New York Titans

[@williamfragaszy6016]

My brother took me to a Titans game against the Houston Oilers in 1962 at the Polo Grounds. True enough, the stadium was pretty empty. After the game the fans were allowed onto the field while the players were walking to the clubhouse. I walked right next to George Blanda. It was a great thrill for a nine year old.

[@oakchar]

I had similar experiences at Frank Youell Field in Oakland. Thank you, William, for being a good fan.

[@markgardner9460]

Gotta love The Polo Grounds! Never had a polo game played there. LOVE listening to Sammy Baugh!

[@bemore1134]

Imagine sitting in the Polo Grounds in 1962, watching the NY Mets (120 losses) & the Titans. If someone would've told you both teams would be sitting on top of the world in their respective sports by the end of the decade you'd think they were a danger to others. Yet it happened.

[@garylobo348]

Just like JFK predicting a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Sort of lol. That brought a tear to the eye, those 4 Titans who played in... and won. . SB3

[@rentslave]

NY Daily News' cartoonist,Bill Gallo,drew a cartoon for the night owl edition of the paper after Supe III. The cartoon featured two kids with one of them saying to the other:"Who's next?The Mets?"

[@shelley880]

This is FABULOUS! So little info is available about the Titans, but here's a goldmine from those who lived it! THANK YOU.

[@kingporter67]

The New York Titans football jerseys were super awesome, a classic football gem!!

[@b-zoneonroku2020]

Mad respect for the guys who went from playing for nothing to winning it all.

[@drbonesshow1]

RIP James Larry Grantham (1938 - 2017) 0:45

[@MegaShawm]

Remember where we come from I'm a 2000's jets fan I learned our history and I respect it when God says He's ready for us to shine We gone shine as long as we keep that Titans heart and faith in God 🙏🏾

[@t4texastom587]

R.I.P. #13 Don Maynard 🏈 "Mr. AFL" God bless our pro football heroes from a by-gone era.

[@hughcapetien]

Being an old AFL guy, I was gratified to see old AFL ex Dallas Texan DT Paul Rochester manning the DT slot for the Jets against the Baltimore Colts in that 1968 Super Bowl game.

[@randysmith2866]

Boozer and Snell were a great team! I really miss the two man running combos of that era. The evolution to the single running back system opened up a more exciting passing game, but many of us old timers really miss that old grind-it-out running football !

[@amypeterson4615]

Their dark blue w/old gold numbers jerseys were beautiful.

[@ThatBshKeira]

Just imagine if they never turned from titans to jets Tennessee would have a different name 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@peterterry398]

CONGRATS LARRY GRANTHAM, DON MAYNARD, 1969 WORLD CHAMPS !! from Titans to Jets,what a neat story!!

[@billserra1684]

As a 10 year old Pop Warner football player from New Jersey, one of my fondest memories was our team going to a Titans game at the Polo Grounds, at the time horribly decrepit and our seats, located in the upper deck, were covered with pidgeon s**t. We didn't sit there (there were plenty of empty seats) and being resourceful kids, we ended up on the field talking to the players who gave us their chinstraps. Good times!

[@t4texastomjohnnycat978]

😅👍

[@aarondigby5054]

Just to see a professional football player then as an 8 or 9yr old was undescribable, the look on their face up close as they're tired as shyt by halftime.

[@robertpapalia]

I am a Jets fan of 57 years. Still waiting for Super Bowl 2. The first one was great to see. The second one I hope comes before I go to the next world, will be even better.

[@joeymatesic]

I'm a fan for 36 years now. At least you saw them in the Super bowl. I'm still waiting. : (

[@scott6828]

This story was absolutely incredible. I had no idea about the Jets early history. Amazing.

[@marcschneider4845]

I was a Colts fan and was really unhappy when the Jets won, but listening to how happy the ex-Titans were and what they had gone through makes me feel good. They deserved it.

[@ARIZJOE]

Emerson Boozer was a college teammate of E Street Band member Clarence Clemons. Matt Snell played for Woody Hayes.

[@mikewrasman5103]

The Titans of New York were better than people gave them credit for. The New York media considered the New York Giants the beginning and the end and basically ignored the Titans.

[@ace942]

Thanks for the video. I knew about the existence of the NY Titans but was not aware that they were of danger of being bankrupt or the fact that they went 7-7 in each of the first 2 seasons. Thanks for the video.

[@marksloan7438]

They once had a press release stating that there were 50,000 fans in attendance at the old Polo Grounds. A sportswriter remarked that if there were 50,000 fans in attendance, 45,000 came dressed as empty seats.

[@seveglider8406]

There were more people on the field than there were in the stands.

[@davidlafleche1142]

They must have counted the rats.

[@trapezemusic]

Perhaps it was a typo and it was really supposed to 5,000.

[@jimsimpson3334]

That running game absolutely was the reason the Jets won. Matt Snell 👏 awesome. Broadway was an INT machine. But you can’t deny the Joe Namath affect on Pro Football. Oilers fan here. Go AFL !

[@smitskee]

SB3 was interesting in that Jet Coach Weeb Ewbank, a former NFL coach, and playing his former team the Colts, Weeb decided to put away the AFL 45-50 passes playbook, and play NFL ball control football. Keep the ball, control the clock, shorten the game. It worked. The Colts turned it over 5 times, and still gave up only one touchdown. Jerry Logan for the Colts, dropped a pic-six in the third quarter. I give the Jets lots of credit, but if that same Colt team showed up two weeks earlier, the Jets are playing the Browns that day.

[@ChrisBakerauthor]

The Jets won because Earl Morrall was horrible.

[@jerryashlock5519]

Namath called all the plays and he kept the Colts defense off balance by continuing to run at them . Namath said his most effective pass was one he overthrew a deep pass to Maynard. They weren't used to speed like Maynard and arm strength of Namath ... Consequently Joe felt the Colts defense was off balance and Snell and Boozer were too much ... and clock just kept running as well as #41 & #32 . Great game

[@darkstarharry2947]

@@ChrisBakerauthor Namath beating the Baltimore blitz had something to do with it as well.

[@robertpapalia]

@@ChrisBakerauthor He was horrible because the Jets made him look horrible.

[@t4texastomjohnnycat978]

I am a Tom Landry-era Dallas Cowboys, and old-line NFL fan... but I certainly enjoyed watching the AFL too. I STILL can't believe the Colts lost to the Jets.😅🏈

[@t4texastomjohnnycat978]

@Texas Chainsaw Jesus I've certainly heard of "predictable offense", but defense? Statistically, the Colts & Cowboys lead in basically everything in '68, offense AND defense, finishing 13-1, and 12-2 respectively. You don't go 13-1 with a "predictable" football team.🏈

[@merccadoosis8847]

@Texas Chainsaw Jesus Actually, it was Coach Weeb Ewbank who engineered a great game plan. Namath and the Jets executed that plan for the Super Bowl win.

[@merccadoosis8847]

@Aaron D. Digby, Sr. Yes, that was my point. Sorry if I failed to make myself clear on that point. He was truly a great old school coach and motivator.

[@bemore1134]

I think being "good" is much more important than whether or not you're "predictable". I once saw Drew Brees throw eighty-some passes in one game, mostly short outs & hooks. Extremely predictable. But no one called it that because he was throwing the ball. Vince Lombardi's teams were pretty darned predictable.

[@33baugh]

Sammy always put a 😃 on my face!! RIP pal.

[@hughcapetien]

Sammy had a son David Baugh who played defensive half back for the Texas Tech Red Raiders back in the early to mid sixties under coach J.T. King.

[@xxxxbigrich5752]

Thank you so much for sharing this video I'm a long time Jets fan and anytime I can see anything from the good ole days is cool for me.

[@mattdon2164]

Great stuff! Matt Snell’s new Mint Green Caddy from Sonny “As in Money” Werblin is the topper of toppers. Wish the NYJ had Sonny or an owner like him today and not that airhead Woody Johnson.

[@jeremythompson9122]

Matt Snell should've got the Super Bowl III MVP award and even Joe Namath concurs with that. The final score was 16-7 but it really wasn't even that close. The Jets led 16-0 until the Colts scored a garbage time TD in the 4th quarter. The Jets defense and Snell were definitely the difference in the game. I'm a Bills fan so I hate the Jets but I was pulling for them in that game because I was more of an AFL fan than an NFL fan. I thought the AFL was much more entertaining to watch than the NFL. I was a Cleveland Browns fan living in upstate New York but I became a Buffalo Bills fan once the AFL came along and then my Bills won back to back AFL Championships in 1964 and 1965...beating Sid Gillman's San Diego Chargers both times...20-7 in 1964 and 23-0 in 1965. Those Bills defenses were great. They had to be to shut down the Chargers offense...which was the best in ALL of pro football during the 60's in my opinion. I would've liked to see the 1964 Buffalo Bills take on the 1964 NFL Champion Cleveland Browns in a World Championship Game. I guarantee the Bills would've given them one hell of a scare at the very least. The 64 Browns really weren't any more talented than the 64 Bills were other than having Jim Brown on their roster. Jack Kemp was a better QB than Frank Ryan and Elbert Dubenion was a better WR than Gary Collins. Cookie Gilchrist was a monster at RB. He was bigger than alot of the offensive and defensive linemen of that era but alot faster and more elusive. Cookie is an extremely underrated player in pro football history. He was nicknamed the Jim Brown of the AFL. He was a really great runner

[@jimsimpson3334]

Jeremy Thompson Big John Elliott from Silsbee Tx. !

[@jimsimpson3334]

Jeremy Thompson 64 Browns were tough, come on now. Don’t get too carried away.

[@howardcosell2022]

Buffalo had an enormous defensive line for the times. 2nd greatest hit of all-time LB Mike Stratton destroying Keith Lincoln set the tone for the Bills two championship wins over San Diego. With this being said, Jim Brown would have run as his usual self beating the Bills. More competitive than Super Bowl I & II, but the NFL was still ahead of the curve in 1964

[@rentslave]

Writer Dick Young thought so as well.Still,Namath had all the pressure on him and came through.Had Snell failed,Namath would have gotten hammered for boasting.

[@hughcapetien]

I once had a pretty decent set of football cards of the old AFL of the 1961 season. I had a few cards of the Titans which one of them was QB Al Dorow. Had a few other ones such as Bill Mathis the Rb, Don Maynard, the WR, Nick Mumley, DE, Lee Grosscup, QB, Butch Songin, another QB, Curley Johnson, the RB (whose son John was a classmate of mine), Art Powell, a very good Wide Receiver, and Tom Saidock the big DT.

[@howardcosell2022]

Art Powell should be in the Hall of Fame

[@Stikdrv]

Love the blue and gold!

[@dfl6020]

Love ya gold

[@wa1ufo]

I watched that game in Maryland but wanted the Jets to win in the worst way. That was great!

[@steelers1957]

My uncle Fran Rogel played 8 years for the Steelers then onto the Titans in his sun setting years. I have have his Titans bubble gum card from those days

[@joeymatesic]

That's awesome. I have all of the Titans/Jets football card sets from 1960 until now. I just checked my album and your uncle is on the first page. I have his 1960 Titans Fleer card. : )

[@usmcfutball]

Those Titan/Jet names: Maynard, Mathis, Snell, Boozer, Sauer, Namath, Elliot, Hill, Grantham...my youth. The only 'heroes' I ever had in the realm of sports.

[@KingYakthekingofyaks]

that must've been a long time ago

[@t4texastomjohnnycat978]

@@KingYakthekingofyaks You'll be a geezer too boy.... sooner than you know.

[@peterterry398]

When the Jets won the Super bowl ,I was absolutely thrilled!!! I'm an old AFL fan !!!

[@jacktheripoff1888]

The Raiders by 1962 were almost bankrupt as well. Bills owner Ralph Wilson very quietly purchased half the team for a short time until a new ownership group came in. Technically Wilson wasn't supposed to do that but the league looked the other way to ensure its survival. First thing the new Raiders owners did was hire Al Davis as Head Coach and GM. Sammy Baugh must have had a million stories about his football days, and all of them great ones.

[@smitskee]

Not all. I don’t think Sammy has good stories about the 1940 NFL Championship against the Bears.

[@TheLAGopher]

It's so wild how 1963 was such a critical year for the AFL. The Texans moved to Kansas City, the Titans got new owners, were renamed the Jets, and went from league joke to AFL showcase, and Al Davis gets hired as head coach of the Raiders where he creates the "Silver and Black" mystique. Not to mention,1963 marked the apex of the San Diego Chargers AFL run when they won the AFL title that year.

[@robertsantangelo8018]

Grew up a jet fan.Watched the super bowl in great lakes. boot camp.My company commander let us watch the game

[@jennifersman7990]

Howard Cosell used to call the Jets owner “Sonny, as in money, Werblin”

[@brianwolf6166]

We can only imagine how good Snell and Boozer could have been without those devastating knee injuries in 1967 ...

[@hughcapetien]

Knee injuries were always part of football. Many football stars had their careers cut short due to them.

[@jeffreythomson2979]

New York then had two bald headed qbs: Y.A. Tittle and Al Dorow.

[@TexasNewsOwL]

Did it for th love of th game.

[@FiveStarFelipe]

this was fucking amazing i never knew this 🙌🏾

[@frankdenardo8684]

Coogan's Bluff which is mentioned is the title of a 1968 film with Clint Eastwood.

[@tomb4575]

Bobby Thompsons famous home run was known as The Miracle at Coogan's Bluff. I think that movie was the inspiration for the TV show McCloud starring Dennis Weaver.

[@frankdenardo8684]

@@tomb4575 you are absolutely right. The TV show McCloud was based on the 1968 movie Coogan's Bluff.

[@jennifersman7990]

Eastwood’s character was named Joe Coogan too

[@Kevin-po2dl]

Real Football MEN! ✝️👊🏻

[@to_wele5126]

Tough, gritty, questionable ownership. Just like the titans of today.

[@whataboutrob442]

Stop it!

[@JStarStar00]

Sammy Baugh was still a firecracker until his death. He actually did a hell of a job coaching the Titans. Too bad they didn't keep him around to be the QB coach for Namath.

[@jerryashlock5519]

Liked " too bad they didn't keep him around for Joe Namath " ... Baugh had a beautiful and classic throwing motion, and same class as a punter #33

[@lorenzobeckmann3736]

the very last remark (by Mr Snell) "my car was better than wnat Joe got" referrs to (then) the super Bowl MVP getting a car from (I think) Sport Magazine---but Snell got a Caddy from the owner---better than the Dodge awarded by Sport Mag

[@jennifersman7990]

Story I heard Joe Namath tell was that as part of his signing with the Jets he wanted a Lincoln Continental convertible in Jet green, and he got it

[@donaldschmidt2990]

David "Sonny" Werblins purchase of the New York Jets clinched the merger of the two Leagues. Once the dead weight of Harry Wismer and the Titans was lifted, New York became a viable market for the American Football League. The natural showman, transformed Joe Namath into "Broadway Joe" and Namath became the biggest drawing card in the game. The resulting publicity for the AFL became a Firestorm. How ironic that four of the Titans would be on a Super Bowl winner by the end of the decade. Nothing mirrored the rags to riches saga of the American Football League like the long forgotten New York Titans. In Wismers words " A Titan is bigger than a Giant." Once Werblin bought the team that became a reality. Namaths 400,000 contract is the greatest in the history of Professional Sports. A League minimum salary now, that helped transformed an entire League.

[@danielmorehouse9116]

Namath's contract was actually for $427k. $25k over 16 yrs plus a $27k Corvette.

[@tedmichaels1951]

The very first football game I ever saw was the Titans. I was in the Cub Scouts and the Polo Grounds was empty. The hot chocolate vendor sat with us because we were buying up his hot chocolate. It was the only time I saw the historic Polo Grounds. Thank god

[@mariocisneros911]

Reminds me of Comiskey Park , old, green and many times near empty

[@davidlafleche1142]

Funny, nobody mourned when they tore down Foxboro Stadium.

[@trapezemusic]

You have to keep in mind that the NY Giants left after the 1957 baseball season and the Mets were originally supposed to play there only in 1962 (instead 1962 and 1963). My point is that very little money was spent beyond the field, lighting system, main scoreboard, and repainting the front (river) exterior side. Everyone knew that the City was going to demolish the stadium asap for low-income housing. The Polo Grounds was demolished in 1964 and the project (four tall towers) has evolved into one of the most dangerous in NYC. That's progress for you.

[@billymatthews7346]

Great !!!

[@petegobeckli1386]

TITANS r BIGGER than GIANTS!

[@alfonsecoppola5938]

their original field had to be checked by the team for broken glass before practice or a game by the team

[@johnhebert3855]

I liked their uniforms.

[@drbonesshow1]

Not a bad team for the money or lack thereof that they received.

[@altfactor]

I presume that in the years1960-64 B.N. (Before Namath), people who went to New York Titans/New York Jets games probably did so because they couldn't get tickets to New York Football Giants games.

[@edlawn5481]

Boozer was every bit the phenomenon that Gayle Sayers was, but unfortunately, like Sayers, suffered an injury that altered his career.

[@hughcapetien]

I believe the only ace running back that walked away from pro football without a serious knee injury was Barry Sanders and he played almost a decade with the Lions.

[@mikevanriel7573]

@@hughcapetien You forgot Jim Brown. I don’t believe Walter Payton and Emmitt Smith had major knee injuries.

[@edpinkerton7947]

Payton had offseason knee surgery at least twice & never told anyone

[@rhythmjones]

Houston Astros: "I was just running the rats out!!!!"

[@michaelleroy9281]

Future Superbowl Champions

[@davanmani556]

They didn’t show that Snell hit on Rick Volk.

[@joeymatesic]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/iIiYeKGQeN2kf9k

[@jimsimpson3334]

Davan Mani KOd his ass.

[@jerryashlock5519]

Rick Volk ended up suffering grand mal seizures from the concussion from when Snell trucked him...

[@kemgreene2293]

"There's no shame to the pioneers"!

[@jimhayd7857]

It was the Jets offensive line that won Super Bowl III. If you watch the game, you will see this is true. They blew the Colts off the line.

[@williamdwyer2307]

I went to Catholic school in Manhattan. For whatever reason the school had free tickets to Titan games. I went to most of those games at the Polo Grounds. With my friends or many times by myself. Still a diehard Jets fans because of that

[@davidlafleche1142]

The reason was simple: The Titans were desperate to get fans! They were like the old St. Louis Browns. A fan called the box office, and asked, "When does the ballgame start?" The clerk answered, "When can you get here?"

[@petegobeckli1386]

@@davidlafleche1142 I don't even know y u answered that question from that guy(Why'd Jimi Hendrix play the Star Spangled Banner that way at WOODSTOCK?). But hey! The ABA used to give out 🎟 tickets to charites or businesses to bolster their attendance. Some ABA teams would have 500 spectators in uh 7,000 seat arena like the NEW ORLEANS BUCCANEERS. SO since the press would have to PRINT! the games' attendance, PR guys would FUDGE! the numbers: 2500 or, 1500 would replace 500 in the sports. pages' announced attendance.

[@davidlafleche1142]

@@petegobeckli1386 Worst of all: The World Football League. That was a disaster. They tried so hard to make it look viable, but nobody cared. Or perhaps the Seattle Pilots.

[@chriszenko6355]

No disrespect to Joe but Matt should have been the superbowl MVP

[@joeymatesic]

I agree

[@seveglider8406]

Namath was, and deserved to be MVP of Super Bowl 3!

[@alonenjersey]

These days the MVP of any league is an award for the leagues' most popular player.

[@jakedasnake7703]

I’m a Steelers fan and we were an awful team during this time period not many remember lmao.

[@peterterry398]

I'm a Steelers fan too,but back in 1960-69 ,I lived near Boston and watched the NY Giants,and Boston Patriots on TV ,I remember those old Steeler teams and I was a young boy and I remember John Henry Johnson (running back for the Steelers back in the 60's ) he had a great game against the Giants one Sunday afternoon, I'll never forget it and then in 1986 I moved to Pittsburgh and wound up meeting Johnson in downtown Pittsburgh . You never know who you're gonna run into,it was really neat meeting him after watching him on T V years before.

[@tedmichaels1951]

You’re right, before Chuck Noll got there the Steelers were the laughing stock of the NFL.

[@jennifersman7990]

Whenever Art Rooney was asked how the Steelers would be he usually replied “Same ol’ Steelers”. You gotta give him credit, as bad as they were, he held onto that team for years. Pete Rozelle once said he was never more proud to hand 4 Super Bowl trophies to Art Rooney

[@hughcapetien]

Hey there was Bobby Layne at QB throwing to Buddy Dial!

[@jrowdygi1837]

I love these old clips but some of the commentary seems to get embellished over time. Players used to hitchhike home from practice, come on man.

[@howie9751]

I wanted to see the picture shown in the preview of the field and the houses behind the seats. It isn't here.

[@joeymatesic]

That was just a thumbnail pic that I used.

[@howie9751]

@@joeymatesic Well it got me to click on the video.

[@joeymatesic]

@@howie9751 Lol. I don't post videos for the money. I post Jets videos for the die hards.

[@howie9751]

@@joeymatesic I'm a Football Giants fan, but I've been to the Polo Grounds a few times to see the Mets and I remember the NY Titans before they were the Jets, so I wanted to see the video of them playing. Thanks.

[@joeymatesic]

@@howie9751 There's 2 more videos of the New York Titans on KZbin. Do a search fro New York Titans and they'll come up.

[@javusbonmon6937]

🏈🏈🏈🏈👍

[@stevebulota4687]

That's John Huarte next to Namath in that photo.

[@hughcapetien]

Huarte was a flop after a stint with the Patriots.

[@robertharvey9047]

new Jersey new York giants

[@howie9751]

Only half of this about the New York Titans.

[@jennifersman7990]

You can only do so much with the existing film you’ve got and the fact they were only around for like 3 seasons

[@howie9751]

@@jennifersman7990 Then don't call the video "The New York Titans".

[@garylobo348]

I grew up in St. Louis, and the old Football Cardinals drafted Joe Namath the same year as the Jets, out of Alabama. Hnmmm... New York and millions, or cheap-ass Bill Bidwill and the mediocre Cardinals? Tough call. You're laughing, but it actually was at the time, because the Cardinals of the NFL had the reputation of the better league. It was Namath himself in SB III that pur the AFL on the map. Lombardi's Packers destroyed the Chiefs and Raiders in the first two SBs. Wonder who would've won if Lombardi had his team in SB3? But he stepped down for health reasons after SB2. We'll never know.

[@hughcapetien]

Charley Johnson was still in his prime at QB for the Cardinals, Joe Namath had he signed with the Cards, would have rode the bench. Namath was instant stardom with the Jets.

[@Venom3254]

NY AOT

[@robertharvey9047]

new Jersey new York jets

[@davidlafleche1142]

They never should have left Shea; but they did have an unfair lease, and converting from baseball to football was a pain in the neck.

[@robertpapalia]

@@davidlafleche1142 So very much true.