[1] He announced his retirement in June 1979 but added his desire to be traded to a West Coast team to be near the private airport that he owned in Antioch, California.
He rejoined the Giants on September 6 after teammate and fellow ex-Steeler Jim Clack convinced him to end his retirement.
During the Monday Night Football telecast, he was subjected to criticism from the broadcast team of Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford and Fran Tarkenton for failure to prevent Coy Bacon from sacking Joe Pisarcik throughout the contest.
The problem was the broadcasters had misidentified Gus Coppens as Gravelle based on a Giants roster provided to the media that mistakenly switched the uniform numbers of both players.
He's a disgrace to the broadcast profession, the epitome of an arrogant egotist" and threatened to sue him for slander over his on-air comment that "he (Gravelle) may take another fine and go home again.