A book about the Giants vs Colts 1958 game
The 1958 sudden-death National Football League title game between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants has been called pro football’s “Game of the Century.” The championship clash, played at Yankee Stadium in front of 64,185 lucky fans, was tied at 17 after 60 minutes of play. The two teams were about to embark on the first overtime in NFL history — regular season or postseason. Fortunately for the NFL, the game that was being viewed by a national television audience turned out to be one of the most exciting ever played.
An abundance of the league’s most glittering stars was on display that December 28: Pat Summerall, kicker for the Giants; Raymond Berry, the Colts receiver who finished the game with 12 catches for 178 yards; Frank Gifford, the talented New York back who caught a Charley Conerly touchdown pass late in the game, partly atoning for his two second-quarter fumbles that led to Colt touchdowns; Colt defensive standout Gino Marchetti, who broke his ankle late in the game making a key stop on Gifford; and, of course, Johnny Unitas, the Baltimore field general who led his team on a drive in the last seconds of regulation that led to a game-tying, Steve Myhra field goal with seven seconds left.
After the Giants punted on the first possession in overtime, Johnny U, who finished the game with 26 completions in 40 attempts for 349 yards and one touchdown, then led his team on one final, memorable eighty-yard drive. Alan Ameche capped it off with his second touchdown of the day, a one-yard touchdown plunge 8 minutes and 15 seconds into the extra period.
Not only did the Colts win, 23-17, but more significantly the NFL won, securing its place as a marketable television sport in a nation that was, up to that point, predominantly oriented to baseball.
The 1959 NFL title game was a rematch of the 1958 classic but could not equal the excitement generated by its predecessor. The Colts beat the Giants again, this time in Baltimore, by a more comfortable 31-16 margin.