[Ads-l] Fw: Barry Popik Major Antedating of "Hail Mary" Football Play

[Laurence Horn]

Yes, that is almost exactly the usage of the Staubach pass. The only
difference is that the Staubach context involves a sense of desperation
(when the team needs a touchdown to tie or take the lead) or at least of
nothing to lose (when it's the end of the half or the game, so that there's
no negative consequence of a possible interception).  Evidently McFadden
was willing to accept that risk rather than, as in the now-current use,
having the context itself neutralize or override the downside risk.  What
they share is the unlikelihood of success (whence the appeal for divine
intervention).

LH

On Fri, Apr 3, 2026 at 8:00 AM Shapiro, Fred <
00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> The OED first use being antedated is dated 1972.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
> Sent: Friday, April 3, 2026 7:58 AM
> To: American Dialect Society <ads-l at listserv.uga.edu>
> Subject: Re: Barry Popik Major Antedating of "Hail Mary" Football Play
>
> Thanks for making that point, Larry.  Here's a substantial antedating that
> is a more perfect semantic match:  It is interesting that this citation
> seems to indicate that the "Hail Mary" term was already established in 1940.
>
> 1940 Atlanta Constitution 31 Dec. 8 (ProQuest)  [Joe] McFadden — a great
> actor in the huddle — is willing to call any play from a straight line buck
> to a "Hail Mary" pass with never a thought of the second-guessers.  A "Hail
> Mary" pass, in the talk of the Washington [Georgetown] eleven, is one that
> is thrown with a prayer because the odds against completion are big.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> Laurence Horn <00001c05436ff7cf-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Thursday, April 2, 2026 9:14 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Barry Popik Major Antedating of "Hail Mary" Football Play
>
> Well, yeah, it's "Hail Mary" used in a football sense, but not the
> *relevant* football sense.  I'd bracket this if it goes into the OED
> entry.  Praying for a favorable outcome before a running play is not
> "praying" in the middle of a pass play, where the Madonna is invoked while
> the ball is in the air to assure a completion. In the latter (= extant)
> sense, the play itself, as in Staubach's coinage, is extremely unlikely to
> succeed *without* divine intervention, which is crucial to the meaning. The
> 1922 situation seems to me to be more akin to basketball players crossing
> themselves before shooting a foul shot, where no divine intervention is
> perceived as necessary for success.  (Also, while I'm no native speaker, I
> always thought Hail Marys were Catholic rather than Presbyterian.)
>
> LH
>
> On Thu, Apr 2, 2026 at 6:50 AM Shapiro, Fred <
> 00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> > The OED's first use for the football sense of "Hail Mary" is 1972 Roger
> > Staubach.  About 20 years ago Barry Popik posted a terrific antedating.
> > I'm not sure whether the OED picked it up for its files.  I'm pasting it
> > below.
> >
> >
> > 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.”
> >
> >
> > The journalist who wrote this was Alan Gould, who probably was the coiner
> > of the term "Ivy League."
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
> >
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