Yelberton Abraham (Y.A.) Tittle, Hall of Fame quarterback whose career in professional football spanned 17 seasons (1948-64), passed away early Monday morning at age 90.
The Texas-born Mr. Tittle played his college ball at Louisiana State. He was named the Most Valuable Player in the Cotton Bowl game after the 1946 season. The Tigers' game with Arkansas ended in a 0-0 stalemate.
Despite being the sixth overall pick in the 1948 National Football League by the Detroit Lions, Y.A. signed on with the Cleveland Browns, who originally held his All-America Football Conference rights.
However, before the start of the 1948 season, with the Browns having won the AAFC's first two league titles, and with concerns that Cleveland's unsurpassed domination was hurting the league, the league office wanted Paul Brown to surrender some of his players to the other, less fortunate clubs in the eight-team circuit.
That's how Y.A. ended up with the Baltimore Colts, a team that suffered through a dismal 1947 campaign.
But Mr. Tittle helped lead the Colts to a 7-7 record in '48, and into a tie-breaking playoff at home against the Buffalo Bills for the Eastern Division title, a game the Colts lost.
Despite a bad 1949 season, the Colts, along with the Browns and the San Francisco 49ers was admitted into the NFL when the two leagues agreed to a "merger."
The 1950 season was a disaster on the field and the gate for the Colts, who went 1-11 that year.
The Colts closed up shop on the eve of the 1951 NFL college draft, and Y.A. and the other Colts veterans were put in the hopper for the college draft. That's how he ended up with the San Francisco 49ers.
During his ten season with the Niners, Y.A. posted a record of 45-31-1. For much of that time, he was in the backfield with outstanding running backs Joe Perry, Hugh McElhenny, and John Henry Johnson.
But after ten years in Frisco, Y.A. was traded to the New York Giants. It was during his time with the Giants that Y.A. reached the pinnacle of his career as he quarterbacked the Giants to three straight NFL Championship Game appearances (1961-63), though, alas, the Giants ended up on the short end of the stick each time.
In 1962 and '63, Mr. Tittle threw for 32 and 36 touchdown passes, respectively, becoming the first NFL quarterback to throw for 30 or more TDs over two consecutive seasons.
Y.A. retired after the 1964 season and was elected to and enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971.
Y.A. threw for 242 touchdowns and 33,070 passing yards.
No comments:
Post a Comment