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, playing there for ten seasons, often struggling for playing time.
In 1961, the 49ers traded Tittle to the New York Giants for guard Lou Cordileone. 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. 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.
Anyone that watched football back then, remembers this famous pic
of Tittle kneeling after being hit by Steelers defensive end John Baker
in 1964 at Pitt Stadium. The Steelers won 27-24. Tittle sustained a
head inury on the play and retired from professional football the next season.
Y.A. Tittle was the first and one of only seven quarterbacks in NFL history to have achieved consecutive 30-touchdown passing seasons. The others are Steve Bartkowski, Brett Favre, Dan Fouts, Dan Marino, Peyton Manning, and Jeff Garcia. Tittle's 36 touchdown passes in the 1963 season would remain an NFL record until Marino threw 48 touchdown passes in 1984.
Y.A. was another NFL QB that hit the big screen. He played
an opposing head coach in the movie “Any Given Sunday.â€
Tittle, who will be 82 in October, currently owns
Y. A. Tittle Insurance & Financial Services.