SI's Ohio State Top 10 Athletes Gallery

[bkochmc]

[bkochmc] I agree. [/bkochmc]

You got me! I would have added my 2 cents earlier but I was on vacation last week. My top 5, FWIW:

1. Owens
2. Nicklaus
3. Griffin
4. Lucas (quite a list when he is #4)
5. Havlicek or Harley... too close to call

Just outside the top 5 would be Katie Smith... she was/is a shooting phenom... not too many shooters like her in the game today, both men and women.

 

[Dryden]

I would have Chic Harley #1 among football players, and #2 overall behind Owens.

There used to be a CSTV article on Harley back from when his number was retired, but the link I have now results in a 404 File Not Found.

I did dig this out of an email that I had, though, which was based off that link, for those who don't understand how incredible Harley was:

Had the Heisman Trophy existed when Harley played, he surely would have won the honor at least twice and perhaps three times. Harley was a consensus All-American all three years he played - 1916, 1917 and 1919. ... In 1950, when the Associated Press selected its All-Star college football team of the first half of the 20th century, the well-known running back great Red Grange from Illinois was a second-team selection. The first-team running backs were Carlisle's Jim Thorpe and Ohio State's Chic Harley.
...
He is one of Ohio State's few four-sport lettermen. In addition to his football heroics, he was a two-year starter at guard on the basketball team and a three-year starter in the outfield for the baseball team - the Chicago White Sox and the St. Louis Browns later offered him contracts to play Major League Baseball. In the spring of his sophomore year, as a favor to Ohio State track coach Dr. Frank Castleman, he competed in a track meet for the Buckeyes and set a Big Ten record in the 50-yard dash that stood for years. The first time Harley's nephews took him golfing he shot an 82."

Harley's impact on what Ohio State football is today exceeds the legacy of all the other football Buckeyes on Top-Whatever lists combined. Chic built the Ohio State program; the Horseshoe was literally constructed because old Ohio Field couldn't hold enough spectators (over 20,000) who came to watch Harley play. From the turn of the century until the Great Depression the Buckeye teams were neither spectacularly good or bad, but in the three seasons Harley played, OSU went 21-1-1 and outscored opponents 726 - 82 (that's an avg game score of approx 31 - 3, for three years).

 

[BB73]

I would have Chic Harley #1 among football players, and #2 overall behind Owens.

There used to be a CSTV article on Harley back from when his number was retired, but the link I have now results in a 404 File Not Found.

The 'official site' is apparently being re-done, those links have been down for several days.

Another indication about Harley is the fact that he was the first sophomore ever picked as a first-team All-American by Walter Camp.

 

[stxbuck]

Just a brain fart here, but if you put Oden on after one year and a second place NCAA finish, then where do you put MoC? Much as I hate to say it he was the difference maker on that team. Without him they might well have lost three or four games that year.

Well, Oden overcame his injury, and, from a physical point of view, is much more of a freakish athlete than MoC. I guess my problem w/ the list from SI is the use of the term "athlete". I think they should have said Top 10 performers-when I think athlete, I think raw, physical talent and having freakish skill at your chosen sport-not just stat stuffing..