Woody Hayes – Quote Investigator®

Mark Twain? Dwight D. Eisenhower? Arthur G. Lewis? Clarence Edmundson? Bear Bryant? Harry Howell? Samuel B. Pettengill? Woody Hayes? Apocryphal?

Question for Quote Investigator: When there is a conflict between two entities an observer naturally expects the larger one to prevail, but sometimes the determination and grit of the smaller one produces an upset victory. The following adage using antimetabole is pertinent:

What counts is not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.

This saying has been attributed to famous humorist Mark Twain and U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower. I am skeptical of these linkages. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: QI has found no substantive evidence that Mark Twain employed this saying. Scholar Matt Seybold of the Elmira College Center for Mark Twain Studies has also concluded that the attribution to Twain is unsupported.^[1]Website: Center for Mark Twain Studies, Article: The Apocryphal Twain: “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog” Author: Matt Seybold, Date: July 14, … Continue reading

The earliest match known to QI appeared in the April 1911 issue of the magazine “Book of the Royal Blue” which was published for the passengers of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Columnist Arthur G. Lewis printed a collection of sayings under the title “Stub Ends of Thoughts”. Here were four items. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:^[2]1911 April, Book of the Royal Blue, Volume 14, Number 7, Stub Ends of Thoughts by Arthur G. Lewis, Quote Page 21, Column 1, Published Monthly by the Passenger Department of the Baltimore & Ohio … Continue reading

We are constrained to respect public opinion or public opinion will not respect us.

As long as a man endeavors to make good there is always a chance for him to do so.

It is not the size of the dog in the fight that counts, but the fight in the dog that wins.

But few friendships survive the “down and out” condition of multiplied misfortunes.

QI tentatively credits Arthur G. Lewis with crafting this adage. The above citation appeared in the excellent reference work “The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs” published by Yale University Press in 2012.^[3] 2012, The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs, Compiled by Charles Clay Doyle, Wolfgang Mieder, and Fred R. Shapiro, Quote Page 232, Yale University Press, New Haven. (Verified on paper)

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Continue reading It’s Not the Size of the Dog in the Fight, It’s the Size of the Fight in the Dog

References

References
↑1	Website: Center for Mark Twain Studies, Article: The Apocryphal Twain: “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog” Author: Matt Seybold, Date: July 14, 2021, Website description: “The Elmira College Center for Mark Twain Studies is dedicated to fostering and supporting scholarship and pedagogy related to all aspects of Mark Twain”. (Accessed marktwainstudies.com on September 18, 2022) link
↑2	1911 April, Book of the Royal Blue, Volume 14, Number 7, Stub Ends of Thoughts by Arthur G. Lewis, Quote Page 21, Column 1, Published Monthly by the Passenger Department of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in Baltimore, Maryland. (Google Books Full View) link
↑3	2012, The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs, Compiled by Charles Clay Doyle, Wolfgang Mieder, and Fred R. Shapiro, Quote Page 232, Yale University Press, New Haven. (Verified on paper)

Woody Hayes? Darrell Royal? Bernie Moore?

Dear Quote Investigator: It’s football season and I received an email from a friend with a collection of quotations from coaches and players. One of the sayings about passing the ball is credited to Woody Hayes, but I think it should probably be attributed to Darrell Royal, coach of the Texas Longhorns:

Three things can happen when you throw the ball, and two of them are bad.

Can you determine who first expressed this aphorism?

Quote Investigator: Candidly, the results of this exploration are confusing. The earliest evidence located by QI appeared in a column by Bud Shrake in the Dallas Morning News in 1962, and it supported the belief that Darrell Royal created and/or popularized this adage [DRDM]:

Two plays later Wade threw another pass. The ball was batted into the air and Aggie linebacker Jerry Hopkins intercepted at the Texas 49.

You could almost hear Royal repeating his maxim: “When you throw a pass three things can happen to it, and two of them are bad.”

In 1963 the book “Darrell Royal Talks Football” by Darrell Royal with Blackie Sherrod was published, and it discussed the primary author’s philosophy of coaching. A version of the aphorism was given, and Royal did not give credit to anyone else when he used the expression [DRDR]:

I might say this: we’ve always been a running team and I’m sure we will continue to be so. (We’ve been criticized for it, I might add.) But I’ve always felt that three things can happen to you whenever you throw the football, and two of them are bad. You can catch the ball, you can throw it incomplete, or have it intercepted.

Over the years other individuals have been connected to the saying. For example, in 1966 Woody Hayes, the celebrated football coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes, was attached to the aphorism [WHPD]:

Woody also professes to the theory that when you pass, three things can happen and two of them are bad.

The early evidence points strongly to Darrell Royal as the creator of this saying. But there is a key piece of counter-evidence that appeared in an interview that Royal gave in 2005 that was published in The Columbus Dispatch. Royal himself attributed the maxim to Woody Hayes according to the reporter [DRWH]:

“Now, you can hear some stuff in a barbershop. You can pick up some wisdom there. I’m just a model of the people I’ve been around in my life, and Woody was one of those people.”

Royal credits Ohio State’s Hayes, his contemporary and friend, with being the first one to say three things can happen on a pass play and two of them are bad.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

Continue reading Three Things Can Happen When You Pass and Two of Them Are Bad