The Glory Game: How the 1958 NFL Championship Changed Football Forever

“Frank Gifford brings the contest so alive that you find yourself almost wondering, 50 years later, how it will turn out in the end.”
—New York Times Book Review

The Glory Game recreates in breathtaking detail the 1958 National Football League Championship Game between the New York Giants and the Baltimore Colts, which many football fans feel was “The Greatest Game Ever Played.” This first-hand, field level, “behind-the-helmet” account by ex-Giant Hall of Famer and longtime “Monday Night Football” broadcaster Frank Gifford brings back to life all the sights and sounds of the momentous contest that changed football forever, and offers vivid, indelible portraits of the legendary players—including Sam Huff, Andy Robustelli, Art Donovan, Lenny Moore, and Raymond Berry. The Giants-Colts clash of ’58 was truly The Glory Game—and now readers can relive it in all its glory.

In 1958 Frank Gifford was the golden boy on the glamour team in the most celebrated city in the NFL. When his New York Giants played the Baltimore Colts for the league championship that year, it became the single most memorable contest in the history of professional football. Broadcast to an audience of millions, it was the first title game ever to go into sudden-death overtime. Its drama, excitement, and controversy riveted the nation and helped propel football to the forefront of the American sports landscape.

Now, to mark the fiftieth anniversary of "The Greatest Game Ever Played," New York Giants Hall of Famer and longtime television analyst Frank Gifford provides an inside-the-helmet account that will take its place in the annals of sports literature. Drawing on the poignant and humorous memories of every living player from the game—including fellow Hall of Famers Sam Huff, Andy Robustelli, Art Donovan, Lenny Moore, and Raymond Berry—as well as the author's own experiences and reflections, The Glory Game captures a magnificent moment in American sports history. It is the story of two very different cities and teams, filled with the joy, the disappointment, and the eternal pride of a day that will forever symbolize all that is great about sports.

Told with gripping immediacy, The Glory Game is an indelible portrait of the NFL's most transcendent hours—a winter version of The Boys of Summer, told by one of football's true legends.

“The NFL, as we know it today, began with the 1958 Championship. There’s nobody better to tell the story of that game and the guys who played it than Frank Gifford. This book, like those players, is All-Madden.” - John Madden

“As a Baltimore boy, I can never read enough about the wonderful Colts-Giants game of 1958. Hey, we won! But Frank Gifford and his Giants lost. What is so special about reading Gifford’s account of the game is not only how magnanimous he is but also the sweet story of how the NFL captivated a nation. It took fifty years, but with THE GLORY GAME, Gifford is a winner, too.” - Frank Deford

“Frank Gifford’s superb memoir shows what it really takes and means to be a champion. Also, it’s nice to read about the Giants losing a title game.” - Bill Belichick

“Readers needn’t be Giants or Colts fans to appreciate Frank Gifford’s ‘The Glory Game’... a memoir of ‘the men who brought beauty to brutality.’” - Detroit Free Press

“Absolutely essential...[The Glory Game] is an elegant recalling of NFL football as it was played in the 1950s…If your pulse doesn’t race when you read Gifford’s description of the overtime immortal game, then you must be a soccer fan.” - Hartford Courant

“A fresh, engrossing, anecdote-filled retelling of a familiar but unforgettable gridiron battle.” - Library Journal