Hall of Famer Tittle dies at 90
Y.A. Tittle, the Hall of Fame quarterback and 1963 NFL Most Valuable Player, died Sunday at age 90. His family confirmed to LSU, where Tittle starred in college, that he passed away at Stanford Hospital near his home in Atherton, Calif.
Y.A. Tittle, the Hall of Fame quarterback and 1963 NFL Most Valuable Player, died Sunday at age 90.
His family confirmed to LSU, where Tittle starred in college, that he passed away at Stanford Hospital near his home in Atherton, Calif.
Known as "The Bald Eagle" as much for his sturdy leadership as his prematurely receding hairline, Tittle played 17 seasons of pro football. He began with the All-America Football Conference's Baltimore Colts in 1948 and finished with the NFL's New York Giants. He played 10 years in between with the San Francisco 49ers but had his greatest success in New York, leading the Giants to three division titles in four years in a remarkable late-career surge.
Tittle never won a championship but came to personify the competitive spirit of football, thanks to an iconic photo taken by Dozier Mobley during Tittle's final season in 1964.
The frame caught the then-37-year-old quarterback, who looked older than his years, after throwing an interception returned for a touchdown by Pittsburgh's Chuck Hinton. Tittle is seen kneeling in exhaustion and pain from an injured rib, blood dripping down his face from a head gash.
Tittle was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971.
Born Yelberton Abraham Tittle in Marshall, Texas, on Oct. 24, 1926, he led LSU to the Cotton Bowl before he was drafted by the NFL's Detroit Lions in 1948.