LEADING OFF

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Photograph by Neil Leifer

NO CUTS, NO GLORY Run to daylight has always been the credo of the NFL back, the best of whom find the tiniest of holes before they close. No photographer captured the split-second openings that reveal a football moment—both iconic and quotidian, such as this cutback by the Vikings' Tommy Mason against the Colts in 1964—better than SI special contributor Neil Leifer. In his new book Guts and Glory (Taschen), Leifer culls from 10,000 rolls of film his most memorable NFL shots, which include this photo and the three that follow.

PHOTO

Photograph by Neil Leifer

CLASH OF THE TITANS The 1962 season put the Giants of Sam Huff (far left, 70, stalking the Yankee Stadium sideline on a rainy November afternoon) on a collision course with the Packers' rising Starr, Bart (standing over center against the 49ers). The two would meet that December in an NFL championship game that Leifer remembers as more bone-chilling (13°, with 40-mph winds) than the more famous Ice Bowl, played five years later. The Packers won the title game 16--7.

PHOTO

Photograph by Neil Leifer

OLD SCHOOL The University of Pennsylvania formed the backdrop of an Eagles-Browns matchup on Sept. 25, 1960. When number 32 wasn't taking in the action from the Franklin Field sideline, he was dominating Cleveland's opposition in typical fashion: Jim Brown rushed for 153 yards and a touchdown in the Browns' 41--24 victory and would finish the '60 season with 1,257 yards— his third straight 1,000-yard season—on nearly six yards a carry.