Y . A . Tittle Yelberton Abraham Tittle ( born October 24 , 1926 ) , better known as Y . A . Tittle , is a former football quarterback in the National Football League and All - America Football Conference who played for the Baltimore Colts , San Francisco 49ers , and the New York Giants . He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971 . Early years and college career . Tittle was born and raised in Marshall , Texas , where he played high school football . He attended Louisiana State University and played quarterback for the LSU Tigers football team . He was named the MVP of the legendary 1947 Cotton Bowl Classic , which ended in a scoreless tie between LSU and Arkansas during an ice storm . Professional career . 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 . He played there for ten seasons , through 1960 , often struggling for playing time . In 1951 and 1952 , Frankie Albert also played quarterback extensively , and then from 1957 through 1960 , John Brodie took time on the field away from Tittle . In 1961 , the 49ers traded Tittle to the New York Giants for guard Lou Cordileone . ( The rookie Cordileone was quoted as reacting " Me , even up for Y . A . Tittle ? You ' re kidding , " and later said angrily that the Giants traded him for " a 42 - year - old quarterback . " ) 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 . All told , Tittle threw a grand total of 86 touchdown passes from 1961 - 1963 . According to pro football historian T . J . Troup , 80 of those touchdowns came in Giants victories and only 6 came in games the team lost . The following year , Tittle ' s final season , the Giants were nowhere close to contention , falling to a 2 - 10 - 2 record . Tittle ' s performance fell from 36 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in 1963 to 10 touchdowns and 22 interceptions in 1964 . He retired after the season . Legacy . 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 . The 1963 game was especially disappointing , as Tittle hurt his leg while the Giants were losing to the Chicago Bears 14 - 10 . In a career lasting 17 years , Tittle passed for 33 , 070 yards , and 242 touchdowns , and twice received the NFL Most Valuable Player Award . In 1971 , he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame . To this day , Tittle is the only Modern Era quarterback in the Hall of fame who started , but did not win a postseason game in his career ( Sonny Jurgenson was also inducted into the Hall of Fame without winning a playoff game as a starter , but was a member of the 1960 World Champion Philadelphia Eagles ; but he never started a playoff game ) . Tittle threw seven touchdown passes in a game on October 28 , 1962 , which still stands as the all - time record for passing touchdowns in a single game ; Tittle shares the record with four other players : Sid Luckman , Adrian Burk , George Blanda and Joe Kapp . Tittle was the first player in NFL history to throw 30 or more touchdown passes in consecutive seasons . Tittle ' s 36 touchdown passes in set a record which would stand for over 20 years until it was surpassed by Dan Marino in . Famous photo . A photo of a dazed Tittle in the endzone taken by Morris Berman of the " Pittsburgh Post - Gazette " on September 20 , 1964 , is regarded among the most iconic images in the history of American sports and journalism . Tittle , who was in the final season of his career , was photographed helmet - less , bloodied and kneeling immediately after having been knocked to the ground by John Baker of the Pittsburgh Steelers and throwing an interception that was returned for a touchdown at the old Pitt Stadium . The quarterback suffered both a concussion and cracked sternum on the play . He would go on to play out the rest of the season , but the Giants would finish a disappointing 2 - 10 - 2 . " Post - Gazette " editors at first declined to run the photo , looking for " action shots " instead , but Berman entered the image into contests where it took on a life of its own , winning a National Headliner Award . The photo was ineligible for a Pulitzer Prize because it was not published , but it is regarded as having changed the way that photographers look at sports , having shown the power of capturing a moment of reaction . A copy now hangs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame . After at first having failed to see the appeal of the image , Tittle eventually would grow to embrace it , putting it on the back cover of his 2009 autobiography . " That was the end of the road , " he told the " Los Angeles Times " in 2008 . " It was the end of my dream . It was over . " Tittle and Berman weren ' t the only ones to profit from the famous image , Pittsburgh player John Baker ( who hit Tittle right before the picture was taken ) ran for Sheriff in his native Wake County , North Carolina , in 1978 and used the photo as a campaign tool . Baker went on to serve for 25 years . The photo was identified so heavily with youthful years of the baby boom generation that Miller Beer used it in an iconic ad relaunching its " Miller High Life " brand in 2007 - 2008 . Post - retirement . During his NFL career , Tittle worked as an insurance salesman in the off - season and after retiring , founded his own company Y . A . Tittle Insurance & Financial Services ( now operated by his son ) . In popular culture . Tittle played the head coach from Chicago in the movie " Any Given Sunday " . In Nick Meglin and Jack Davis ' football parody comic " Superfan " , a mild - mannered accountant named Y . A . Schmickle becomes a superstar quarterback thanks to ingesting a secret formula .