[Ads-l] taxi squad (1958)

[Ben Zimmer]

OED3 (Dec. 2019 update) has "taxi squad" from 1959.

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https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74316430/taxi-squad/
New York Daily News, Nov. 25, 1958, p. 27C, col. 1
"Inside Sports" by Gene Ward
If you happened to glimpse four husky characters sitting on the Giant bench
in street clothes last Sunday, and wondered what they were doing out of
uniform, here's your answer. The sports-coated stalwarts you saw were two
quarterbacks, a fullback and a tackle -- all members of the Mara "taxi
squad."
...
The term "taxi squad" stems from the days when Mickey McBride, who operated
a fleet of cabs in Cleveland, among other things, was owner of the Browns.
On the theory that Mickey was paying his insurance players out of the
proceeds from cab collections, the Browns hidden talent joshingly became
known as the "taxi squad."
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--bgz

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