1914 July 25, Collier's: The National Weekly 1914-07-25: Vol 53 Iss 19[1], The College Try:
A high foul whirled up and out far over the stands as a young catcher dashed madly to the screen with no chance to get within sixty yards of it. / “There he goes,” remarked the manager, “giving it the old college try.”
1917 October 30, Billy Sunday, The Atlanta Constitution 1917-10-30: Vol 50 Iss 137[2], “The Old College Try”:
[…] A Lively Lad was being Tried out for the Job in That Garden, a Rah-rah Rustler just off the Campus. With the Crack of the Bat, he Wheeled and Made For the fence like Howard Drew tearing off The Hundred. When he got there he Aviated four feet Off the Turf and Grabbed Nothing But the Atmosphere above his Cap. The Pill Sailed into the Seats. He Never had a Chance. The Sapient Birds of the Giants gave the Kid the Cackle. They would NEVER have Started. But McGraw, Wiser than Any of Them, said: “That’s the Eye, Young Fellow — The Old College Try!” And ever since then, when an Ambitious Athlete goes after a Hard One, the Giants call it The “Old College Try.” / “They Miss Most of Them, don’t they, Mac?” somebody asked him. “Yes,” answered the Cagey Chieftain, “but it would Jolt You to see how Many they Grab!” Tuck that Under your New Straw Lid, Fellows. Just because a Stunt Looks Hard, don’t Pass it Up. Give it the Old College Try. […] “Can” the “Can’t” Stuff. Don’t say “I Can’t Lay off the Booze.” Give it the Old College Try. Don’t say “I Can’t Quit playing the Ponies.” Give that the Old College Try.[…]
Professional football has spread all over the country this fall with a success not even expected by its backers, considering that the different teams have started off without the backing of tradition, alumni, and “that old college try” which will lead a player to risk his neck in a flying tackle much more quickly for Princeton and old Nassau than for the Polo Grounds and Coogan’s Bluff.
1964 February 5, Massachusetts Agricultural College, Massachusetts State College, University of Massachusetts (Amherst campus), The Massachusetts Collegian [microform][4]:
Plucky Dave Mathieson exemplified the old college try last Sunday evening as he stuck through the College Bowl game despite an infected appendix.
