[Ads-l] Antedating of "Sack" (U.S. Football, Verb and Noun)

[Shapiro, Fred]

Thanks to Garson and Ben !  Is there any evidence for the often-repeated claim that Deacon Jones coined "sack" ?

Fred Shapiro


________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Monday, May 6, 2024 12:55 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Antedating of "Sack" (U.S. Football, Verb and Noun)

In a 2013 thread, Garson shared a 1967 cite for "sack" as a verb (after I
supplied 1968 cites for the noun and verb).

https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flistserv.linguistlist.org%2Fpipermail%2Fads-l%2F2013-June%2F127387.html&data=05%7C02%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7C87fca26d3687456d6aed08dc6d88e376%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638505681909101082%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=UUG4URFbsK7P9dgcpI5kohaFCD9Yh4u%2FUBGTlWM9trE%3D&reserved=0<https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2013-June/127387.html>

Date: December 18, 1967
Newspaper: The Independent
Article title: Rams Stopped Unitas - And Won
Author: Joe Hendrickson
Quote Page: 16
Column: 1
Newspaper Location: Pasadena, California
Database: NewspaperArchive

[Begin excerpt]
The great Baltimore quarterback seldom has been "sacked" like this
before-48 yards in losses when thrown behind the line of scrimmage at
seven crucial times by the charging men of George Allen.
[End excerpt]

On Sun, May 5, 2024 at 8:06 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:

> sack (OED, v.1 d., 1969)
>
> 1968 _Progress-Bulletin_ (Pomona, Cal.) 5 Apr. 3:1/1 (Newspapers.com)
>
> Jones sacked that opposing QB 26 times !
>
>
> sack (OED, n.1 I.1.j., 1972)
>
> 1971 _Dayton Daily News_ 3 Sept. 11/1 (Newspapers.com)
>
> May ... relieved Reid against Pittsburgh and on his first play got credit
> for the first quarterback sack of the year.
>
>
>
>

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