963 1964-1967 1969	New York Giants Washington Redskins Washington Redskins
College Hall of Fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1982

Robert Lee Huff (born October 4, 1934, Morgantown, West Virginia) is a former American football linebacker who played for the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins after earning All-America honors at West Virginia University. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1982.

Long considered one of the most physical defensive players in the annals of NFL history, Huff ended his professional career with 30 interceptions, hauling in at least one interception during each season he played.

One of six children, Huff was born in a West Virginia mining camp called Edna Gap and watched his family struggle through the depths of the Depression. Motivated by these hurdles, Huff took up football at Farmington High School and earned a scholarship to West Virginia University.

Huff majored in physical education in college, expecting to use his degree in a teaching capacity. However, his skills on the football field helped lead the Mountaineers to a 31-7 record during his collegiate career. On an individual level, Huff garnered not only a berth on the 1955 All-America squad, but a third round draft selection by the New York Giants as well.

When Giants head coach Jim Lee Howell couldn't decide where to play him, Sam almost left the team before he was stopped by assistant coach Vince Lombardi. When middle linebacker Ray Beck was injured in the season's third game, Huff stepped in and excelled, a factor that led to Beck's retirement soon afterwards. Huff's work on defense played a major role in helping the Giants win their first NFL Championship since 1938.

After being dethroned by the Cleveland Browns the following year, the Giants would return to the Championship Game in five of the next six seasons, but came up on the short end of the stick on each occasion.

Those disappointments failed to limit Huff's image in the national spotlight. Playing in the media capital of the world, Huff would be featured on the November 30, 1959 edition of Time Magazine, and was also the subject of an October 31, 1960 CBS special, "The Violent World of Sam Huff." At one point, Huff was making more for his off-the-field duties than on the gridiron. (New York-based comedian Alan King talked about the CBS program in one of his books, in mock wonderment about how the sound in his set was good enough to hear bones crunching).

Huff earned a host of honors during his time with the Giants, including being named Top NFL Linebacker in 1959, four consecutive Pro Bowl selections (1958-1961), and winning a spot on the All-NFL team three times. During his 13-year career, Huff's most memorable on-field duels came against a pair of running backs, Cleveland's Jim Brown, and Green Bay's Jim Taylor

Allie Sherman, who had taken over as Giants head coach for Howell in 1961, traded Huff to the Washington Redskins on April 10, 1964 as part of a five-player deal, one of a series of moves that sent the once-proud Giants into a tailspin. In 1964, Huff went to his fifth, and final, Pro Bowl.

When Huff arrived, the Redskin defense had given up the most points in the NFL in 1963, and had been a perennial also-ran in that category since 1958. After his first season, the Redskins improved to seventh, but after four seasons with the team, he retired from football, primarily due to differences with Washington head coach Otto Graham. When Vince Lombardi returned to coach football in 1969, Huff returned to the Redskins as a player-coach for two seasons.

Upon his final retirement as a player, Huff entered the broadcast booth, spending one season as part of the Giants radio team. He then went on to the Redskins, having spent the last three decades working in the same capacity.

In 1999, he was ranked number 76 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players.

On November 24, 2005, Huff's uniform number 75 was retired by West Virginia University.

[edit] Quotes

"[Tom] Landry built the 4-3 defense around me. It revolutionized defense and opened the door for all the variations of zones and man-to-man coverage, which are used in conjunction with it today." ^[1]

"...I still feel bitter towards Allie Sherman because he hurt me badly. I never wanted to be traded and I played extremely well for the Giants." [1]

"The best opponent I ever faced in my career was Jim Brown. He was the greatest running back I've ever seen...And, John Unitas and Sonny Jurgensen, and I've played most of the guys - well, I think almost all the guys that are in the Hall of Fame, I've played against...But, I had to single out Jim Brown because he was awesome. Jim Brown was the best because of his speed, and his size, and his agility, an all-around athlete." [2]