The Hit (Chuck Bednarik)

After graduating from Liberty High School, Bednarik joined the U.S. Army Air Forces, where he flew B-24 raids over Germany during World War II, earning an Air Medal, four Oak Leaf Clusters, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, and four Battle Stars.

[5] Frank Gifford was born in Santa Monica, California and went on to play college football for USC Trojans in Los Angeles.

The November 20, 1960 game between the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx was an important one for both teams with first place in the division at stake with its outcome.

Bednarik later said he was unaware of the magnitude of injuries sustained by Gifford and was merely celebrating what was an impactful play that won the game for Philadelphia.

An autopsy was conducted on Gifford's brain following his death, which found that he lived with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a disease closely related to repeated head trauma.

Dozens of NFL players have since been similarly diagnosed with CTE as awareness of the correlation between head trauma and its onset has grown.

[12] The family released the autopsy results publicly, saying in a statement, "After losing our beloved husband and father, Frank Gifford, we as a family made the difficult decision to have his brain studied in hopes of contributing to the advancement of medical research concerning the link between football and traumatic brain injury...We decided to disclose our loved one's condition to honor Frank's legacy of promoting player safety dating back to his involvement in the formation of the NFL Players Association in the 1950s.

Gifford's high-profile diagnosis gained broad attention and accelerating pressure on the NFL to take steps to enhance player safety.