Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Belated Happy Birthday Sam Huff!
October 05, 2020 09:57 AM | Football, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Sam Huff, for many, many years the face of Mountaineer football, celebrated his 86th birthday yesterday at his farm in Middleburg, Virginia.
Huff, of course, was the five-time Pro Bowl linebacker for the New York Giants in the late 1950s and early 1960s who helped glamorize defensive play in the NFL.
During his best years in the late 1950s, it was said that Huff was so famous and popular that he frequently received mail that was simply addressed: Sam Huff, New York Giants.
Everybody knew who Sam Huff was!
His best years in the NFL also came during a time when West Virginia football was really struggling in the late 1950s and early 1960s, which made his great success doubly important for Mountaineer football fans.
Sam was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980.
Here is the foreword Sam contributed to the West Virginia University Football Vault, published in 2009:
For most of us growing up in West Virginia, coal was our lives. Our fathers worked in the mines. Our uncles worked in the mines. So did our brothers and cousins. For me, I wanted to do something else, and football was my ticket to a different life. There was no other way. I had many other colleges recruiting me, and I even made a trip to the University of Florida in Gainesville. I t was the first time in my life that I had ever been on an airplane.
I went down to Florida, and those big palm trees were so beautiful. It was about 85 degrees, and the sun was shining. But the entire time I was there I couldn't get my mind off West Virginia University. I grew up listening to Jack Fleming on the radio, and I knew the names of all of the great Mountaineer players, beginning with quarterback Jimmy Walthall.
Then when I finally met Pappy Lewis, he was the greatest recruiter I had ever known. I remember him saying, "Boy, I don't give a damn where you thing you're going to go. You better come to West Virginia University, or else you're going to end up in the coal mines." Why in the world I would ever go anyplace else? I was born in Edna Gas, which is practically in Morgantown. West Virginia University was in by blood.
If you were from West Virginia, WVU was in everyone's blood. Tommy Allman from Charleston, Bruce Bosley from Green Bank, Gene Lamone from Wellsburg, Bob Moss from Huntington, Dick Nicholson from Richwood, Carl Norman from Triadelphia, Freddy Wyant from Weston – we knew where everyone was from, and we were all proud to play for the Mountaineers.
As I look back, I can't believe it sometimes. I have an entire wall in my office dedicated to West Virginia University, and at the very top is a picture of Art Lewis. To have Art Lewis, Gene Corum, Russ Crane, Ed Shockey, Froggy Sawyers, Quentin Barnette and Chick Donaldson as your coaches was such a wonderful experience. More than 50 years later, I can still remember the name of every single coach I had at West Virginia University, but I can't tell you all of the coaches I had in pro football.
The successes in my life – High School, College and Pro Football halls of fame, the only jersey retired in Mountaineer football history, playing on teams that went 31-7 during a four-year period and going to the school's first major bowl game in 1954, our unprecedented three consecutive victories against Penn State, my playing career with the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins, appearing on the cover of Time magazine at age 24, advancing to vice president of sports marketing in the Marriott Corporation and my present affiliation with the Washington Redskins Radio Network, all of these things of which I am immensely proud – were achieved because of the great teachers and coaches I had throughout my life, beginning with grade school and high school at Farmington, and then later at West Virginia University. I can honestly say the best four years of my life were spent at West Virginia University. I was a kid when I got there, and when I graduated, I became a man. What more could you ask for?
From every proud West Virginian from Weirton to Welch, Martinsburg to Matewan and all points in between, Happy Birthday Sam!
Let's go Mountaineers!
Huff, of course, was the five-time Pro Bowl linebacker for the New York Giants in the late 1950s and early 1960s who helped glamorize defensive play in the NFL.
During his best years in the late 1950s, it was said that Huff was so famous and popular that he frequently received mail that was simply addressed: Sam Huff, New York Giants.
Everybody knew who Sam Huff was!
His best years in the NFL also came during a time when West Virginia football was really struggling in the late 1950s and early 1960s, which made his great success doubly important for Mountaineer football fans.
Sam was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980.
Here is the foreword Sam contributed to the West Virginia University Football Vault, published in 2009:
For most of us growing up in West Virginia, coal was our lives. Our fathers worked in the mines. Our uncles worked in the mines. So did our brothers and cousins. For me, I wanted to do something else, and football was my ticket to a different life. There was no other way. I had many other colleges recruiting me, and I even made a trip to the University of Florida in Gainesville. I t was the first time in my life that I had ever been on an airplane.
I went down to Florida, and those big palm trees were so beautiful. It was about 85 degrees, and the sun was shining. But the entire time I was there I couldn't get my mind off West Virginia University. I grew up listening to Jack Fleming on the radio, and I knew the names of all of the great Mountaineer players, beginning with quarterback Jimmy Walthall.
Then when I finally met Pappy Lewis, he was the greatest recruiter I had ever known. I remember him saying, "Boy, I don't give a damn where you thing you're going to go. You better come to West Virginia University, or else you're going to end up in the coal mines." Why in the world I would ever go anyplace else? I was born in Edna Gas, which is practically in Morgantown. West Virginia University was in by blood.
If you were from West Virginia, WVU was in everyone's blood. Tommy Allman from Charleston, Bruce Bosley from Green Bank, Gene Lamone from Wellsburg, Bob Moss from Huntington, Dick Nicholson from Richwood, Carl Norman from Triadelphia, Freddy Wyant from Weston – we knew where everyone was from, and we were all proud to play for the Mountaineers.
As I look back, I can't believe it sometimes. I have an entire wall in my office dedicated to West Virginia University, and at the very top is a picture of Art Lewis. To have Art Lewis, Gene Corum, Russ Crane, Ed Shockey, Froggy Sawyers, Quentin Barnette and Chick Donaldson as your coaches was such a wonderful experience. More than 50 years later, I can still remember the name of every single coach I had at West Virginia University, but I can't tell you all of the coaches I had in pro football.
The successes in my life – High School, College and Pro Football halls of fame, the only jersey retired in Mountaineer football history, playing on teams that went 31-7 during a four-year period and going to the school's first major bowl game in 1954, our unprecedented three consecutive victories against Penn State, my playing career with the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins, appearing on the cover of Time magazine at age 24, advancing to vice president of sports marketing in the Marriott Corporation and my present affiliation with the Washington Redskins Radio Network, all of these things of which I am immensely proud – were achieved because of the great teachers and coaches I had throughout my life, beginning with grade school and high school at Farmington, and then later at West Virginia University. I can honestly say the best four years of my life were spent at West Virginia University. I was a kid when I got there, and when I graduated, I became a man. What more could you ask for?
From every proud West Virginian from Weirton to Welch, Martinsburg to Matewan and all points in between, Happy Birthday Sam!
Let's go Mountaineers!
Ross Hodge, Honor Huff & Brenen Lorient | Oklahoma Postgame
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Saturday, April 04
Ross Hodge & Honor Huff | Stanford Postgame
Friday, April 03
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Friday, April 03
