Chiefs: 1963 and a Little Y.A. Tittle

Chiefs: 1963 and a Little Y.A. Tittle – have you ever listened to the interviews of Y.A. Tittle who made some almost miracle plays for the N.Y. Giants of Yore? Well, that leads me to my little story of 1963, the Kansas City Chiefs and of Y.A. Tittle. I won’t bore you with my own “Almosts.”

The “Y.A.T.” Story in Brief

Y.A. Tittle Football Card

The Giants of the late 50’s and early 60’s were a very tough team to beat. In 1963, the Giants quarterback, Y.A. Tittle (born: Yelberton Abraham Tittle) came close to winning it all: close three times in his career. For you youngsters, this was still the old NFL. They would not entertain a championship game versus the fledgling, incompetent, AFL, for another year or two. A championship between the AFL and NFL had not been considered… yet. The term Super Bowl had also not even coined as the name of the contest.

In 1963…

Note: this is the aside to a great quarterback, Y.A.T. and the Chiefs emerging as a Pro Football team in the AFL: K.C. was the home of the Texans… er… the Chiefs.

It was 1963. I was watching the Bears v Giants game and grew bored with it because there was no offense going on. I went out and threw a football at make believe targets in the backyard when I tuned out the game.

That was the same year I became a Chiefs fan and have been a huge supporter of K.C. since then. It was also the year I became a true Pro Football fan but just as important, a fan of the AFL.

That caused me to pay more attention to the offseason goings on and the draft wars with the NFL. It’s where I found out the story of how Otis Taylor was “stolen away” from a new NFL franchise: the Dallas Cowboys. That type of story captured my attention in the early and tender years of my Chiefs fandom.

I had often remarked that the big thing in Kansas City was getting our own professional football team. I even made the front page of the Kansas City Star – my Father’s neighbor in Merriam, KS was a photographer for the Star. One weekend, he took photos of a few of us dressed up with whatever football gear that we had and we played football in his front yard — staged of course —  for the camera. I also remember his daughter named Stephanie… I had such a crush on her.

Years earlier, when I was all of 8 years old and the Dallas Texans had not yet come into being… sports coverage of football only involved Mizzou and NFL teams that weren’t anywhere near Kansas City. At any rate, that short article our neighbor did was one of the lead-ins for me to the emerging AFL. That was 1959 for the yard photo and although there was talk going around about NFL expansion, none of this would come to fruition. In the meantime, I had begun to watch NFL Football on TV, but I had no team to root for.

As the AFL opened its doors, the storyline of the sports writers expanded and in 1962 came rumors of K.C. possibly bringing a new Pro Football team to Kansas City. What I do recall was a growing appreciation of the “new” Pro Football League: the AFL.

Then, the Texans relocated to Kansas City for the 1963 season and they played football at old Municipal Stadium. At the same time, I caught onto the drama and some of creative moves by the owners of these new teams and the new league. So, from the start of this “game” and “fanaticism” for me, included the AFL: it was different.

Y.A. Tittle: The Almost-er

I noted my following of the Chiefs that same year above but Tittle was an important figure in the NFL and since KC did not have a team, if you lived in the greater area, you watched what was going on in the NFL with a second eye. It’s not the same as having your own Pro Football Franchise (even if it was to be an AFL team. In an interview a couple of years ago, he identified his near greatness, observing that his whole athletic career could be summed up with the word “Almost.” He didn’t win the State Championship in HS, but almost did. In college he lost in what was considered the national championship game. In 1947, his last season at LSU, he was the MVP of the Cotton Bowl which saw two teams vie to a scoreless outcome. That was how he characterized himself: “Almost.”

Y.A.Tittle didn’t win the big game in 1963 but, he came close. So, I wish to honor the man: Y.A. “YAT” Tittle and when he passed away, I wrote about him in 2017: “A Little of This and YAT.” What a class player, class act and astute student of the game. He was an… Almost-er. I’m quite familiar with that category.

From His Hall of Fame Bio:

“With 33 touchdown passes and a career-high 3,224 yards. A year later, his TD figure went up to 36; he completed 60.2 percent of his passes, and again was named NFL Player of the Year. A terrific competitor who was always willing to play “hurt,” Tittle led the Giants to divisional titles in 1961, 1962, and 1963. Even though they failed to win the overall NFL crown, those were the “glory years” in New York when Tittle was at the helm.”

In the NFL he was unable to defeat the Chicago Bears at Wrigley Field in 1963, for what was then the NFL World Championship.

Sure, young fans, even then, didn’t understand how a bald-headed old fart could play this game. His lack of hair made him appear a lot older than he was. The year that “YAT” didn’t win the big game, he was the MVP of the NFL. That says a lot about his ability.

(photo courtesy of the Y.A. Tittle Website)

Pete Rozelle was the Commissioner of the NFL and that season was another controversy for the league because Rozelle wanted the Championship game to be played at Soldier Field. George “Papa Bear” Halas wanted it at Wrigley Field… where it ended up being played. In those small confines, Halas felt the Bears would have the “noise” advantage.

1963 and My Fandom

I have personally tied 1963 as the emergence of myself as a fan of the Chiefs but… that title game was of equal import. It was the 31st NFL Championship season. The Giants regular season record was 11-3 and the Bears, 11-2-1. This was bound to be a very good game and it was… sorta.

The way Rozelle approached the resistance of Halas, was to move the game time to something noon (12:05 PM, CST) as Wrigley didn’t have lights. Besides this, the Cardinals had not yet moved to St. Louis and their home stadium was Soldier Field.

Under Tittle, the Giants were playing the championship game for the 3rd year in a row. This was the heyday of the Giants era. It was destined to be their third loss, and the same for Tittle. So most of us don’t remember this time but some of the older fans do indeed recall the era succinctly. Frank Gifford was a RB for the Giants and later became a broadcaster for Monday Night Football.

In 1963, Y.A. Tittle had 36 TDs, then an NFL Record. However, the San Francisco 49’ers believed him to have been washed up in 1960, so they traded him away.

In 1963 the Chicago Bears were known for defense. They were called the Monsters of the Midway and these guys were a bit mean… blood, guts and gore type mean. Their defensive Coordinator later became a head coach, George Allen. Now I followed Allen throughout his NFL career from that point on. He was a very astute coach but had some weird ideas especially about old guys, making trades for his draft picks that today still boggle the minds of many observers.

In 1964 Tittle played his last NFL season. In a game that captured the attention of our nation, one played against the Pittsburgh Steelers, after throwing a horrid Interception and being knocked to the turf, Tittle was captured in this famous photo (below) and that adorned his football room/office at home in San Francisco. His career Stats: 212 TD’s, 221 INTs, 28,339 Passing Yards.

Morris Berman/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette(1964 season)

Birth of a Football Fan

I do remember the 1963 NFL Championship game. It was my first season as a full fledged Pro Football fan and that was also due to Lamar Hunt bringing the Texans to Kansas City, and the advent of the new AFL West football club: The Kansas City Chiefs.

Y.A. Tittle passed away at the age of 90 in 2017.

David Bell — ArrowheadOne

Please return at noon, CDT, to read Paul Pulley’s piece called:

“Paul Pulley’s 5 Round Mock Draft”

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