[Ads-l] Air ball (slight antedating, 1966)

[Bonnie Taylor-Blake]

OED has a 29 January 1967 use of "air ball" for its early example of the
basketball term. It appeared in a Haywood, California newspaper.

Below are two more -- also from California -- from the month earlier. Both
refer to Bill King, legendary San Francisco sports announcer.

BTW, Duke students (alums) claim to have invented the "air ball, air ball"
chant in the '70s, with its most notable use in Duke's defeat of my beloved
Tar Heels on 24 February 1979. It's possible this is when Duke's elongated
and annoying “aaaaaiiiiirrrrr ball, aaaaaiiiiirrrrr ball" taunt began, but
Duke alum James Armstrong remembered hearing "air ball" chants before then
and not at Duke. (See
https://slate.com/culture/2016/03/the-air-ball-chant-is-the-greatest-taunt-in-sports-who-invented-it.html
for a history of the chant.)

Far below I've added a few mentions of the chant or taunt that predate that
(infamous) Carolina/Duke game and that weren't used at Duke.

-- Bonnie

Appearances of "air ball":

One of Jerry's stalwarts had the misfortune of shooting a free throw which
Warrior announcer Bill King would term an "air ball." The "air ball" is one
which, woefully, hits nothing on its way to the floor. [In "Frank Lee ...
Speaking," The Berkeley Gazette, 26 December 1966, p. 15,
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-berkeley-gazette-air-ball-122666/142628245/
.]

Some of the natty 39-year-old's comments have become fixtures in the
lexicon of local basketball play-by-play. When King screams out "Holy
Toledo" or laments a poor shot with a doleful, "Another air ball" or
decries the refereeing with a grousing "Oh brother, here we go again"
Warrior fans come to life and listen. [In "S.F. Warrior's Frantic 'Voice',"
The (San Mateo) Times, 31 December 1966, p. 12A,
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-air-ball-123166/142628191/.]

------------------------------

On the "airball, airball" chant:

26 January 1975,
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-post-crescent-air-ball-air-ball-c/142667690/

19 January 1977,
https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A1564659BB813EC97%40GB3NEWS-1973E4ACC61BC477%402443163-1972EEAC71B55414%4020-1972EEAC71B55414?clipid=zdaefitcsgnyzmfrwinjlrayqvvybrdw_ip-10-166-46-89_1709577998700

21 December 1978,
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-buffalo-news-air-ball-air-ball-1/142671952/

18 January 1979,
https://www.newspapers.com/image/263274533/?match=1&clipping_id=142670185

2 February 1979,
https://www.newspapers.com/image/109382026/?match=1&clipping_id=142667171

20 February 1979,
https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-cloud-times-air-ball-air-ball-air/142672160/

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