Y. A. Tittle

Yelberton Abraham Tittle Jr. (October 24, 1926 – October 8, 2017) was an American professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League for the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Giants, and earlier for the original Baltimore Colts of the All-America Football Conference until the franchise folded a year after joining the NFL. Known for his competitiveness and leadership, he was the centerpiece of several prolific offenses across a 17-year professional career that ran from 1948 to 1964.

Tittle played college football at Louisiana State University, where he was a two-time All-Southeastern Conference quarterback for the LSU Tigers. As a junior, he was named most valuable player of the 1947 Cotton Bowl Classic, known as the "Ice Bowl," a scoreless tie between the Tigers and the Arkansas Razorbacks played in a snowstorm.

Selected by the Detroit Lions in the 1947 NFL draft, Tittle instead chose to play in the AAFC for the Colts. He was named AAFC Rookie of the Year in 1948 after leading the team to the AAFC playoffs. Following consecutive one-win seasons, the Colts franchise folded.