From the mid-1950s to the early 1960s, when basketball's Boston Celtics
were piecing together a run for the ages, when Montreal's Canadiens were
in the midst of notching a record-setting five streaight Stanley Cups,
and when the New York Yankees were the once-and-future kings of the
diamond, one team boosted the NFL to national prominence as none other:
the New York Giants.
In Giants Among Men, Jack Cavanaugh, the acclaimed author of Tunney,
transports us to the NFL's golden age to introduce the close-knit and
diverse group that won the heart of a city, helped spread the gospel of
pro football across the nation, and recast the NFL as a media colossus.
Central to Cavanaugh's narrative, and emblematic of the Giants' bond
with their followers, was a hard-nosed future Hall of Fame defensive end
named Andy Robustelli, who anchored a Giants defense unit so ferocious
that they were the first team to inspire crowds to chant "Dee-fense!"
But while Robustelli and the Giants were a hit on the gridiron, playing
in six NFL Championship Games in eight seasons between 1956 and 1963,
the most remarkable aspect of this team was perhaps its relationship
with the fans, who were equally at east hobnobbing with Jackie Gleason
and Frank Sinatra as they were rubbing elbows with working-class rooters
on the IRT en route to Sunday games in the Bronx. But the Giants of this
era didn't merely affect the fans' relationship to the game; they
changed the game itself. The team launched the NFL careers of future
head-coaching geniuses Tom Landry and Vince Lombardi, as well as those
of future Hall of Famers including Frank Gifford, Sam Huff, Emlen
Tunnell, Roosevelt Brown, and Y. A. Tittle, along with stars like
Charlie Conerly, Rosey Grier, and Pat Summerall.
Filled with historical and cultural insight and vivid portraits of
large-than-life characters and indispensable everymen, Giants Among
Men transcends nostalgia and sports trivia to faithfully depict a
watershed era for both football and the American nation.
