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THETITANS OF NEW YORK
American Football League
Charter Members

NY JETS

The following Titans or Jets are members of the
American Football League Hall of Fame

Verlon Biggs
Larry Grantham
Abner Haynes
Winston Hill
Bill Mathis
Don Maynard
Wahoo McDaniel

Joe Namath
Vito "Babe" Parilli
Art Powell
Gerry Philbin
Paul Rochester
George Sauer
Matt Snell
Jim Turner

Weeb Ewbank

Sonny Werblin

SUPER BOWL III

LARRY GRANTHAM

 A member of the Ole Miss Athletic Hall of Fame, linebacker Larry Grantham of the University of Mississippi came to the New York Titans in the 1960 college draft and helped form the backbone of a Jets defense that reached the playoffs in 1968 and 1969, and captured the 1968 American Football League and World Championships.
       From his right outside linebacker spot, Grantham wrought havoc on opposing offenses. One of the Jets leading tacklers, he was named to the American Football League All-Star team five times and played in eight league All-Star games.    He was selected to the All-Time All- AFL second team.
       One of only twenty players who were in the American Football League for its entire ten-year existence, and only seven AFL players who played their entire careers in one city.

A member of the
American Football League Hall of Fame

WINSTON HILL

          Winston Hill, an offensive tackle from Texas Southern University started with New York’s American Football League franchise in the same year that they became the New York Jets, and went on to record the tenth-longest string of starts in pro football history, 174. He was an American Football League All-Star in 1964, 1967, 1968, and 1969.   Hill was an overpowering blocker who opened gaping holes for Matt Snell in the Third AFL-NFL World Championship game.   He was selected to the second-team All-time All-American Football League Team and is a member of the Texas Southern Sports Hall of Fame and the New York Jets All-Time team.

A member of the
American Football League Hall of Fame

BILL MATHIS

One of four Titans who remained with the Jets to win a World Championship, Clemson's  Hall of Fame halfback Bill Mathis led the American Football League in carries in 1961.  He was an AFL  All-Star in 1961 and 1963.   Mathis had a collarbone broken in the third game of 1961, against the Boston Patriots.  He played in the next game, and in fact in all the remaining games of the season.  That persistence allowed him to gain a roster spot year after year, and end his career in 1969 as a member of the World Champion New York Jets.   One of only 20 players who were in the AFL for its entire 10-year existence, and only 7 players who played their entire AFL careers in one city.

DON MAYNARD

The very first Titan, Texas Western's (UTEP)   Don Maynard was an example of the lack of player-evaluation skills of NFL teams.    Released by the Giants, he became an American Football League All-star and Super Bowl champion.  With 72 pass receptions in his first year as a Titan, he had 5 seasons with 50 or more catches and 1,000 yards receiving.  In 1960, he teamed with Hall of Famer Art Powell to form the first professional wide receiver tandem to each gain over 1,000 yards on receptions in a season.   They did it again in 1962.  Maynard held the pro record for total receptions and yards receiving.  A 4-time AFL All-star, he is 6th in all-time pro football td receptions, with 88.  Maynard is a member of the All-time All-AFL team.  In the 1968 AFL Championship game against the defending AFL Champion Raiders, Maynard caught 6 passes for 118 yards and 2 tds.  That made the Colts so wary of him in Super Bowl III that, though he played injured and didn't have a reception, his very presence on the field opened up the Jets' offense.  One of only 20 players who were in the AFL for its entire 10-year existence, and only 7 players who played their entire AFL careers in one city.

JOE NAMATH

       Joe Namath, from the University of Alabama, was passed up by the NFL as "too expensive".   He would soon show that he was a bargain at any price.  Signed to the Jets team by Hall of Fame owner Sonny Werblin in 1965, Namath was AFL Rookie of the Year, and became the first pro quarterback to pass for 4,000 yards in a season (1967).  He was a three-time American Football League All-star, although plagued with knee injuries through much of his career.   Still, he enjoyed many exceptional days, one of which came in the 1968 AFL title game, when he threw three touchdown passes to lead New York to a 27-23 win over the defending American Football League Champion Oakland Raiders. 
       His shining moment was his generalship in the Jets' win over the Colts in the third AFL-NFL World Championship Game.   The 1968 NFL Champion Colts were touted as "the greatest pro football team of all time".  NFL icon Norm Van Brocklin ridiculed the AFL, saying "This will be Namath's first professional football game." Writers from NFL cities insisted it would take the AFL several more years of the "common draft" before its teams could even step on the same field as the untouchable NFL teams.

THEN, THEY PLAYED THE GAME!   Namath showed that he had been tempered in the crucible of real pro football in the AFL, as the  Colts' "invincible" defense withered under the onslaught of the Jets running and passing game.   Meanwhile, their offense gave up four interceptions to the Jets, including one by "NFL reject" Johnny Sample, off the once-great John Unitas.  Namath picked the Colts apart with a 17 for 28 performance, with eight completions to George Sauer alone, for 133 yards.  Namath was the game's MVP and found a permanent place in the hearts of all AFL fans, by shoving the NFL's taunts down their throats with a "guaranteed" win.  He is a member of the All-time All-American Football League Team and the patron saint of underdogs everywhere.  Namath was twice the AFL's Most Valuable Player, in 1968 and 1969.

GERRY PHILBIN

       Gerry Philbin, a defensive end from the University of Buffalo, joined the Jets in 1964 and played stellar defense for them for nine seasons.  He is a member of the University of Buffalo Athletic Hall of Fame.  Philbin was selected as an American Football League All-Star in 1968 and 1969.  A ferocious pass-rusher, Philbin recorded nineteen sacks of opposing quarterbacks in 1968.   In Super Bowl Three, he anchored the Jets defense in limiting the so-called "best team in the history of the NFL", the Colts, to a measly seven points.  A member of the All-time All-American Football League Team.

A member of the
American Football League Hall of Fame

PAUL ROCHESTER

Paul Rochester was born in 1938, and attended Michigan State University.   He played defensive tackle in the American Football League for the Dallas Texans, Kansas City Chiefs, and the New York Jets.  He was an American Football League All-Star  in 1961, and he earned two AFL Championship rings: one with the Dallas Texans in 1962 and one with the New York Jets in 1968; as well as a World Championship with the Jets after the 1968 season, when he was team co-captain in the Jets' destruction of the NFL Champion Colts.  After his playing years, he fell to alcoholism, but underwent therapy, and has been sober for 33 years, offering help and hope to others with the problem. Rochester is one of only twenty players who played the entire ten years of the AFL's existence.  

A member of the
American Football League Hall of Fame

MATT SNELL

       Though Jets owner Sonny Werblin made history with his 1965 acquisition of Joe Namath, Werblin’s first coup over the NFL was the 1964 signing of OHIO STATE's powerful fullback Matt Snell. In another example of the lack of scouting, foresight and persistence of NFL teams, the Giants drafted Snell in the third round, and offered a fraction of what the Jets gave him as their first-round choice. Snell immediately paid dividends. In his rookie year, he rushed for a Jets record 180 yards against the Oilers, on his way to a 945-yard season and American Football League Rookie of the Year honors.
       Snell was an AFL All-Star three times, but his defining moment came in the third AFL-NFL World Championship Game, when the AFL Champion Jets played the 1968 NFL Champion Baltimore Colts. The Jets received the ball first, and on their second play from scrimmage, Snell slammed into Colts safety Rick Volk, touted as one of the toughest tacklers in the NFL. "When Rick hits you," said Colts head coach Don Shula, "you might not get up." This time it was Volk who did not get up, and Snell was the key player in the Jets ball-control offense in the 16-7 upset of the Colts. Although slowed by knee injuries, Snell carried 30 times for 121 yards. In the second quarter, he went 4 yards around the left end to score the Jets only touchdown. It was his sixth carry on an 80 yard drive. He also helped set up 3 Jim Turner field goals that finally put the game away for the Jets in the second half.

BOB TALAMINI

       Bob Talamini, a stout, 6'1", 250-lb. lineman, earned third-team All-SEC honors at the University of Kentucky and was drafted by the Houston Oilers of the American Football League. He personally saw the league develop from the first training camp in 1960 to the day they knocked off the NFL's "unbeatable" Baltimore Colts in 1969.
       Talamini helped win the first two AFL Championships with the Oilers, made first-team All-AFL in 1962, and was a regular at American Football League All-Star games, selected to six straight through 1967.  He anchored an offensive line that gave Blanda time to set passing records that would last for decades.  He was selected to the All-Time All-AFL second team.
       After two AFL crowns and four Eastern Division titles with the Oilers, Talamini got to realize his dream when he picked up by the New York Jets. Opening holes for Matt Snell and blocking defenders away from Joe Namath, Bob played a vital role in the shocker that changed pro football forever. stuffing the Colts in Super Bowl III.

WILBUR "WEEB" EWBANK

      When Sonny Werblin purchased the New York Titans' American Football League franchise, he changed the team's name (to the New York Jets), and its coach, hiring Weeb Ewbank.   Ewbank took over a team that had not had a winning record in its first three years, and made them into a force to be reckoned with.

       As coach of the Baltimore Colts, Ewbank had won the 1958 and 1959 NFL championships.  In 1965, the Jets signing of Joe Namath added to the arsenal he would eventually pit against his former team in Super Bowl III.    His Jets won the American Football League championship in 1968 with a victory over the defending AFL champions, the Oakland Raiders.

       In the third World Championship Game, the Colts (proclaimed by some to be "the greatest pro football team of all time") were heavily favored over the AFL's "overmatched"  Jets.    But with Weeb's confident planning, the Jets ran a game plan that mystified the Colts, and came out with a 16-7 victory.    In doing so, the Jets made Ewbank the ONLY MAN ever to coach teams to victory in an NFL championship, an American Football League Championship, and a World Championship.  His record in the AFL was 50-42-6.  He was selected as the coach of the All-Time All-AFL Team.

DAVID "SONNY" WERBLIN

       Sonny Werblin purchased the Titans of New York from original owner Harry Wismer in 1963.  Immediately applying his show-business savvy, he changed the team's name to the New York Jets, and drafted future Hall of Famer Matt Snell in the first round, signing him away from the cross-town rival NFL Giants, who thought of Snell as a mere third-rounder.  His recognition that the American Football League needed a strong presence in New York was a major factor in the success of the league that was to be the genesis of modern professional football.  He cemented that position by signing Joe Namath, who would ultimately lead the AFL Jets in their Super Bowl victory over the so-called "best team in the history of the NFL".  He strongly opposed the merger between the leagues, with Al Davis, objecting to the indemnity the NFL squeezed from the American Football League owners for having the audacity to put good teams in the New York area and in California.

A member of the
American Football League Hall of Fame

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       In the third game of the 1961 season versus the Boston Patriots, Titans fullback Bill Mathis broke his collarbone and this jersey was cut and removed from his body as he was helped off the field. Despite the injury, Mathis went on to play all 14 games that season - a testament to the toughness exhibited by the players of the American Football League. He led the AFL that year with 202 attempts, was second in rushing yards with 846 and second in touchdowns with seven.

Photo courtesy of Grey Flannel Auctions, Inc.

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