Y. A. Tittle

Yelberton Abraham Tittle, Jr. was born in Marshall, Texas on October 24, 1926 to Y. A. Tittle, Sr. and Alma Allen Tittle. He was the fifth of six children. His father was a mail carrier. Y. A. grew up in Marshall and was a natural athlete, participating in several sports. Biographies mention that he wanted to be a football quarterback and tried to emulate Sammy Baugh. When he found out that Baugh practiced passing by throwing a football at a suspended tire, Y. A. did the same.

At Marshall High School, he was the starting quarterback his senior year under head coach Otis Mitchell. Y. A. usually also played defense. It their first game of the year, the Marshall Mavericks started out the 1943 season by defeating highly ranked Waco High. Their regular season was going well until the October 29, 1943 contest in Lufkin which they lost 19-7. Marshall went on to win the rest of its regular season games and head to the playoffs. They had to face Lufkin once more at Bi-District in Lufkin on December 4, 1943. Again Lufkin came out on top, this time 32-6. These two games with Lufkin were the only ones all season long in which the defense allowed more than 7 points. Marshall finished 9-2, scoring 295 points against their opponents’ 96. Lufkin went on to reach the State Championship. There they faced standout Mickey Rathbone and San Angelo high school. They each had 13-0 records. In the state final, it was one of those days when Lufkin led “everywhere but on the scoreboard.” San Angelo defeated Lufkin 26-13 at old Dal-Hi Stadium in Dallas. finishing 14 – 0 and handing Lufkin its only loss.

When the Texas All State results were released, the list contained names that would be familiar to many Texas high school football fans: Rathbone, Goose Creek’s George Walmsley, Highland Park’s Bobby Layne, Longview’s Forest Gregg and Y. A. Tittle (Honorable Mention at quarterback). All would be inducted into the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame. Rathbone would become a coach and rancher and Walmsley became a medical doctor. Gregg, Layne and Tittle from this very talented class would each reach the NFL.

Y. A. was recruited by University of Texas but signed with Louisiana State University. Biographies mention that his older brother Jack had played football at Tulane and that Y. A. became acquainted with LSU while attending his brother’s games. He grew to be attracted by the spirit and traditions of the school. They also note that Y. A. had been diagnosed with asthma which might prevent him from serving in the military. LSU strongly pursued him and won him over. There, he started as a freshman and played under coach Bernie Moore from 1944 to 1947.

During his years at LSU, the team records were 2-5-1 (1944), 7-2 (1945), 9-1-1 (1946) and 5-3-1 (1947). As far as we can tell, there is no complete account of Y. A.’s four year statistics. However, LSU football websites note that Y. A. set many passing records, some of which stood for decades. During his four years, the 1946 season was the best for the team. The team earned LSU’s first Cotton Bowl invitation. The game was played in ice and snow. Despite having a statistical advantage, Number 8 LSU and Number 16 Arkansas battled to a 0 – 0 tie on January 1, 1947. In the closing minutes each team had a chance to win. Y. A. had thrown a pass to teammate Jeff Adams. It looked like he might have a chance to score, but he was tackled on the one yard line. Arkansas had a chance to score a field goal, but the snap from center was bad and the game ended without a score.

Per his LSU athletics obituary, Y. A.’s university passing records were: passing yards in a career (2,517), completed passes in a career (166), touchdown passes in a career (21), total offense in a career (2,619) and touchdown passes in a season (11 in 1946). Other comments about his records note that he played tailback his freshman year. He began playing quarterback as a sophomore and was injured some of his senior year. He also played defense and even punted on occasion, it is noted. At LSU, he earned All-Southeastern Conference honors his junior and senior years.

Despite a somewhat lackluster 1947 season, four players from the backfield of the Tigers were drafted by pro football teams: Coates, Sandifer, Cason and Tittle. Y. A. signed with the Browns but went to an All American Football Conference team named the Baltimore Colts, not to be confused by the later club now known as the Indianapolis Colts, in some transaction. The AAFC team operated as such for two seasons before it became part of the NFL in 1950. That was its last year to exist and before the 1951 season Tittle went to the San Francisco 49ers where he remained for ten seasons. He put up good numbers while playing for the 49ers but was traded to the New York Giants before the 1961 season, reportedly to allow the San Francisco club room for highly regarded quarterback John Brodie. Brodie, out of Stanford, had been with the club since the 1957 season. He went on to take the starting spot and keep it until the 1972 season.

The trade to the New York Giants was a good one eventually for Tittle. He won the starting job over the incumbent Charlie Conerly, a former SEC opponent. Ironically, Conerly figured in an amusing play back in college. He was the starting quarterback for Ole Miss. Tittle was playing defense and intercepted a tipped Conerly pass. Tittle was able to step in front of the Ole Miss receiver. Tittle broke away but not before the receiver grabbed his belt, pulling it completly loose. Back in the day, belts were needed to hold pants in place. Tittle was about to lose his pants so he held them up with one hand and tucked in the ball with the other. As he approached the end zone his makeshift method started to fail, he began to slow down, his pants fell and he was tackled around the ten yard line.

The next four years were good for Tittle and the Giants. He started 48 out of 54 games and the Giants earned a record of 32-13-3 with eight of the losses coming in 1964. Tittle was named to the Pro Bowl three of those four years. He took a hit in a game late in the season that was memorialized in a famous photo. The play ended with the bald headed Tittle kneeling on the turf minus his helmet. Tittle retired after the 1964 season ended. He had spent 17 years in pro football.

Tittle started 152 out of his 204 games completing 2,427 out of 4,395 pass attempts for 33,070 yards. This was very respectable for the era. It should be noted that those totals have been eclipsed by players since that time, placing him 44th on the all time yardage list. Some highly ranked players are around him on the list. Just above him is Steve Young and just below him is Troy Aikman. Though none of his teams won championships, Tittle was named to the Pro Bowl 7 times and as an All Pro 3 times in his 17 seasons.

Y. A. worked in the insurance business in the off season and usually lived in California. He was married to the former Minette DeLoach, also of Marshall, for 64 years until her death in 2012. He survived her by five years until his death at age 90 in 2017. Both are buried in Alta Mesa Memorial Park in Palo Alto, California.

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