MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Legendary West Virginia University linebacker Sam Huff died today in Winchester, Virginia, following years of declining health, according to The Washington Post.
Born Oct. 4, 1934 in Edna Gas, Huff's background was typical for a boy growing up in West Virginia during The Great Depression. His father, Oral Huff, worked in the coal mines loading buggies for Consolidated Mining in Farmington and two of his brothers also worked in the mines.
But Huff, a star football player at Farmington High, wasn't interested in that sort of life. Cleveland Browns star center Frank "Gunner" Gatski was also from Farmington, and he once showed Huff his NFL championship ring and that led Sam to realize that there were other possibilities in life.
"He was kind of my hero, and we were from the same coal camp and we later played against each other in the pros," Huff recalled.
West Virginia University coach Art Lewis didn't have to travel far to watch Huff play (Morgantown is located less than 30 miles from Farmington), and he liked what he saw in the rawboned 200-pound tackle. Huff had many other college offers, and considered Florida, North Carolina, Army and Pitt before choosing WVU.
"I always loved West Virginia University," Huff said in 2008. "Why in the world would I ever think of going anywhere else? I was born in Edna Gas, right outside of Morgantown. (West Virginia University) was in my blood."
Huff joined such outstanding players as Bruce Bosley, Joe Marconi, Fred Wyant and Bobby Moss to help WVU become one of the strongest teams in the country in 1953. The Mountaineers had an 8-1 regular season record and were ranked in the top 10 for the first time in school history.
"We were a great football team," Huff admitted. "(Fullback) Tommy Allman was one of the best football players and nobody could whip Tommy. He was a fighter. He hung out at the bars and he rarely went to class, but let me tell you, he could play football. When he hit somebody, you could hear it.
"West Virginia has always put out great, hard-knocking athletes," he continued. "Look where West Virginia University is centered. We got kids from Pittsburgh and if you take Pennsylvania and West Virginia and you put them together there is not a whole lot of difference. There were the steel mills in Pennsylvania and the coal mines in West Virginia, and we were all basically raised the same way – tough guys."
Huff helped West Virginia to another 8-1 campaign in 1954 and an 8-2 record in 1955. With Huff on the field, West Virginia won three out of four games against Penn State and a pair of wins against arch-rival Pitt. He was named to four All-American teams during his senior season in 1955.
Huff, whose given name was Robert Lee, became one of the most recognizable defensive players in the NFL in the late 1950s while playing middle linebacker for the New York Giants. His rise from small-town football hero to the toast of the town in New York City was right out of the pages of a Horatio Alger book.
Huff, a third-round draft pick of the Giants, joined all of the other rookies at training camp in Winooski, Vermont, in the summer of 1956. New York was coached by Jim Lee Howell and his coaching staff included Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry.
"With those two," Howell once said, "all I had to do was blow up footballs."
After forfeiting their first pick to the Los Angeles Rams (which turned out to be West Virginia running back Joe Marconi), the Giants selected Arkansas back Henry Moore with their second pick and then Huff.
At 6-foot-1, 230 pounds, Sam was considered a 'tweener' for professional football. He wasn't big enough to play defensive line as he did at WVU, and he wasn't quite fast enough to chase down speedy ball carriers at linebacker, and consequently, he became the target of the customary abuse Howell dished out to rookies.
"I really think he hated rookies," wrote Huff in his 1988 autobiography
Tough Stuff.
Once the team got settled in Winooski, Howell announced that they would scrimmage the next day with the winning team getting the following day off. Huff's team won the scrimmage easily - Sam helping his team by blocking a punt and running 50 yards for a touchdown. He had made plans for his off day when Howell informed him that it didn't apply to rookies. They were to be dressed and ready for the next practice.
Huff, the country boy from Farmington, had had enough.
Punter Bob Chandler, another country boy from Oklahoma, and Huff were ready to turn in their playbooks and quit the team. The two walked into Lombardi's office, announced their intentions to quit and Lombardi blew his stack. Chandler took off and headed straight for the airport while Huff, nursing a sore knee, couldn't get out of the room in time.
"I was scared to death," Huff admitted years later.
After convincing Sam to remain with the team, Lombardi jumped in his car and went after Chandler. He, too, changed his mind and with that, Sam Huff's professional football career that would eventually take him to Canton, Ohio, was underway.
Then, on Oct. 7, 1956, three days after Sam's 22
nd birthday, All-Pro defender Ray Beck was injured in a game against the Chicago Cardinals and Huff got his big break. He took advantage of Beck's injury and played well in his absence, helping the Giants win five straight games.
It was during this time when Landry devised a new 4-3 defensive scheme with Huff moving to middle linebacker. With Rosey Grier, Andy Robustelli, Dick Modzelewski and Walt Yowarsky regulating action at the line of scrimmage, that left Huff free to use his great instincts and roam the field at middle linebacker.
It was a defense that revolutionized professional football in the 1960s.
Landry's system included a variety of blitzes and slants designed to funnel running plays inside to Huff's area. The strategy not only turned the Giants defense into one of the NFL's best and helped New York win the 1956 NFL title, but it also made Huff a bona fide professional football star.
Sam was generally regarded to be one of the few defenders capable of consistently slowing down Cleveland Browns All-Pro running back Jim Brown. Huff says the personal rivalry began during their college days when he was at West Virginia and Brown played for Syracuse. During a 1955 game in Morgantown, Brown broke four of Sam's teeth and put a scar on his nose when he tried to tackle him.
"You've got to hit him straight on below the hips and with all of the power you've got, or he'll knock you over and run right in your face," Huff once said.
Huff was named to his first Pro Bowl in 1959 and his reputation reached its peak in 1960 when he was the subject of a CBS news documentary narrated by Walter Cronkite titled "The Violent World of Sam Huff." Around the same time, he was also featured on the cover of
Time Magazine, making him one of the most recognizable defensive players in professional football.
It was said that a person living on the West Coast could write
Sam Huff, New York Giants on the back of a postcard and it would get to Huff at Yankee Stadium without any additional information.
That's how popular and well-known Huff had become.
Years later, many of his contemporaries would thank Huff whenever they saw him socially because his popularity had helped raise the standard of living for all defensive players. Before that, top defensive players were usually paid a fraction of what the quarterbacks and running backs were making.
Still, Huff was never paid what he thought he deserved.
"I never did make a lot of money in pro football," he admitted. "I played football on Sundays at Yankee Stadium and at 9 o'clock on Monday morning I was at 41
st and Broadway working for J.P. Stephens Textile Company selling men's slack fabric in the garment district. The guys would say, 'I just saw you play football on television yesterday.' I said, 'Hell, I need the money!' That's what we did."
Huff was a two-time All-Pro choice who played in four Pro Bowls with the Giants from 1959-63, earning Pro Bowl MVP honors in 1961. Then, in a stunning move initiated by Giants coach Allie Sherman, Huff was traded to the Washington Redskins for defensive tackle Andy Stynchula and running back Dick James. The trade made front-page headlines in New York and was greeted with jeers from Giants fans who religiously packed Yankee Stadium yelling "Huff-Huff-Huff-Huff."
One of Huff's most satisfying moments as a player occurred in 1966 when the Redskins annihilated New York 72-41 in the first game he played against his old team.
Huff played five seasons with Washington, earning another Pro Bowl berth in 1964 before retiring in 1968. Lombardi talked Huff out of retirement to perform one more season as a player coach in 1969.
After a brief stab at politics in 1970, Huff developed a relationship with Bill Marriott, a devoted Redskins fan, and he soon became vice president of the popular hotel chain in charge of attracting college and professional teams. Huff also spent his weekends broadcasting Giants games with Marty Glickman on WNEW radio before joining the Washington Redskins Radio Network where he teamed with former NFL quarterback Sonny Jurgensen.
The duo worked together from 1981 until Sam's retirement following the 2012 season. Huff's broadcasting tenure also included a short stint in the early 1980s analyzing West Virginia University football games for the Mountaineer Sports Network.
Huff was instrumental in initiating the West Virginia Breeders' Cup in Charles Town, West Virginia, while tending to his ranch in nearby Middleburg, Virginia.
Several years ago, Huff reflected on his formative years growing up in Farmington, his four years spent at West Virginia University and his amazing life afterward.
"West Virginia has always been great to me," he said. "My life has been so good. I've been a football player and after that I was a marketing guy. I've been to the mountaintop.
"I wouldn't trade my life for anything; I've done so much," Huff concluded.
He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1982. Huff was a member of West Virginia University's inaugural Hall of Fame induction class of 1991, and he was also the first WVU athlete in any sport to have his number, 75, retired prior to West Virginia's 2005 football game against Pitt.
Huff is one of only five Mountaineer football players and three men's basketball players to have their numbers retired.
"Mountaineer Nation is saddened to learn of the passing of WVU football legend Sam Huff," West Virginia University Director of Athletics
Shane Lyons said. "What a great Mountaineer who always cared for and loved his University. Sam's teams in the mid-1950s were among the best in college football, and his years playing professional football for the New York Giants and Washington Redskins brought great fame to West Virginia University. Throughout his accomplished life, Sam never forgot his alma mater.
"Our thoughts and prayers go to his family, and may this Hall of Famer forever rest in peace," Lyons added.
"Sam Huff was indeed the gold standard for grit and tenacity," West Virginia University President Gordon Gee posted on his official Twitter account. "The son of a coal miner and the first in his family to go to college, Sam was a true Mountaineer legend. My thoughts are with the Huff family as we remember the indelible mark Sam left on West Virginia University."
A son, Robert Lee "Sam" Huff Jr. died in 2018. He is survived by two children from his marriage to Mary Helen Fletcher, Catherine Huff Myers and Joseph D. Huff, three grandchildren and a great grandson.
He was 87.
