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Greatest Buckeye Multi-Purpose Player

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Greatest Buckeye Multi-Purpose Player

  • Howard "Hopalong" Cassady

    Votes: 19 19.8%

  • Ted Ginn, Jr.

    Votes: 32 33.3%

  • Chic Harley

    Votes: 33 34.4%

  • Les Horvath

    Votes: 2 2.1%

  • Vic Janowicz

    Votes: 1 1.0%

  • Other

    Votes: 9 9.4%
  • Total voters
    96
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LordJeffBuck

LordJeffBuck

Illuminatus Emeritus
Staff member
BP Recruiting Team
These are all guys who played (and excelled at) multiple positions. There are three Heisman Trophy winners, the man who built Ohio Stadium, and the most exciting Buckeye of all time:

Howard "Hopalong" Cassady: All American (1954, 1955); Heisman Trophy (1955); AP Athlete of the Year (1955); national championship (1954); scored 37 touchdowns in 36 games; halfback, defensive back
Ted Ginn, Jr: All American (2004, 2006); 4,106 all-purpose yards and 27 total touchdowns in three seasons; wide receiver, punt returner, kick returner
Chic Harley: All American (1916, 1917, 1919); career record of 21-1-1; charter member of College Football Hall of Fame; half back, defensive back, kicker
Les Horvath: All American (1944); Heisman Trophy (1944); AP national championship (1942); led team to a 9-0-0 record and "civilian national championship" in 1944; quarterback, defensive back, kicker
Vic Janowicz: All American (1950); Heisman Trophy (1950); punted 21 times for 685 yards and kicked a field goal in the 1950 Snow Bowl; halfback, punter, place kicker
 
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OK, I didn't vote for Vic Janowicz either, but since he has zero votes, this must be mentioned:

Link

"In my opinion and the opinion of a lot of people who've been around Ohio State football as long as I have, Vic was probably the greatest multi-purpose athlete--at least football player--we ever had at Ohio State," Park said at last month's Morning Sports Report in downtown Columbus.

. . . "Iowa was a pretty good team and he maybe won the Heisman Trophy that year in the first 5:10 of that game. "What happened was he kicked off, the ball went through the end zone and Iowa brought it out to the 20. They had three plays, couldn't make a first down and punted. He ran the ball three times and he scored and kicked the extra point and it was 7-0 Ohio State.

"He kicks off, it goes through the end zone, Iowa runs three plays and punts. Vic catches the ball on his own 31-yard line and zig-zags his way to the North end zone. He kicks the extra point and it's now 14-0 Ohio State. "Vic kicks off, it goes through the end zone and they bring it out to the 20. On first down, Iowa threw the ball to their big fullback, Bill Reinberg, who lumbered off right tackle and fumbled. Would you care guess who recovered the fumble?

"Vic recovered that fumble and on first down he throws his first pass of the afternoon. He connects with his old high school teammate Tony Curcillo for a touchdown. Vic kicks the extra point. It's 5:10 into that game and Ohio State has a 21-0 lead.

"Before the afternoon is over, the final score will be 83-21. Vic will throw for four touchdowns, he'll score two more, he'll kick 10 extra points, and oh by the way, he had two interceptions on defense too while doing all the place-kicking too.​
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Upvote 0
Great list. Hard to tell since we don't get to see much film on the old guys, but they obviously were incredible.

I think Gamble earns a spot on the list as well and maybe Neal Colzie (spelling might be wrong, old bad memory) but he was an incredible kick and punt returner as well as a super defensive back who wasn't afraid to really smack someone.

Of course if you look at professional careers after they graduated you have Byers and Vrabel that keep the torch burning for years and played all kinds of positions in the NFL. If I remember right Rex Kern QB on 68 national championship team made a pretty good professional DB.

In any case its a good memory exercise, hadn't thought about some of those guys for years and it feels good to do so. Thanks for the question.
 
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LitlBuck;2016122; said:
I don't think he played in the NFL. Might be wrong but don't think so:)
Click to expand...

Might be...

Kern's Wikipedia Page said:
Kern was drafted in the 10th Round of the 1971 NFL Draft by the NFL champion Baltimore Colts. Playing cornerback and safety, he participated in all fourteen games of his rookie season of 1971, but only five in 1972 after a recurrence of his back injury. He recovered to play a full season in 1973, making two interceptions, but was traded to Buffalo, where he played 8 games in 1974 before retiring for medical reasons.
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