Around 1987, I was working for a TV repair shop making house calls. One call took me to a rural location. When I finished working on the TV set, the customer asked me if I knew who his next door neighbor was.
“You ever heard of YA Tittle?”
Being a long time football fan, of course I did.
He escorted out of the house and that’s when I noticed his neighbor’s mail box with the name “Tittle” on the side. I looked at my customer with a “you gotta be kidding me” grin.
Then, he introduced me to the fellow working in the yard. Y. A. Tittle. I restrained my urge to go all fanboy and just said something like “nice to meet you.”
Just an old guy working in his yard.
Sounds like a real guy, this Y. A. Tittle.
I was just a school boy, but me and my friends would throw the football around and imagine we were Y. A. Tittle and his favorite receiver, Del Shofner.
I think Y. A. Tittle will be remembered as the guy who popularized the long bomb pass.
Way cool.