As with a lot of teams currently in the NFL today, the New York Jets were members of the fifth American Football League, an NFL rival league that began its first season of 1960. It was important for the new league to anchor a club in New York City; and so, the “Titans of New York” were born.
The NFL already had the New York Football Giants. Harry Wismer, the AFL’s New York owner, called his team the “Titans” because he accessed “titans are bigger and stronger than giants.”
The team languished in the gloomy antiquated Polo Grounds with the gate usually fewer than 10,000 per game.