History of football position names?

[gigemaggs99]

So I'm watching football with my 3 year old son and he asks me a few questions...you know like 3 year olds will do....

I'm telling him about the names of the teams, the colors of their uniforms, etc....he wants to know what their names are so I tell him things like, Well that one is the quarterback, he throws the ball and hands it off, that one is the running back, he runs the ball and blocks for the quarterback, that is the FB, WR, TE, etc... etc.. etc...

He says the Running back RUNS the ball, ok, but why is the Quarterback called quarterback...I said....ummmmmmm then I started thinking, why is the FB called the full back....WR makes sense b/c he's out wide and he receives the ball...but why is a running back also called a HALF BACK, what/where does HALF come from?

Where does FULL come from in FULL BACK?

What does QUARTER refer to in BACK?

Sorry for the silly questions, but this is what a 3 year old likes to talk about and I simply didn't have the answers.

[gschwendt]

According to wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarterback)...

As the term "quarterback" gained acceptance in the 1930s, it originally referred to the player's position relative to other members of the offensive backfield. Before the emergence of the T-formation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-formation) in the 1940s, all members of the offensive backfield were legitimate threats to run or pass the ball, and most teams used four offensive backs on every play: a quarterback, two halfbacks, and a fullback. The quarterback began each play a quarter of the way back, the halfbacks began each play side by side and halfway back, and the fullback began each play the farthest back.

[gigemaggs99]

According to wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarterback)...

As the term "quarterback" gained acceptance in the 1930s, it originally referred to the player's position relative to other members of the offensive backfield. Before the emergence of the T-formation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-formation) in the 1940s, all members of the offensive backfield were legitimate threats to run or pass the ball, and most teams used four offensive backs on every play: a quarterback, two halfbacks, and a fullback. The quarterback began each play a quarter of the way back, the halfbacks began each play side by side and halfway back, and the fullback began each play the farthest back.


Very good thank you sir, looks like now I get to try and explain fractions to him LOL