Sam Huff

Sam Huff, the Giants’ Hall of Fame middle linebacker who became the face of pro football, his feats celebrated in the national news media when the N.F.L. began to vie with major league baseball as America’s No. 1 sport, died on Saturday November 13 2021 in Winchester, Va. He was 87. His death, in a hospital, was confirmed by his daughter, Catherine Huff Myers, who said Huff learned he had dementia in 2013. Playing for the Giants in their glory years of the late 1950s and early ’60s, Huff came out of the West Virginia coal country. He played in six N.F.L. championship games in his eight seasons with the Giants. He was named to the all-league team three times and played in five Pro Bowls. Robert Lee Huff — he could not recall how he came to be called Sam — was born on Oct. 4, 1934, in Morgantown, W.Va. The Giants decided to reshape a veteran team following the 1963 season, when they won a third consecutive division title. They traded Huff to Washington for Dick James, a smallish running back, and Andy Stynchula, a defensive end. Huff gained retribution with Washington’s 72-41 victory over the Giants in November 1966. He played for Washington from 1964 to 1967, then retired, but he came back for a final season as a player and linebacker coach when Vince Lombardi was named Washington’s head coach in 1969. Besides his daughter, Catherine, he is survived by his partner, Carol Holden; a son, Joseph; his former wife, Mary Helen Fletcher Huff; three grandchildren; and a great-grandchild, the family said. Another son, Robert Jr., died in 2018. Huff’s marriage ended in divorce in the late 1980s.