In the annals of American football, certain images stand immortalized, capturing more than just the action on the field—they encapsulate an era, a career, and the raw emotion of the game. Among these iconic images, one photograph stands out for its poignant portrayal of vulnerability, defeat, and the harsh reality of sports. This is the story behind the legendary photograph of Y.A. Tittle, an image that transcends the realm of sports photography to become a symbol of human struggle and resilience.
What Is This Photo?
It was a Sunday in September 1964. John Baker of the Steelers just dealt a brutal blow to Giants quarterback Yu. A. Tittle. The player was not able to get up immediately, and his career after this match approached the finish line.
The New York QB was the NFL’s most valuable player a season earlier and led his team to championship games in 1961, 1962 and 1963. Fuck it, the Giants lost all three. At 38, Tittle was already considered an age-old football player. And this blow brought him to the end of his career.
Post-Gazette photographer Morris Berman captured the bloodied and stunned quarterback. One of these photos has become the photographer’s calling card and a symbol of photojournalism. Tittle himself understood the significance of the painting.
“That was the end of my dance,” he said years later. “A whole life is over.”
So through photography, even now, after a long time, we can feel the excitement and experience of sports. Now any entertainment and even excitement are available to us online, for example, as gambling on TonyBet.
But then, when people had to attend events and places to enjoy the atmosphere, such a photo in the newspapers amazed everyone with the ability to convey the emotions and energy of the moment, even if at that moment you are drinking a morning cup of coffee at home.
What Was the Original Film Hiding?
Digs reporter and Post-Gazette photographer Steve Mellon unearthed Berman’s original 35mm negatives, long thought to be lost. The famous frame is the average negative on the strip of three frames No. 25. The entire strip was scanned and an amazing picture was found.
A stunning new photo shows Steelers linebacker Bill Saul putting his hand on the shoulder of a bloodied quarterback – he towers over a vulnerable Tittle, but his body language conveys a certain gentleness and care. This footage shows a moment of empathy that seems to go beyond the concepts of the modern NFL. The picture remained unpublished for a long time, and the public did not see it.
After the appearance of the lost frames, there was even a debate about which picture was better. The one that everyone has seen and knows? Or the one with the Moment between the quarterback and quarterback.
Peter Dayan of the Post-Gazette has been filming professional sports in Pittsburgh for decades. He says that frame 25 (with a lone Tittle) stands out for him.
“I like this loneliness, his hands on his lap, he’s finally catching his breath. We have a player in front of us who left himself on the field. Capturing a moment of solitude during a football match is incredibly difficult, given the crowd of people on the field and along the sidelines. It’s so hard to get a clear image,” Peter said.
Expert Opinion
One of the best sports photographers, Elsa Garrison from Getty Images, chose a photo of a lonely Tittle.
“The feeling of defeat is more obvious… the chosen frame is clearly a stronger shot,” Elsa said. However, according to her, the shot with Saul may have been considered a more obvious choice for publication in Pittsburgh, since the Steelers player was in the frame.
Al Jazeera America photo editor Vaughn Wallace (a Pitt graduate and former Post-Gazette intern) said he was attracted to the moment with Saul and Tittle. “One cannot help but wonder what words they exchanged during that short moment,” he explained. However, in the end, for Wallace, it all comes down to having a place for a photo in the newspaper the next day.
Former Pittsburgh Press editor Bill Gugliotta agrees: “The previous shot is certainly a pleasant moment and a wonderful image, but Tittle’s face is a little harder to see than in the second picture. Tittle’s stunned expression and isolation are what make the second shot the best of the two.”
But the picture would not be complete without the opinion of Post-Gazette columnist (not photographer) Tony Norman. Well, you never know what these photographers can come up with. It is important how an ordinary person perceives the pictures. Norman admitted that the shot with Saul was good. It shows a moment of empathy in the middle of a violent game, but this is an informational, not an iconic photo.
Norman summarizes as only a columnist could: ” Tittle alone is as similar to a Rodin sculpture as it is to an image of a flesh-and-blood athlete trying to collect his thoughts after a brutal defeat. It is characteristic of its moment and deeply existential, almost contemplative. After pruning, she manages to go beyond the game… Tittle becomes an ordinary person.”
And which photo would you choose?
