[2] The fourth of six children of Oral and Catherine Huff, he lived with his family in a small rowhouse with no running water.

[6] Huff attended and played college football for West Virginia University, where he majored in physical education.

In training camp, head coach Jim Lee Howell was having a hard time coming up with a position for Huff.

He then helped the Giants win five consecutive games[4] and they finished with an 8–3–1 record, which gave them the Eastern Conference title.

He almost passed up the magazine appearance, demanding money to be interviewed, but relented when Time agreed to give him the cover portrait.

[3] But in 1964, Giants head coach Allie Sherman traded Huff to the Washington Redskins for defensive tackle Andy Stynchula and running back Dick James.

[3][4] The trade made front-page news in New York City and was greeted with jeers from Giants fans, who crowded Yankee Stadium yelling "Huff-Huff-Huff-Huff.

[4] Huff joined the Redskins in 1964 and they agreed to pay him $30,000 in salary and $5,000 for scouting, compared to the $19,000 he would have made another year with New York.

[14] After leaving the NFL, Huff took a position with J. P. Stevens in New York City as a textiles sales representative.

[18][19] After retiring from football, Huff spent three seasons as a color commentator for the Giants radio team and then moved on in the same capacity to the Redskins Radio Network, where he remained until his retirement at the end of the 2012 season, calling games alongside former Redskins teammate Sonny Jurgensen and play-by-play announcers Frank Herzog (1979–2004) and Larry Michael (2005–2012).

[8] In 1999, Huff was inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame[6] and was ranked number 76 on the Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players.

[20] In 2001, Huff was ranked number six on Sports Illustrated's list of West Virginia's 50 Greatest Athletes.

[23] In 1970, Huff ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives,[5] but lost in the West Virginia Democratic primary[3] for the 1st district against Bob Mollohan by more than 19,000 votes.