Elyrian, OSU star Robert Jabbusch dies at 84
Michael Anderson | The Chronicle-Telegram
Robert Jabbusch, who played on Ohio State?s 1942 national championship team for legendary coach Paul Brown, has died at the age of 84.
A 1973 inductee to the Elyria Hall of Fame, Jabbusch succumbed from heart disease and pancreatic cancer on Friday in San Diego.
He is the second Elyria Hall of Fame football player from the same era to die this summer. Ed Czak, who was enshrined in 1993, died on June 11 at the age of 89 in Dearborn, Mich.
?He was a tremendous man,? said Lynn Vandertie, 57, of San Diego, Jabbusch?s middle daughter. ?But the pancreatic cancer did a number on him. He came from nothing and made a lot of himself.?
The native Elyrian graduated from Elyria High in 1941. While playing for the Buckeyes, he earned All-America honors in 1944 and was named captain of the team in 1947.
Also, the offensive lineman and engineering student was awarded the Big Ten Medal of Honor, as the senior demonstrating the greatest proficiency in scholarship and athletics for the 1947-48 school year.
It was in that year that Brown called Jabbusch the best lineman in the country. Jabbusch also played in the 1944 College All-Star Game against the NFL champion Chicago Bears.
His college career was interrupted by World War II, in which he served in the Third Army under General George S. Patton and earned a Bronze Star. He held a lifetime membership in Elyria VFW Post 1079.
?I?m going to miss my old football buddy,? said John Sheldon of Amherst, who played at Elyria with Jabbusch in the 1940 season. ?He played one guard and I played the other in the old single-wing.?
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