Jan. 22, 1965 - “When Gary Wood, our rookie quarterback, started asking me if he could date my daughter Diane, then I knew it was time to get out of here.” With that quip, Y.A. Tittle (left with Allie Sherman) today officially retired as a player.
The quarterback, who has played more pro football — 17 years — than any other man, would be 39 (in October) if he returned for one more season with the Giants. He said he made up his mind before the 1964 season.
“The fact that we had a bad year didn’t make any difference,” Y.A. told a press conference. “If we had won the championship, I’d still be quitting now.
“I’ve always said I never wanted to become a mediocre player. I certainly was one last season. This is no time to press my luck.”
While he has severed all ties as a player after setting five all-time NFL passing records and equaling a sixth, Tittle will continue on the Giants’ payroll — much in the same capacity as Kyle Rote did upon his retirement.
“Actually, the job hasn’t been defined,” he said. “I’ll be doing some public relations — speaking and making personal appearances — and doing some scouting on the West Coast. I won’t range too far from my home and my insurance business in Atherton, Calif.”
Tittle who broke in with the AAC Baltimore Colts in 1948 and who went to San Francisco when the two leagues merged in 1950, said he was fortunate to wind up with New York.
“Imagine playing all those years and never knowing what it was like to be with a winner,” he commented. “Then I go to New York, and we have winners the next three years.”
He was asked what his greatest thrill was in pro football.
“I’ve had a lot of thrills,” he recalled, “but there was one which stood out over all the others. It was at the end of the last game in 1961, when we had a tie with Cleveland to clinch the Eastern title. I’ll always remember those 60,000 people at Yankee Stadium counting down the last 10 seconds.”
In his 15 seasons in the NFL, Tittle set these records: most passes (3,817); most completions (2,118); most passing yardage (28,339); most TD passes (212); and most TD passes in one season (36). His seven TD passes in one game gives him a one-third share of the record with Sid Luckman and Adrian Burk.

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