by Dave Goldberg
The picture, taken 50 years and one month ago at Yankee Stadium, remains in homes and gathering places all over Philadelphia: Chuck Bednarik standing over a prone Frank Gifford, his right arm high in the air in celebration, a 1960 version of a fist pump.
To many Philadelphians, it represents the ultimate crushing of New York.
To New Yorkers, it represents the ultimate in cheap shots, a blow that put Gifford, the Giants' star running back, out not only for that season but also the next.
In fact, it is was a perfectly legal hit, even by today's far more stringent standards -- a blow to the ribs that was so hard that it knocked Gifford's head to the ground, causing a concussion.
As the Giants and Eagles prepare to meet Sunday tied for the lead in the NFC East, it represents one of the few times in that era when Philadelphia was superior to New York, the defining play of the first of back-to-back wins over the perennial Eastern Conference champions that eventually led to a win in the NFL's championship game over Vince Lombardi's Packers.
It turned out to be the last NFL championship the Eagles won, one reason for the continuing frustration in Philly despite five division titles, five trips to championship games and one to a Super Bowl and a 127-79-1 record in the nearly 12 seasons Andy Reid has coached the team.
"The other teams in the division have won Super Bowls. The Eagles haven't. That's why the people here refer back to that game, '' says Ken Safarovic, Bednarik's son-in-law.
Indeed.
In the last 30 years, the Redskins, Giants and Cowboys all have three Super Bowl victories and the Cowboys have two more from the 1970s. The Eagles have bundles or regular-season wins, but no trophies, so even though that 127-79-1, is the second-best record in the NFL to New England over that period, it doesn't cut it, especially since the hated side from the hated city less than two hours away won a title just three years ago.
Thus the iconic status of Bednarik, now 85. And the even more iconic status of that picture of the NFL's last two-way player -- he played every snap at center and linebacker in the 17-13 title game win over the Packers at Franklin Field -- standing over Gifford with his fist raised. "Not 60 minutes, just 58 1/2 minutes,'' he says. "I didn't play on the punt and kickoff teams.''
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