The focal point of today's discussion revolves around the phrase "three yards and a cloud of dust," a term deeply entrenched in the lexicon of American football. We are privileged to host Timothy P. Brown of Football Archaeology, who elucidates the historical origins of this expression, which is often erroneously attributed to the renowned coach Woody Hayes. Brown reveals that the phrase's inception can be traced back to various regional contexts, with its earliest documented usage occurring in 1957. The evolution of the term, as articulated by Brown, underscores a fascinating narrative that intertwines the changing dynamics of football strategy and terminology across decades. As we delve into this topic, we invite our audience to reflect on how such phrases contribute to the rich tapestry of football history and culture.

This conversation on the history of the phrase stems from one of Tim's Tidbits titled: Terminology... Three Yards and A Cloud of Dust

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It's one of the oldest sayings in football.

Three yards at a cloud of dust.

We've all heard it before.

Or is it one of the oldest?

Timothy P. Brown of Football Archaeology joins us to tell us about the history of the cloud of dust and those three yards, and you might be amazed by his results.

This is the Pigskin Daily History Dispatch, a podcast that covers the anniversaries of American football events throughout history.

Your host, Darren Hayes, is podcasting from America's North Shore to bring you the memories of the gridiron.

One day at a time, foreign.

Friends.

This is Darren Hayes of pigskindispatch.com welcome once again to the Pig Pen, your portal deposit of football history.

And welcome to another Tuesday where we get to visit with Timothy p. Brown of footballarchaeology.com.

tim, welcome back to the Pig Pen.

Hey there.

Looking forward to talking, though I think my.

My eyes might get a little bit dusty.

I can see the little dust in the air here.

I can get emotional.

I'm an emotion.

Yeah, those aren't tears in his eyes of.

Of crying.

He's.

Even though it's painful to be on this podcast, once a week, it hurts.

It hurts.

Right?

But Tim is segueing into the title of a recent tidbit that he had that he calls three yards and a cloud of dust.

So sounds like a good running sequence here.

So what can you tell us about this, Tim?

Well, first, I have to correct you because it's not a recent tidbit.

So, you know, time is relative.

Tim.

Well, I'm just saying.

Just saying.

Okay.

But nevertheless, let's move on.

So, you know, the funny thing is that this is one of the like on Substack.

It.

It ranks like the way I have my page set up.

You know, you only have a couple choices, but the way I have it set up, it has, like, your most popular or most frequently viewed stories positioned on the right hand side.

And so this is one of the five most popular stories.

And so it's basically the story of about the term three yards in a cloud of dust.

Right.

And so I think most people associate that with one person.

A former Ohio State football coach, a guy named Woody Hayes, and great last name.

Yeah, yeah.

And I didn't even make that connection, but.

No.

No relation, by the way.

Yeah.

And the punch in the head.

No.

You're a much nicer man.

Probably not as good a football Coach.

So yeah, so anyways, you know, this story, I wrote this like while I think while I was doing some of the research on my book Hut, Hut Hike, which is basically looks at the terminology, you know, the history of the terminology.

Where did football terms arise and when did what, in what decade did they arise?

And so anyways, so you know, again, Woody Hayes is kind of the guy that you associate, at least I associate with 3 yards and a cloud of dust.

But it didn't start with him and in fact it wasn't connected with really with him until maybe six, seven years after it, after it came out.

But originally it wasn't even three yards and a clock dust.

And so the, the term, you know, so we kind of have to go back and just remember that, you know, now in the day of days of Astroturf and you know, artificial turf, generally you, you know, there is no dust.

You know, there's a little black rubber pellets and all that kind of stuff that pop up.

But you know, you in earlier days either had baseball infields or just, you know, turf that got torn up in the rain, then dried out.

And so it's just dirt patches and so dust would kick up and then just generally, you know, they didn't water a lot of the fields, you know, that just especially if you were out west somewhere.

So, you know, dust was like a normal thing.

And some of the images in the tidbit itself, you know, online just show dust kicking up, you know, as guys are running around the field.

So dust was just a normal part of the game back in the day, not so much anymore.

Guy didn't have to be a safety or a cornerback on defense.

And so they, you know, they just threw the ball a lot more.

And so, and the split tee was a big, you know, Maryland won the national championship with it.

Oklahoma won a bunch of national championships running the split tee.

And so, you know, and it was a run oriented offense.

And so at one point there was a, an assistant coach at, at Utah or byu, a guy named Max Tolbert who was quoted, and I don't know anything about Max Tolbert, but he was quoted by a local newspaper guy as referring to the split T as a cloud of dust and four yards, right, not three yards and a cloud of dust, but a cloud of dust and 4 yards.

And so then this Mooney, who was the, you know, local newspaper guy who wrote the original article over the next couple years, he called it like a cloud of dust and five yards.

And then, you know, like three years later, he returns to four, you know, a cloud of dust and four yards.

So, you know, the, the terminology was kind of switching around a little bit.

And so he was, you know, he was running more of a run it up the gut kind of an offense.

And he, he referred to Texas A and M's offense as 3 yards and a cloud of dust.

And so.

And then it mostly remained in the south and Southwest Conference.

So like SEC and Southwest conferences, that's basically where reporters use the term.

I'm willing to take 3 1/3 yards on every plate and force the other guy to make mistakes.

So then from that point on, you know, that term was just locked in with Woody and probably at the time, more generally Big Ten football.

So it's just one of those things, you know, I think it's, it's an interesting little story about a term that we all know, we've all heard, and yet its origins are like from byu, you know, which is not, you know, I mean, I think of BYU as a passing oriented, you know, school, you know, that's more of an 80s thing, but, you know, so I don't know, it's just kind of funny that here was, here was.

Woody had nothing to do with it, and yet it kind of became tied to him and, and the Big Ten football probably more generally, rather than like, you know, the Southwest or West coast offenses that at that time we're throwing the ball a bit more, but just.

By the progression of the, the yardage that they referred to, it's almost like the, the play was failing as the years went by four to five, down to three, so regressed, maybe Baron Woody didn't have it going as good as the guys did before him.

Yeah, yeah.

So anyways, I mean, I just like, you know, I've got like my third book was, you know, how did I is just all about like the origins of football terminology.

I just think that kind of.

I mean, I've always enjoyed the origins of words and phrases.

I just think, think that's fun.

But, you know, that's just an illustration of, you know, the kind of story.

Yeah.

And.

And you know, new newer football fans don't really hear that term anymore because the spread offenses.

But you know, when you and I were younger watching football, like in the 70s and earlier, it was.

I mean, it was always three yards in a cloud of dust or student body right, student body left.

You know, those are the terms that you heard quite often.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, you know, the game changes and so we mostly have to get used to it.

Yeah, right.

Right.

Yeah.

It's fun.

Fun no matter what it is, you know, there's always strategy behind it and it's always fun to.

To study that and to learn about it.

So.

And you, you do this quite often where you take these terms.

You know, you did it in a whole book.

You know how hike.

Like you mentioned, you took terminology, but you take different aspects of the games in your tidbits, not only and put them in many of your books, but you also tell them on your website.

Maybe you could share with folks how they can partake in those.

Yeah, just real simple.

It's.

Go to footballarchaeology.com subscribe and you'll get an email every time I publish something new.

Or you can just follow me on the app itself, you know, the substack app.

Or, you know, you can follow me on.

On Blue sky where I, I post every article that I.

That I put out or just bookmark it and check it out whenever you want to.

So whatever floats your boat.

All right, well, he is Tim Brown.

He is footballarchaeology.com and we really appreciate him sharing this great football history with us today.

Thank you, sir.

And I'll try to recover from talking about this story.

Okay, see you next week.

Dustin, turn off that camera.

That's all the football history we have today, folks.

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