The Philadelphia Eagles (7-1) visited the New York Giants (5-2-1) on a chilly November 1960 Sunday afternoon.
With the Eagles trailing 10-0 in the second quarter, Giants quarterback George Shaw hit running back Frank Gifford on a swing pass and, before you know it, Eagles linebacker Chuck Bednarik put a fierce (but legal at the time) hit on Gifford, dislodging the ball, and rendering the Giant unconscious. Eagles’ teammate Jimmy Carr fell on the ball to thwart the drive. Philadelphia went on to claim a 17-10 victory.
It was a massive hit and Gifford was so severely concussed (he said later he believed it was due to his head smacking the semi-frozen Yankee Stadium turf) that he missed the remainder of the 1960 season and the entirety of the 1961 campaign.
The NFL later named it as 44th on its list of top 100 Greatest Plays of All-Time (Philadelphia went on to win the NFL Championship that season).
The image above, captured by Sports Illustrated‘s John G. Zimmerman, seems to portray Bednarik celebrating the hit on Gifford, but he says he was actually celebrating Carr’s scoop and score. The video clip below (the only footage of the play we could find, seems to confirm Bedarnik’s take).
The hit was so significant History.com gave it the treatment with a full write up on the event (find it here).
Both Bednarik (1967) and Gifford (1977) were enshrined in Canton’s Pro Football Hall of Fame.
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