In our ongoing series, as we monitor Spring training camps across the country, Last Word on Sports will also be looking back at the elite players in the history of various college football programs, and creating the appropriate “Mount Rushmore” tributes. Today we look at Ohio State.
Picking the four best/most influential/most important figures in Ohio State football history is an impossible task. With a program this storied, there are literally dozens of people who stand out as major figures in college football history. A list of Ohio State greats would include some of the greatest in college football history. It is just as impossible to make a Mount Rushmore for Ohio State as it would be to do for USC, Alabama, or Notre Dame. How do I pick just four?
For a program that has such a storied history, the only way to make a true Mount Rushmore is to find those players that have something unique. Ohio State has won eight national titles (by the university’s count). Just leading the Buckeyes to one won’t put a player in the top four in school history. So it has to be something that sets these guys apart, even from other Buckeye greats.
Woody Hayes: This one, at least, is easy. His temper and unfortunate ending to his career notwithstanding, Hayes is–and probably always will be–the face of Ohio State football. He brought the program to its pinnacle, winning five national championships at Ohio State (one consensus, one AP, one Coaches’, one NFF, and one FWAA). Really, there is nothing else that needs to be said about him.
Archie Griffin: This is another easy one. At the pinnacle of college football, such small differences separate the elite from each other. Griffin gives Ohio State a bragging right that no other player has. People can quibble all they want about how the Heisman was selected and who else could/should have won, but at the end of the day Archie Griffin is still the only two-time Heisman Trophy winner. That gets him onto this Mount Rushmore.
Orlando Pace: Like Griffin, Pace never won a national championship at Ohio State. But getting on this list isn’t about being on the best teams the school has had. The fact is that Pace is widely-respected as the greatest offensive lineman to play college football. In his final two years, he did not give up a single sack. And, as an offensive lineman, he finished fourth in Heisman voting during his senior year. If you are an offensive lineman and generating Heisman buzz, you are pretty much once-in-history special.
Chic Harley: We are going way back into Buckeye history for this one. Harley gets on the list for two reasons. First of all, he led the Buckeyes to their first Big Ten title (in 1916) and had a pretty impressive career. But what sets Harley apart in Buckeye lore is the massive fundraising campaign he undertook to build Ohio Stadium. Almost a century later, people still call it The House That Harley Built (but its called the Horseshoe or the ‘Shoe a lot more). He started the Ohio State winning tradition and gave the school its iconic stadium. That gets him on our list.
There are a lot more Ohio State icons that deserve mention, for so many reasons. The list of honorable mentions for any Buckeyes Mount Rushmore would be huge. But I think these four each have something that lets them stand out even above the greatest of their peers. There are a lot of greats in OSU history; these are just the ones that stand a little higher above the rest. Oh, and if we redo this list in 5-10 years, there is a real possibility that Urban Meyer could have pushed someone off of it.
Also Considered (in no particular order): Jim Tressel, Troy Smith, Chris Spielman, Cris Carter, Jack Tatum, A.J. Hawk, Lee Horvath,
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