Y. A. Tittle

608
Y. A. Tittle bigraphy, stories - American football player

Y. A. Tittle : biography

October 24, 1926 –

Yelberton Abraham Tittle (born October 24, 1926), better known as Y. A. Tittle, is a former football quarterback in the National Football League and All-America Football Conference who played for the Baltimore Colts, San Francisco 49ers, and the New York Giants. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971.

Early years and college career

Tittle was born and raised in Marshall, Texas, where he played high school football. He attended Louisiana State University and played quarterback for the LSU Tigers football team. He was named the MVP of the legendary 1947 Cotton Bowl Classic, which ended in a scoreless tie between LSU and Arkansas during an ice storm.

Post-retirement

During his NFL career, Tittle worked as an insurance salesman in the off-season and after retiring, founded his own company Y. A. Tittle Insurance & Financial Services (now operated by his son).

Career statistics

NFL regular season

  • 3,817 passes attempted
  • 2,118 passes completed
  • 28,339 passing yards
  • 242 passing touchdowns
  • 248 passes intercepted
  • 81.4 quarterback rating

AAFC regular season

  • 578 passes attempted
  • 309 passes completed
  • 4,731 passing yards
  • 30 passing touchdowns
  • 25 passes intercepted
  • 82.1 quarterback rating

Professional career

Tittle began his career with the Baltimore Colts of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) in 1948, who eventually joined the NFL in 1950. The Colts became defunct after that season, and Tittle joined the San Francisco 49ers. He played there for ten seasons, through 1960, often struggling for playing time. In 1951 and 1952, Frankie Albert also played quarterback extensively, and then from 1957 through 1960, John Brodie took time on the field away from Tittle.

In 1961, the 49ers traded Tittle to the New York Giants for guard Lou Cordileone. (The rookie Cordileone was quoted as reacting "Me, even up for Y.A. Tittle? You’re kidding,", Sports Illustrated, September 2, 1996 and later said angrily that the Giants traded him for "a 42-year-old quarterback.", New Jersey Star-Ledger, September 22, 2009) Tittle went on to lead the Giants to three straight Eastern Division titles, part of a team that featured such great players as Del Shofner, Aaron Thomas, Joe Walton, Frank Gifford, Alex Webster, Dick Lynch, Jimmy Patton, Roosevelt Brown, Andy Robustelli, Sam Huff, Erich Barnes and Joe Morrison. Tittle threw seven touchdown passes on October 28, 1962, in a game against the Washington Redskins that the Giants won 49-34. In 1963, he set what was then an NFL record by throwing 36 touchdown passes. All told, Tittle threw a grand total of 86 touchdown passes from 1961-1963. According to pro football historian T.J. Troup, 80 of those touchdowns came in Giants victories and only 6 came in games the team lost.

The following year, Tittle’s final season, the Giants were nowhere close to contention, falling to a 2-10-2 record. Tittle’s performance fell from 36 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in 1963 to 10 touchdowns and 22 interceptions in 1964. He retired after the season.

In popular culture

Tittle played the head coach from Chicago in the movie Any Given Sunday.

In Nick Meglin and Jack Davis’ football parody comic "Superfan", a mild-mannered accountant named Y. A. Schmickle becomes a superstar quarterback thanks to ingesting a secret formula.

Legacy

The only thing missing from Tittle’s impressive résumé was an NFL championship. The Giants lost the title game every year from 1961 to 1963. The 1963 game was especially disappointing, as Tittle hurt his leg while the Giants were losing to the Chicago Bears 14-10. In a career lasting 17 years, Tittle passed for 33,070 yards, and 242 touchdowns, and twice received the NFL Most Valuable Player Award. In 1971, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. To this day, Tittle is the only Modern Era quarterback in the Hall of fame who started, but did not win a postseason game in his career (Sonny Jurgenson was also inducted into the Hall of Fame without winning a playoff game as a starter, but was a member of the 1960 World Champion Philadelphia Eagles; but he never started a playoff game).