A look back at football and TV legend Frank Gifford

Frank Gifford has died at the age of 84. He was a personality even before joining the New York Giants. As he told ESPN, he was saddled with the nickname “Glamor Boy” for taking movie roles while he was at the University of Southern California.

“My nose wasn’t broken, I had all my teeth, and I paid the price for it on the football field,” Gifford once told ESPN.

But he quickly proved himself on the field, even as he appeared on game shows, like “What’s My Line.” He covered the Olympics and he announced 588 consecutive NFL games for ABC.

But he became most famous as the longest-running host of ABC’s “Monday Night Football” &#8212 one of the most challenging jobs in broadcasting &#8212 serving as the human buffer zone between Howard Cosell and Don Meredith.

Like the time when the game was so boring, Howard Cosell invited singer Bobby Goldsboro to the booth and had him do his cricket imitation.

“Well, we’re stretching tonight aren’t we,” Gifford joked after hearing the cricket noise. “We are really out there stretching.”

But he also knew when the news should come first. On Dec. 8, 1980 during a commercial break, they got word John Lennon had been shot and killed. The Dolphins and the Patriots were tied at 13, they were about to come back live for the game-winning kick, and off the air Cosell is telling Gifford he doesn’t want to interrupt the broadcast &#8212 until Gifford convinced him otherwise.

“I can’t see allowing for that news flash, can you?” Cosell asked Gifford into the mic.

“Absolutely, I can see it,” Gifford responded. “You betcha. You’ve got to. If we know it, we’ve got to do it. Don’t hang on it. It’s a tragic moment and this is going to shake up the whole world.”

And the news went on the air.