Thanks to those who participated. Great comments.

Let me tell you a little about this photograph. This is a picture of New York Giants quarterback, Y.A. Tittle. The picture captures a brief moment on a Sunday afternoon in Pittsburg. For three years, Tittle had led the Giants to the Nation Football League championship game, only to loose each time. Just a year prior in 1963 he was named the Most Valuable Player of the league. He was now thirty-eight years old.

On the play leading up to this photo, Tittle had thrown a screen pass that was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. Upon releasing the ball he was hit by a 270 pound defensive lineman who drove his helmet deep into Tittle’s sternum and drove him to the turf. The air was knocked completely out of his lungs. The muscles around his ribs were torn from their bones.

Tittle commented that he had been beaten up and hurt ever since he began playing organized football in the sixth grade. But he pain he felt after this hit was different. Tittle spent the night in the hospital. He recovered to play in the next game, but he was never the same. Tittle said that, “The hit made me something I never was…gun shy. For the first time in my life I didn’t want to get hit, because I couldn’t get up.” Tittle retired at the end of the season.

This is a powerful photograph. It says so much without saying a word. In fact it is one of only three photos that hang in the lobby of the National Press Photographers Association headquarters. The other two are the flag raising at Iwo Jima and the destruction of the Hindenburg.

Why is this, such a powerful picture? What did this photo capture that makes anyone who looks at it pause? I think this picture represents a moment in life that we all can identify with; a sense of exhaustion, desperation, defeat, pain and fear. A moment where the question, “Can I just stay down” blasts through our head. I think this is a moment we all understand and understand well. I know I have been where Tittle was sitting there in the end zone, wondering if he can even stand to face the next blitz.

This photograph captures only a mere few seconds in a storied and Hall of Fame career. I love this photo. I love the moment that is captured in this mans life…the story that is told from his face…how I feel just looking at it. I have purchased a copy to hang in my office. Why? Because after learning more about Y.A. Tittle and this photo, what I love the most is what this picture doesn’t capture. And that is the few minutes after the crushing blow when he stood up, pulled on his helmet and ran back on the field.

Defeat can be brutal. But pity the man who never gets back into the game.

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