Terminology... X's and O's

This is article #3 in a series covering the origins of football’s terminology. All are available under the Terminology tab above. My book, Hut! Hut! Hike! describes the emergence of more than 400 football terms.

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While it is unclear who first diagrammed a football play, we know that Princeton captain Edgar Allen Poe (the writer's second cousin, twice removed) used checkers to illustrate plays to his teammates in 1889. The newspaper reporter who told that story included two play diagrams in the article, using circles (or the letter O) for the offense and shaded circles for the defense.

One of Edgar Allen Poe’s checkered play designs had the right guard pulling behind the quarterback and running off tackle left. ('Checker-board Football,' Evening Star (Washington, D. C.), December 14, 1889.)

Stagg and Williams also used circles in their 1893 book that included sixty-nine play diagrams, though they shaded the offense rather than the defense. Camp and Deland's 1896 Football used little figures, while Pop Warner used little figures or empty circles, depending on the book.