Antedating of "Guard" (Basketball)

[W Brewer]

<<<It has been found advantageous to have a goal keeper, two guards, .
. . stationed
in the above order from the goal.>>>
Hmm. . . .  Maybe a prison team?  <gaol-keeper . . . from the gaol> ???


On Sat, May 11, 2013 at 10:16 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Antedating of "Guard" (Basketball)
>
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>
> Fred, are you sure this isn't (Pittsfield) baseball, with the usual
> nine-man team?  The "goal" is home plate and the "home man" is the
> center-fielder, whose responsibility is to prevent "homers"?  Or
> perhaps the reverse -- the "goal" is to hit the ball out of the park,
> the "goal keeper" is supposed to defend against that, and the "home
> man", at the opposite end, corresponds to today's catcher?
>
> Or perhaps it's a description of 9-man association football?
>
> Eighteen men the size of Shaq O'Neal or LeBron James on a basketball
> court?  No way!
>
> :-)
> Joel
>
> At 5/11/2013 06:12 AM, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
> >guard (OED, 7.d. [Basketball], 1897)
> >
> >
> >
> >1892 James Naismith in _Triangle_ (Springfield College newspaper)
> >Jan. 7 (Springfield College digital archives)  It has been found
> >advantageous to have a goal keeper, two guards, three center men,
> >two wings, and a home man stationed in the above order from the goal.
> >
> >
> >
> >Fred Shapiro
> >
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