The Giff retires

[YOhio]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/6350846.html

PAC, creekster, 71...tell us what it was like to see him play in person. Regale us with your stories.

[byu71]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/6350846.html

PAC, creekster, 71...tell us what it was like to see him play in person. Regale us with your stories.

He wasn't there of course when I was in school. As a matter of fact while I was at BYU, I was a USU fan. BYU sucked big time.

While living in California I started warming up to BYU. They started winning and I would follow them on KSL when I could. My first year back in Utah was when Giff. was a Senior and I wasn't into it enough yet that I had season tickets, so I never saw him play in person, but I was pretty happy about all the talk he would get nationally. I do remember where I was at when he tore up his leg. I was with my brother at his house listening to the game. What a bummer. However, Wilson proved to be just fine.

I did follow Giff's pro career and as a BYU guy and fellow mormon I was quite proud of him and how he has handled himself through the years.

[falafel]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/6350846.html

PAC, creekster, 71...tell us what it was like to see him play in person. Regale us with your stories.

For some reason I thought this was about the Crime Dog. I wondered if he was still manning the bag somewhere in the Mexican leagues.

[il Padrino Ute]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/6350846.html

PAC, creekster, 71...tell us what it was like to see him play in person. Regale us with your stories.

I met him after he spoke at a stake fireside. He was a nice guy.

I remember when he broke his leg against Arizona State.

[venkman]

My dad still talks about how great the Giff years were. The realization after years of suckiness that "hey, we're good now!" was pretty exciting.

[venkman]

I remember when he broke his leg against Arizona State.

Was that before or after you defected to the dark side?

[il Padrino Ute]

Was that before or after you defected to the dark side?

This was after I started to think for myself.

[PaloAltoCougar]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/6350846.html

PAC, creekster, 71...tell us what it was like to see him play in person. Regale us with your stories.

Well gather round, young 'uns. After the giddiness of '74 and BYU's first ever bowl appearance, 1975 started out with what looked like a return to BYU's tradition of lousy football. BYU started out 0-3 and then hosted New Mexico for a night game. Mark Giles and I think a second QB were lousy, and BYU was in a two TD hole midway through the game. Edwards then put in a basketball player who led the team to a great comeback win. Nielsen then led BYU to a winning season. My dad had flown up for the weekend and we attended the game together; he had played football as a freshman before wrecking his knee, and he during the UNM game he observed that BYU football was never like this. He became very animated during the comeback, and it was one of those father-son experiences that linger in the memory forever.

The following year. Nielsen started the season with a lot of publicity. He was dubbed "The Mormon Rifle" by Paul Harvey and was supposedly in the Heisman Race. On plays near the goal line, Nielsen would do a jump pass where he'd hit a receiver on a quick slant over the middle and linemen/LB's couldn't block it. Unfortunately, Nielsen broke his leg against Oregon State (not ASU, but what can you expect from a Ute?) and his college career was over. Marc Wilson took over the following week against Colorado State and did reasonably well as a backup, throwing 6-7 (?) TD passes.

Okay, that's enough. Off to school, you kids.

[happyone]

I saw him play once while I was in the LTM (they actually let us attend one game). The following year the football team came to Japan after the season and we were tasked to be translators for them. My companion at the time had been home teaching companions with LaVelle so we wer able to spend a few minutes while my companion was remanissing. I was able to meet both him and Mark Wilson. I thought Giff was a really nice guy. Wilson not so much.