Most Famous Ohio State Alum of All Time?

[buckeyegrad]

i respect your opinion, but i have to wholeheartedly disagree. in pure "recognizablility," i think jack nicklaus wins hands down. i don't think it's close. for one, owens was most popular 70 years ago. while nicklaus is not at the stage of his life where he is the most popular, he is still a living icon. golf is a major sport, and his name is brought up so much more often than owen's. if you were to hold up pictures of both and ask others to name them, nicklaus would undoubtedly be correctly identified much, much more often. the nicklaus name can be found on golf courses to golf clubs to apparel to streets, while the owens name won't be found in nearly as many places for nearly as many reasons. nicklaus can be found in commercials and print ads. owens? not so much.

I would agree with the visual recognition because I would bet a lot of people have no idea what Owens actually looks like, although they might know his name. Nicklaus on the other hand has television and immediacy on his side, where even if people can't place the name, they might know he is some golfer.

However, I'm not convinced either way on name recognition alone.

 

[OSU_Buckguy]

However, I'm not convinced either way on name recognition alone.

though by no means scientific, google page results should help determine name recognition. it's better than 3-to-1 in jack's favor.

 

[TRON]

Tom Brandawie (sp)

Hung out with him a few times, seems like a cool dude.

Not sure if he graduated or not.

 

[Thump]

i respect your opinion, but i have to wholeheartedly disagree. in pure "recognizablility," i think jack nicklaus wins hands down. i don't think it's close. for one, owens was most popular 70 years ago. while nicklaus is not at the stage of his life where he is the most popular, he is still a living icon. golf is a major sport, and his name is brought up so much more often than owen's. if you were to hold up pictures of both and ask others to name them, nicklaus would undoubtedly be correctly identified much, much more often. the nicklaus name can be found on golf courses to golf clubs to apparel to streets, while the owens name won't be found in nearly as many places for nearly as many reasons. nicklaus can be found in commercials and print ads. owens? not so much.

With you and I being golfers, we'd most likely say Nicklaus but most non-golfers get him and Jack Nicholson confused even.

I'd still say Jesse Owens even though many may not know what he looks like.

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

As between the Owens v. Nicklaus debate, I wonder if everyone would agree that Owens is the more "important" (and I mean that in the broadest scope, that being not just great at his trade, but also with regard to the social relevance of their respective achievements) while Nicklaus is probably more well known these days.

That said, I'd bet dollars to donuts that Owens is known by more folks world wide. For example, I don't know that Golf enjoys a great deal of popularity in.. say... Poland.. but, I bet there are several people there who'd recognize Owens' name and be able to say what he did as an Olympian.

 

[OSU_Buckguy]

As between the Owens v. Nicklaus debate, I wonder if everyone would agree that Owens is the more "important" (and I mean that in the broadest scope, that being not just great at his trade, but also with regard to the social relevance of their respective achievements) while Nicklaus is probably more well known these days.

absolutely.

That said, I'd bet dollars to donuts that Owens is known by more folks world wide. For example, I don't know that Golf enjoys a great deal of popularity in.. say... Poland.. but, I bet there are several people there who'd recognize Owens' name and be able to say what he did as an Olympian.

i'd take that bet and gladly pocket the money.

 

[OSU_Buckguy]

With you and I being golfers, we'd most likely say Nicklaus but most non-golfers get him and Jack Nicholson confused even.

again, i disagree. the nicklaus name is far-reaching. though some confuse nicklaus with nicholson, i'm sure that the name jesse owens would draw numerous blank stares, as it is a very general-sounding name.

 

[Thump]

again, i disagree. the nicklaus name is far-reaching. though some confuse nicklaus with nicholson, i'm sure that the name jesse owens would draw numerous blank stares, as it is a very general-sounding name.

Just for the hell of it, I'll ask some of my classes tomorrow to see what they think b/c both of these people are really before their time. I know it's a biased sample b/c of the age of the subjects but I'll let you know what they say.

 

[Thump]

Forgot to ask my first period but in my 2nd period, 17 people had heard of Jesse Owens and knew what he did and 5 knew Jack Nicklaus.

One girl even chimed in asking, "Isn't he (Jack Nicklaus) an actor?"

 

[jwinslow]

Such a great polling source, and you never asked what color the leaves were?

 

[Thump]

Such a great polling source,

See post #53 for your answer.

 

[buckeyegrad]

Forgot to ask my first period but in my 2nd period, 17 people had heard of Jesse Owens and knew what he did and 5 knew Jack Nicklaus.

One girl even chimed in asking, "Isn't he (Jack Nicklaus) an actor?"

That's probably a pretty good sample, since the kids are from Rhode Island, and would not be biased by the local celebrity of either of the individuals, which in a place like say, the southwestern suburbs of Columbus, I would expect to highly favor Jack since he is still living and active in the community.

 

[AKAK]

That's probably a pretty good sample, since the kids are from Rhode Island, and would not be biased by the local celebrity of either of the individuals, which in a place like say, the southwestern suburbs of Columbus, I would expect to highly favor Jack since he is still living and active in the community.

Great Post, I agree.

 

[Steve19]

Let's just leave it to the coaches.