Dick Modzelewski, 1931-2018

What was the greatest New York football team? Was it the Eli Manning Giants of 2007-12? Was it the Phil Simms-Lawrence Taylor Giants of 1986-1991? Was it the Joe Namath 1968-69 Jets?

Many fans still think it was the 1956-63 Giants of Frank Gifford and Sam Huff. There aren't many of them still alive, and we just lost another.

Richard Blair Modzelewski was born on February 16, 1931 in West Natrona, Pennsylvania, about 20 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, up the Allegheny River. Dick and his brother Ed Modzelewski played football, baseball and basketball together at Har-Brack High School, now named Highlands High School.

That school had previously produced Cliff Montgomery, quarterback of the Columbia team that produced a stunning upset of Stanford in the 1934 Rose Bowl, still the last bowl appearance for any Ivy League team. It would later produce Carlton "Cookie" Gilchrist, star running back for the 1964 and '65 AFL Champion Buffalo Bills.

Both Modzelewski brothers -- being older, Ed was "Big Mo," and Dick was "Little Mo" -- moved on to the University of Maryland, helping them win the 1951 Southern Conference Championship, and reach the Sugar Bowl, where they knocked off Number 1 Tennessee to win the National Championship.

Ed, a running back, was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1952, and by the U.S. Army in 1953. After his discharge, he was traded to the Cleveland Browns, and helped them win the 1955 NFL Championship, and reach the 1957 NFL Championship Game. He later bought a restaurant, where another brother, Joe, was the chef, and Dick served host in the off-season. Ed built the restaurant into a successful chain in the Cleveland area, and lived until 2015.

Dick, a defensive tackle, had another year at Maryland, and made the most of it, helping them win another Southern Conference title, and winning the 1952 Outland Trophy as "the nation's outstanding interior lineman. He would later be elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. (Despite making the All-America team in 1950 and '51, Ed has not yet been elected.)

Ed and Dick at Maryland

He was drafted by the nearby Washington Redskins. This did not work out. The Redskins were then coached by Joe Kuharich, who would prove, first in D.C., then with the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1960s, to be one of the worst coaches in the history of the National Football League. (And the Redskins later had Daniel Snyder hiring head coaches, and the Eagles later had Rich Kotite, so that's saying something.)

Dick and Kuharich did not get along, and when Jack Hennemeier, who'd been an assistant coach at Maryland, became the head coach of the Canadian Football League's Calgary Stampeders, he offered Dick a spot in the starting lineup, and he jumped the NFL and signed with the Stamps. The 'Skins filed an injunction, the Stamps gave up, and the 'Skins traded Dick to the Steelers, reuniting him with Ed -- briefly, as it turned out.

He was only a Steeler for 1 season. Prior to the 1956 season, he was traded to the Detroit Lions. Just 3 days later, the Lions traded him to the New York Giants. So in a span of a year and a half, Dick Modzelewski had been signed to play for 5 different professional football teams in 2 different countries, actually taking the field for 3 of them (Washington, Pittsburgh and New York.)

Had he stayed in Detroit, he would have arrived in a quasi-dynasty, a team that won the NFL Championship in 1952 and '53, lost the NFL Championship Game in '54, and would win it again in '57. Instead, he arrived at the Giants with great timing, as they were just about to be revealed as having built a great team.

This was due less to their head coach, Jim Lee Howell, who had been a Giants end in the era of "single-platoon football," playing both offense and defense. He had appeared for them in 4 NFL Championship Games, winning in 1938, but losing in '39, '41 and '46. (They also appeared in '44, but he was in World War II at the time.) This limited success, this near-dynasty, was a foreshadowing of the team he was built.

Howell was smart enough to hire 2 brilliant assistants. They are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but he is not, and has become a bit of a forgotten figure, despite being the only man to lead the Giants to an NFL Championship between Steve Owen in 1938 and Bill Parcells in 1990-91 (and they are both in the Hall of Fame.)

Howell's offensive coordinator was a Brooklynite who played as a guard on the late 1930s Fordham line that became known as the Seven Blocks of Granite, then coached a high school team in North Jersey, then went back to Fordham as an assistant, then assisted Red Blaik at Army, before being hired by the Giants in 1954. He built a fine offense around quarterback Charlie Conerly, including running backs Frank Gifford, Mel Triplett and Alex Webster, and end Kyle Rote (they didn't call the position "tight end" yet), with protection from one of the greatest offensive tackles ever, Roosevelt "Rosey" Brown. His name was Vince Lombardi.

Howell's defensive coordinator was a Texan, a 2-way back at the University of Texas. As the NFL switched from single-platoon to two-platoon ball in the early 1950s, he became the 1st great defensive back who wasn't also an offensive back. His name was Tom Landry.

Howell was hired in 1954, brought Lombardi in, and thought enough of Landry to make him the defensive coordinator even while he was still playing. In 1956, the year the football Giants left the baseball Giants behind at the Polo Grounds and moved to Yankee Stadium, Landry retired as a player, and could concentrate on building the best defense the NFL had yet seen: Tackles Dick "Little Mo" Modzelewski and Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier; ends Andy Robustelli and Walt Yowarski; linebackers Sam Huff, Bill Svoboda and Harland Svare; cornerbacks Dick Nolan and Ed Hughes; and safeties Emlen Tunnell and Jimmy Patton.

Robustelli, Huff and Tunnell are in the Hall of Fame. Cases can also be made for Modzelewski, Grier, Nolan and Patton. Grier would later star on the Los Angeles Rams' "Fearsome Foursome" line with Hall-of-Famers Deacon Jones and Merlin Olsen, and All-Pro Lamar Lundy. Svare was their defensive coordinator.

But that 1956 Giants defense was history-making: Not only did they perform well, but they made defense exciting for the first time. For the first time, fans would chant, "Dee-fense! Dee-fense! Dee-fense!" Huff would become the face of this unit, and would be featured in a groundbreaking CBS Reports documentary in 1960: The Violent World of Sam Huff. Narrated by Walter Cronkite, it showed Huff miked up during practice and a preseason game. It inspired Ed Sabol to create NFL Films 2 years later.

The Giants went 8-3-1, losing to the Chicago Cardinals 35-27 at Comiskey Park, the Redskins 33-7 at Griffith Stadium, and the Browns 24-7 at Yankee Stadium. This was good enough to win the NFL Eastern Division Championship, and as it was the East winner's turn to host the NFL Championship Game, it was set for December 30 at Yankee Stadium.

It was very cold, and the field was frozen. This should not have fazed the Bears: Even before moving to the lakefront Soldier Field, they were used to cold air, nasty wind and frozen grass at Wrigley Field. What did faze them was the Giants. They jumped out to a 13-0 lead in the 1st quarter, and never looked back, winning 47-7.

This started a run of the Giants winning 6 Eastern Division Championships in 8 seasons -- but it was the only NFL Championship they won. They fell short in 1957. In 1958, they tied the Browns for the Division title, beat them in a Playoff, and then lost the Championship Game to the Baltimore Colts at Yankee Stadium in an overtime contest that has been called "The Greatest Game Ever Played." In 1959, they won the East again, but lost the Championship Game to the Colts again, this time at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

Howell was then fired, and replaced with Allie Sherman. After the Eagles beat the Giants out for the Eastern Division title in 1960, the Giants retooled, replacing Conerly at quarterback with San Francisco 49ers signal-caller Y.A. Tittle, and won the next 3. But they lost the NFL Championship Game all 3 times, to the Packers in 1961 and '62 and the Bears in '63.

Dick finally got a 2nd Championship in 1964 -- because the Giants traded him to the Browns, who went on to beat the Colts at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. It was the last title for any Cleveland team until the 2016 Cavaliers. It was also the only season in which Dick was selected for the Pro Bowl. In 1965, he was joined by his brother Gene Modzelewski, and they got back to the Championship Game, but lost to the Packers at a snow-muddy Lambeau Field. Gene never got into a game, and was drafted, and never played a down in the NFL.

Dick Modzelewski was only the 2nd man to appear in 8 or more NFL Championship Games. The 1st, and the only one to make it 9, was his Browns teammate Lou Groza. The 3rd is Tom Brady.

Dick retired after that 1965 season, and stayed in the Browns' organization, first as a scout, then as defensive line coach, helping them reach the 1968 and 1969 NFL Championship Games, but losing the former to the Colts and the latter to the Minnesota Vikings.

In 1976, he was promoted to defensive coordinator under former Packer Forrest Gregg. In 1977, a nosedive led to Gregg's firing with 1 game to go, and Dick was named interim head coach. They lost to the Seattle Seahawks 20-19, and that was his only game as a head coach, anywhere.

He went back to the Giants as defensive line coach in 1978, then with the Cincinnati Bengals in 1979, and Gregg was hired as their head coach in 1980, winning the 1981 AFC Championship. In 1983, Gregg was named head coach of the Packers, and took Dick with him as defensive coordinator. This lasted 4 failed seasons before Gregg quit, and Dick coached 2 more seasons on Wayne Fontes' staff with the Detroit Lions.

Dick Modzelewski died yesterday, October 19, 2018, in the Cleveland suburb of Eastlake, Ohio. He was 87 years old, died at home, and no cause has been given, but he was not known to be ill. He was survived by his wife Dorothy Jane, and 4 children.

With his death, there are now only 4 players from the 1956 NFL Champion New York Giants still alive, 62 years later: Sam Huff, Rosey Grier, Harland Svare and Henry Moore.

There are considerably more surviving players from the 1964 NFL Champion Cleveland Browns, 54 years later, 30: Jim Brown, Paul Warfield, Leroy Kelly, Frank Ryan, Bill Glass, Jim Ninowski, Ross Fichtner, Lowell Caylor, Larry Benz, Bobby Franklin, Dave Raimey, Walter Roberts, Bernie Parrish, Charley Scales, Stan Sczurek, Ernie Green, Walter Beach, Vince Costello, Mike Lucci, Ed Bettridge, Sid Williams, Jim Kanicki, John Brown, Roger Shoals, Dick Schafrath, Frank Parker, Jim Houston, Paul Wiggin, Clifton McNeil and Gary Collins.

UPDATE: Dick Modzelewski was buried at Willoughby Memorial Gardens, in the Cleveland suburb of Willoughby, Ohio.