"Hail Mary" (1922, 1972, 1974, 1975)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

Thanks for the kinds words about my website. Happy New Year to all.
...
My Dallas Cowboys really suck, losing at home to the worst team in football  
after previously getting blown out twice at home, to New Orleans and  
Philadelphia. They laid an egg on Christmas and then repeated it with another on  New 
Year's Eve.
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Here's a Texas "Hail Mary" entry with some new information about a 1922  
Notre Dame game.
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_http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/hail_mary_1975_roger_staubach
_pass/_ 
(http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/hail_mary_1975_roger_staubach_pass/) 
...
 
Hail Mary (1975 Roger Staubach pass)
 
The famous “Hail Mary” pass was Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach’s  
throw to wide receiver Drew Pearson in a December 28, 1975 football game 
against  the Minnesota Vikings. The Cowboys had been losing 14-10, but that 
last-second  “Hail Mary” pass play helped them to a 17-14 victory. A football “Hail 
Mary”  play is any last-second, long-shot, low-odds play, a “prayer” that is 
sometimes  answered. 

It’s not generally known, but Roger Staubach was quoted using  the “Hail Mary
” football terminology in 1972 and 1974. Also, Notre Dame has a  “Hail Mary” 
tradition that began in a 1922 football game against Georgia Tech.  


_Photo  Gallery of Great Moments_ 
(http://www.ffbookmarks.com/photo_gallery_of_great_moments.htm)  
NFC Divisional Playoff Game, Cowboys versus  Vikings, December 28, 1975, 
Metropolitan Stadium, Bloomington, MN  
With less than two minutes to play and trailing 14-10 the Cowboys took over  
possession of the ball on their own 9-yard line.  QB Roger Staubach led the  
Cowboys attack by hitting WR Drew Pearson on five different passes including a  
clutch 22-yard forth down conversion at the 50-yard line.  On second down,  
and only 36 seconds remaining, Staubach threw a desperation pass to WR Pearson  
who was being covered by CB Nate Wright.  The pass was a bit under thrown  
and there was some contact between Pearson and Wright.  Wright fell to the  
ground, Pearson bobbled the ball on the five-yard line.  He eventually was  able 
to pin the ball against his right hip to gain possession of the ball.   He then 
strolled into the endzone for the winning touchdown.  QB Roger  Staubach, in 
a post-game interview said “It was a Hail Mary pass.” A moniker  that would 
forever stick describing this particular catch and created a new  lexicon for 
all similar pass plays to follow.  Sadly, Vikings QB Fran  Tarkenton’s father 
died of a heart attack while watching the game.  His  name was Dallas..  

_Wikipedia: Hail Mary pass_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hail_Mary_pass)   
A Hail Mary pass or Hail Mary play in American football is a  forward pass 
made in desperation, with only a very small chance of success. The  typical Hail 
Mary is a very long forward heave thrown at or near the end of a  half where 
there is no realistic possibility for any other play to work, though  the most 
famous were thrown at the end of a game. The phrase derives from the  name of 
a prominent Roman Catholic prayer to the Virgin Mary. The success of  this 
play is unlikely due to the general inaccuracy of the pass. 

(Oxford  English Dictionary) 
Hail Mary, phr. and n. 
Chiefly N. Amer.  Sport. A desperate play or manoeuvre having a very low 
likelihood of success;  (Amer. Football) a long pass thrown into or near the end 
zone by a losing team  as time is running out. Chiefly attrib. 
1972 Sporting News 15 Jan.  8/2, I asked if he really saw Pat or if he was 
throwing it away. He [sc. Roger  Staubach] said, ‘Let’s just call it my Hail 
Mary Play.’ 

10 January 1932,  Portsmouth (OH) Times, pg. 12, col. 2: 
“Hail Mary” 
Play  Wins 
Football Game 

NEW YORK, Jan. 9—Gus Welch retained  the “Brown Derby” at the annual banquet 
of the American Football Coaches’  association, but Jim (Sleepy) Crowley, one 
of the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame  and now a coach at Michigan State, 
brought down the hall with this one:  

“In 1922 Notre Dame had nine sophomores on the team that went to Atlanta  to 
play Georgia Tech,” Crowley related. “In the first half Tech got a field goal 
 and things looked pretty dark for us. In the third period Layden punted to 
Red  Barron, who muffed. We recovered on the 20-yard line and tried three plays 
in  vain. It was fourth down. 

“It so happened that we had a Presbyterian on  the team. He stopped play and 
said to us, ‘Boys, let’s have a Hail Mary.’ Well,  we prayed, and Layden soon 
went over for a touchdown. 

“Believe it or  not, the formula was repeated. Again Layden kicked, again 
Barron fumbled, again  we tried three plays in vain. ‘Let’s have another Hail 
Mary,’ said the  Presbyterian. Well, again Layden went over for a touchdown. 

“After the  game I discussed the strange series of events with our 
Presbyterian. ‘Say, that  Hail Mary is the best play we’ve got,’ he exclaimed.” 

20 December 1939,  Charleston (WV) , pg. 18, col. 4: 
Crowley related humorous  slants on...the 1922 game with Georgia Tech won by 
Notre Dame 14-3 on what the  Presbyterian quarterback said was due to his “
hail Mary” play. 

20  December 1965, Ironwood (MI) Daily Globe, pg. 10, col. 4: 
Tom Flynn  called it his “Hail Mary shot” and here’s how he described it: “
I just grabbed  it and threw it,” said the Marquette captain whose shot in the 
final two seconds  gave Marquette a 75-74 basketball victory over Washington 
Saturday night and the  Milwaukee Classic championship. 

15 January 1972, Sporting News,  pg. 8, col. 2: 
Hardin Recalls Feat 
His former Navy coach, Wayne  Hardin, recalled recently: “I remember a game 
at Michigan. We were on the 20 and  Roger rolled right and got hammered in. He 
was bobbing and weaving and kept  retreating, back to the 30. He was 
surrounded and upended. 

“He was  parallel to the ground, his feet in mid-air and he threw a pass to 
Pat Donnelly,  who made a one-yard gain.  Afterward, I asked if he really saw 
Pat or if he  was throwing it away. 

“He said, ‘Let’s just call it my Hail Mary Play.’”  

So the Cowboys have got Staubach and his “Hail Mary” plays, they’ve got  
running backs like Duane Thomas and Calvin Hill, they’ve got top receivers, a  
talented offensive line and the Doomsday Defense. 

29 August 1974,  Gettysburg (PA) Compiler, pg. 14, col. 7: 
Everyone is back from the  team that won the National Conference West before 
losing at Dallas, 27-16, in  the playoffs on what Cowboys’ quarterback Roger 
Staubach calls “a couple of Hail  Mary pass plays.” 

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