Y.A. Tittle, the LSU star who went on to become a Hall of Fame quarterback and the 1963 NFL Most Valuable Player, has died at the age of 90.
His family confirmed to officials at LSU, where Tittle starred in college, that he passed away Sunday night at Stanford Hospital near his home in Atherton, California.
Known as “The Bald Eagle” as much for his sturdy leadership as his prematurely receding hairline, Tittle played 17 seasons of pro football. He led LSU to the Cotton Bowl and was drafted by the NFL’s Detroit Lions in 1948.
He also played for the Baltimore Colts and the San Francisco 49ers. But Tittle had his greatest success in New York, leading the Giants to three division titles in four years in a remarkable late-career surge.
He 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.
