An Ode to the Pride of the Pick and Shovel Group

My family and I came up as part

Of the pick and shovel group.

-Sam Huff

Hall of Fame Induction Speech  (1982)

I never saw Sam Huff play football.  However, even though I spend very little time on any given Sunday watching NFL games, I am well-versed enough its its history, and that of the New York Giants, to know what a generational talent he was and to grasp the indelible mark he left on the sport he loved and on the franchise that drafted him in 1956 in the third round out of the University of West Virginia and for whom he would play from 1956 through 1963.  Sadly, the Giants were the same franchise who would break his heart when, after the 1963 season, they traded him to the Washington Redskins.  

Even if you are wholly unfamiliar with Sam Huff, I cannot recommend enough two exquisitely fine pieces of writing by Jerry Izenberg and Mike Vaccaro, the former having long ago attained legendary status and the latter being well on his way to doing so, paying homage to Huff upon his death this past weekend at age 87.   

Sam Huff was ensrhrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1982.  He was diagnosed with dementia in 2013.  In announcing his death, his family reported that he passed away at home, of natural causes.  

Photo Credit:  Neil Leifer, Sports Illustrated

In his enshrinement speech, Sam Huff spoke of who a football player was, "He may not be an All-American, but he is an example of the American way.  He is judged not for his race, nor for his social standing, nor for his finances, but by the Democratic yardstick of how well he blocks, tackles, and sacrifices individual glory for the overall success of the team."  

Seems to me a pretty good template for judging any person, whether a football player or not. 

-AK