Y. A. Tittle History

The phrase, the Golden Age of pro football, is somewhat inaccurate. It should have been called the Golden Age of Offense. Especially gilded in the 1950s were quarterbacks with big arms, gutty leaders, field generals who take-charge in the huddle. They called their own games, and generally speaking, drove a team to victory or loss with the strength of their arms.

Y. A. Tittle was one of them. It 's been said he was one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game. The San Francisco signal-caller would go by many names, even so far as to explain what the Y and A stood for in his name. He stated that the Y was for Yelberton, while the A was short for Abraham.

In addition, fans choose to call him “Yat,” or in reference to his thinning

Ironically, Tittle is remembered best for a gimmick: the “alley-oop” play, where he would team up with the 6-foot-3 acrobatic receiver R.C. Owens on a pass play born by accident, and became a calculated pass play. Tittle would loft a high, usually high wobbly 35-45-yard pass, and Owens would out- leap his defenders, just as he did as a hoopster in college. But for Tittle, the 1957 season was one of triumph and agony. Last second victories became a 49ers trademark. “We won five games in the last couple of minutes,” said Tittle.

Though, the 49ers chance at a championship berth came to an abrupt end, as Detroit claimed the Western Division playoff contest against the 49ers, defeating the home team at their own game, with a come-from-behind win 31-27. That defeat to the Lions would indelibly live on as the signature game of the 49ers throughout the decade.

It is a pity Tittle never put the arm on a championship team, as a 49er or any of the other teams that he would play for over the next 7 years. A championship was his “white whale.” He always committed his body and soul to its capture. Sometimes winning isn 't everything, it is the will to win and that is the only thing... and that would carry Tittle to being enshrined into the Pro