Alley-oop (American football)

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Y. A. Tittle tossed the original alley-oop pass. Tittle 1954 Bowman.jpg
Y. A. Tittle tossed the original alley-oop pass.

The alley-oop is an American football play in which the quarterback throws the ball high into the air, and another player jumps up and catches it. The play was developed in 1957 by San Francisco 49ers players Y. A. Tittle and R. C. Owens. [1] [2] The play was named after V. T. Hamlin's comic strip character Alley Oop; Owens himself was also known as "Alley Oop". It was highly successful when utilized due to Owens' 6 ft 3 in height and ability to out-leap defenders.

American football Team field sport

American football, referred to as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, which is the team controlling the oval-shaped football, attempts to advance down the field by running with or passing the ball, while the defense, which is the team without control of the ball, aims to stop the offense's advance and aims to take control of the ball for themselves. The offense must advance at least ten yards in four downs, or plays, and otherwise they turn over the football to the defense; if the offense succeeds in advancing ten yards or more, they are given a new set of four downs. Points are primarily scored by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponent's goalposts for a field goal. The team with the most points at the end of a game wins.

Quarterback position in gridiron football

A quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually considered the leader of the offensive team, and is often responsible for calling the play in the huddle. The quarterback also touches the ball on almost every offensive play, and is the offensive player that almost always throws forward passes.

San Francisco 49ers National Football League franchise in Santa Clara, California

The San Francisco 49ers are a professional American football team located in the San Francisco Bay Area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The team currently plays its home games at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, located 45 miles (72 km) southeast of San Francisco in the heart of Silicon Valley. Since 1988, the 49ers have been headquartered in Santa Clara.

Tittle said of the play: "With the Alley-Oop now considered to be a legitimate weapon, the only defense against it was a defensive back who could outleap R.C. – and at that time, no such animal existed in the NFL." [2]

According to the Oxford English Dictionary , the usage of the term in football predates its usage in basketball by two years, with the football counterpart also inspiring the play in basketball. [3]

<i>Oxford English Dictionary</i> Premier historical dictionary of the English language

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<i>Alley Oop</i>

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References

  1. Martin, Douglas (June 19, 2012). "R. C. Owens, Receiver Who Made the Alley-Oop Famous, Dies at 77". The New York Times. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
  2. 1 2 "The Alley Oop". Golden Football Magazine. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
  3. "alley-oop, adv., int., adj., and n". Oxford English Dictionary. Archived from the original on April 20, 2012. Retrieved August 15, 2016.