Sam Huff

Lore & Background

Huff was born and grew up in the No. 9 coal mining camp in Edna, West Virginia. The fourth of six children of Oral and Catherine Huff, he lived with his family in a small rowhouse with no running water. Huff grew up during the Great Depression while his father and two of his brothers worked in the coal mines loading buggies for Consolidated Mining. He attended and played high school football at the now-closed Farmington High School, where he was both an offensive and defensive lineman. While there, Huff helped lead the team to an undefeated season in 1951. He earned All-State honors in 1952 and was named to the first-team All-Mason Dixon Conference. Huff attended and played college football for West Virginia University, where he majored in physical education. He started at guard as a sophomore, then as a tackle his next two years, after winning a letter as a backup guard during his freshman season. He was a four-year letterman and helped lead West Virginia to a combined four-year mark of 31–7 and a berth in the Sugar Bowl. In 1955, Huff was voted an All-American and served as co-captain in both the East–West Shrine Game and the Senior Bowl. Huff was also named first team Academic All-American. He was drafted in the third round of the 1956 NFL draft by the New York Giants. In training camp, head coach Jim Lee Howell was having a hard time coming up with a position for Huff. Discouraged, Huff left camp, but was stopped at the airport by assistant (offensive) coach Vince Lombardi, who coaxed him back. Then, defensive coordinator Tom Landry came up with the new 4–3 defensive scheme that he thought would fit Huff perfectly. The Giants switched him from the line to middle linebacker behind Ray Beck. On October 7, 1956, in a game against the Chicago Cardinals, Beck was injured and Huff was put into his first professional game. He then helped the Giants win five consecutive games and they finished with an 8–3–1 record, which gave them the Eastern Conference title. New York went on to win the 1956 NFL Championship Game and Huff became the first rookie middle linebacker to start an NFL championship game. In 1958, the Giants again won the East and Huff played in the 1958 NFL Championship Game, which became widely known as 'The Greatest Game Ever Played', the first NFL game to go into sudden death overtime. The final score was Baltimore Colts 23, New York Giants 17.

Reader's Guide

Sam Huff was a Hall of Fame linebacker for the New York Giants and Washington Redskins, known for his battles with Jim Brown and his five Pro Bowl selections. He won an NFL championship in 1956 and was a two-time All-Pro.

Did You Know?

• Huff was the first NFL player to be featured on the cover of Time magazine, on November 30, 1959.
• He was the subject of a 1960 CBS television special titled 'The Violent World of Sam Huff'.
• Huff's uniform number 75 was retired by West Virginia University in 2005.
• He ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1970 but lost in the Democratic primary.