Ohio Loves Athletics

I took the picture above at halftime of the Ohio State-Marshall game on September 2, 2010 - the first game of the season. Despite being played on a Thursday night, 105,040 people packed their way into Ohio Stadium to watch the Buckeyes thump the Thundering Herd, 45-7. I made the trip down I-71 to check out my first Buckeye game in person, and while I have heard the lore, I never could have been prepared for the extraordinary amount of passion I saw on that evening.

O, we don't give a damn for the whole state of Michigan
The whole state of Michigan, the whole state of Michigan
We don't give a damn for the whole state of Michigan, we're from Ohio
We're from Ohio... O-H
We're from Ohio... I-O
O, we don't give a damn for the whole state of Michigan
The whole state of Michigan, the whole state of Michigan
We don't give a damn for the whole state of Michigan, we're from Ohio.

The lyrics above show how much pride Ohio native take in their Buckeyes ... and their hatred for 'That State Up North'. Whether its a small town on a Friday night or in front of 105,000 fans on a Saturday afternoon inside Ohio Stadium, the 'Buckeye State' loves football.

However, the people of Ohio love other sports, too. This website is dedicated to investigating aspects of athletics in Ohio that have helped the state become one of the best sports states in the nation.

A Diamond In The Rough ... of Cleveland.

Photo from 'The League Park Society'

When people hear about East 66th Street in Cleveland, the neighborhood typically has negative connotations. However, there is a terrific historical site located just seven miles from the John Carroll University campus.

Even today, 65 years after hosting its last professional game, remains of League Park sit at the corner of Lexington and East 66th Street. It's a place where baseball geeks ... such as myself ... can go and be in the same spot where New York Yankee slugger Babe Ruth clubbed his 500th career home run (The Plain Dealer / Click here to see front page from August 12, 1929 - a big deal in Cleveland). It's the same place where the only un-assisted triple play in World Series history took place. In a city that starves for championships, this diamond is the location where the Indians won their first World Series in franchise history back in 1920 (The League Park Society).

The diamond opened on May 1, 1891 and could hold a crowd of 9,000 before being renovated in 1910 so it could hold 21,414 fans - a far cry from today where Progressive Field holds 43,545. It was the home field for the Cleveland Spiders (National League), the Cleveland Indians (American League) and the Cleveland Buckeyes (Nergo League) - and all games had to be played during the day because League Park didn't have lights. In fact, it was the last Major League Baseball stadium never to install permanent lights. Records do show that at least one night game was played in 1931 when the Kansas City Monarchs lent the stadium their portable lights (The League Park Society).

When one looks at pictures of the stadium, its shaped much differently than ballparks we're accustomed to now. Many credit that to the need to fit the stadium into Cleveland's unique street grid. To see the unique layout, click here.

The Heisman House

Photo by Lane Strauss/ESPN.com

When I was attending Saint Ignatius High School, I oftentimes would pass what is dubbed 'The Heisman House' - the birth home of John Heisman. Any college football fan (And I mentioned how much people love their college football in Ohio!) associates that last name with the ultimate honor given to a college football player at the end of every season. A big historical marker sits out front, however there is some controversy as to whether or not that is the actual birth home of Heisman. Some argue he was born down the street. Regardless, Ohio City is the home to John Heisman, an innovator of the game.

The inscription on the plaque out front of The Heisman House reads:

"Here was born (October 3, 1869) the man after whom the Heisman Football Trophy is named. The College Football Hall of Fame enshrines him as superior coach. Important pioneer game innovator. Father of: forward pass; center snap; interference on end runs; hidden ball play; double pass; dividing game into quarters; statistical score board; quarterback's "hike" or "hep" to initiate plays." (The Historical Marker Database)

The Heisman Award, given annually to the most valuable player in college football, is not only named after an Ohio native ... but has been brought back to the Buckeye State quite often. Seven times, an Ohio State player has received the high honor - tying with the University of Southern California and the University of Notre Dame for the most. The University of Michigan has seen three players win the award - but two of those were Ohio natives (Desmond Howard and Charles Woodson).

Paul Brown and The Battle of I-71: Cleveland v. Cincinnati

Sam Whyce Video

As Sam Whyce, coach of the Cincinnati Bengals from 1984-91, makes clear in the video above, a healthy rivalry exists between fans in the Queen City and folks from Cleveland up I-71. A lot of that has to do with Paul Brown - a legend to football fans nationally ... but especially here in Ohio.

Brown coached Massillon Washington (Stark County) to high school state titles before taking over as the head football coach at The Ohio State University and guiding the Buckeyes to their first national title in 1942 (MassillonProud). His success at the amateur levels made him a hot coaching prospect in the professional ranks, so he was hired away from Ohio State by new Browns owner Arthur McBride in 1946. His success continued at the professional level as he guided the Brown and Orange to seven titles (4 AAFC titles: 1946-49 and three NFL titles: 1950, 1954-55) during his time in Cleveland (Pro Football Hall of Fame biography).

That success and time in Cleveland made him a legend ... and that was too much for new Browns owner Art Modell to handle. Egos clashed, so Modell fired Brown - the team's namesake - in 1963. (The NFL Network labeled it the eighth biggest feud in NFL History. Video here.)

After a short lay-off, Brown returned to professional football with the expansion Cincinnati Bengals in 1968 and stayed with the team for eight seasons - including three playoff berths. Being in the same division, the Browns and Bengals met twice a year ... only adding fuel to the fires.

Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati is named after Paul E. Brown. The Browns kept their name ... so both Ohio teams trace their lineage back to Paul Brown. Additionally, Massillon High School's luxurious stadium is named Paul Brown Tiger Stadium.

College Athletics In Ohio ... And Not Just The Buckeyes.

Ohio State football rules supreme in Ohio. We all know that. But other schools have enjoyed amateur success.

The University of Cincinnati won the 1961 and 1962 NCAA Division I men's basketball National Championship in both 1961 and 1962 - defeating The Ohio State University both times. The Bearcats were led by Oscar Robertson who later played professionally in Ohio for the Cincinnati Royals.
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The Cradle of Coaches: Miami University has an incredible resume of football coaches that either went to - or at one point coached at - the school in Oxford, Ohio. Both Paul Brown (see above) and Bo Schembechler (a name synonymous with the Devil ... and Michigan Wolverine football) graduated from Miami. Woody Hayes (a name synonymous with Ohio State football) was the coach of the then-Redskins (now Redhawks) from 1949-50 before taking over in Columbus. Current Buckeye head coach Jim Tressel was an assistant there in the late 1970s.

Super Bowl winning head coaches like Weeb Ewbank and Sean Payton spent time in Oxford, as did NFL Hall of Famer Sid Gillman who was a head coach at Miami and the University of Cincinnati before going to the pro game. John Harbaugh, currently head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, is also a member of 'The Cradle'.

College football coaches Ara Pareseghian, Ron Zook, Randy Walker and Garry Moeller, among others, also are members of the fraternity.
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Just last week, Kenyon College had their run of 31 consecutive NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships end ... and they still finished as the runner-up. To win 31 straight games is hard, but to win the national championship 31 straight times? Unthinkable.

Allow Me To Brag ...

I'll throw some names out ... all of whom were Ohio residents. Let me know if you're impressed.

I'm going to put together some 'All-Ohio' teams ...

Everyone knows the goal of baseball is to get hits. It's a simple game. Nobody ever had more hits in a career than Pete Rose. Rose was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on April 14, 1941. Nobody had more hits in a season than George Sisler - born in Manchester, Ohio in 1893 - between 1920 and 2004. Ichiro Suzuki passed that mark in 2004 - but he had eight more games to do it.

Those guys could get hits ... but few could hit it further than Ken Griffey Jr. One of just seven players to hit over 600 homers, the Cincinnati native ranks sixth all-time in that category.

More power could be provided from Michael Jack Schmidt - a three-time National League MVP and 12-time all-star. A native of Dayton, Ohio, Schmidt went to school at Ohio University.

If you had a team with guys like Griffey, Rose, Schmidt and Sisler and they scored you a lot of runs, you still need pitching.

Pitching?

Ohio has that. Nobody ever won more games (and never will come remotely close to winning as many games) as Cy Young (Gilmore, Ohio) or you could turn to a guy like Hall of Famer Phil Niekro, a Bridgeport, Ohio native and the winningest knuckleball pitcher of all time with 318 wins. Young or Niekro could be your starting pitchers to help get the ball into the hands of Rollie Fingers (Steubenville, Ohio) to close to the door for you in the ninth inning. He's one of just two relief pitchers inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Obviously you'd have to fill out a whole lineup, but those guys with shortstop Barry Larkin (Cincinnati), pitcher Rube Marquad (Cleveland) and catcher Thurmon Munson (Akron) would be a good place to start.
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I touched on that a bit earlier. Nobody has won more NFL games than Grand River's Don Shula '51. No one won more Super Bowls as a head coach than Cleveland's Chuck Noll ... who unfortunately did it with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Those guys can coach just about anybody, but they wouldn't have to if they were picking an all-Ohio team.

Hall of Famers Larry Csonka, Len Dawson, Dan Dierdorf, Lou Groza, Jack Lambert, Dante Lavelli, Alan Page, Roger Staubach and Paul Warfield - just to name a few - were all born in Ohio. (Hall of Famers by state.) That list will grow in the future with Eddie George, Orlando Pace and Charles Woodson up for election in the next few years. Ohio boys can play some football.

I could add college legends like Howard Cassady, Archie Griffin and Desmond Howard, but I won't. Point made.
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If you like basketball, you could form a great team with players that were born in Ohio. LeBron James, public enemy number one in Cleveland, could help out. NBA Hall of Famers - and Ohio State Buckeyes before they turned professional - John Havlicek (Lansing, Ohio) and Jerry Lucas (Middletown, Ohio) could represent the state one more time. Two guys who don't get enough publicity because they were African-Americans playing in a very racist time were Nate Thurmond and Gus Johnson. Both of those Akron natives don't receive 1/100th of the publicity Akron's LeBron James receives but would certainly be on the team. Orreville, Ohio native Bob Knight - the winnigest coach in NCAA Division I men's basketball history - could do wonders with that group.
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Those are all team sports. Individual athletes, well, Ohio has those too. World class track and field athletes Jesse Owens (Cleveland) and Edwin Moses (Dayton) hail from the Buckeye State. You could go blind looking at all the gold medals those too earned over the years. Their trophy cases rival that of Jack Nickalus (Columbus) who has won more Professional Golf Associations major championships than any other golfer.

What Does It All Mean?

Anyone can turn on ESPN and see highlights of the Browns or the Bengals, the Indians or the Reds. We watch Cavaliers or Blue Jackets games whenever we want ... its 2011 and all of that stuff is thrown in our face. I'm a die-hard sports fan (in case you couldn't tell) and all we see on the news now is how bad all of our Ohio teams currently are. (And they are ALL bad!) Ohio State has been receiving tons of negative publicity for their recent scandals in the athletic department, so I wanted to look into some legends around the Buckeye State and accentuate the positives.

I go to school just seven miles from League Park. After reading about it, I'm dying to get there. I was even thinking of checking it out Friday before I head down to Progressive Field for the Indians home opener.

I've heard all about Paul Brown, but I've never taken the time to look him up. I've driven past The Heisman House hundreds and hundreds (literally) of times on the way to school, and I never knew the history behind it. I know all about the Ohio State national championship teams in the past few years, but I found myself reading about the Cincinnati Bearcats national title teams of the early 1960s and the racism they had to overcome on trips to the south. I definitely learned a lot.

As a sports fan, I walked away with great pride in Ohio after seeing all the great athletes that come from our neck of the woods. I found myself doing Google search after Google search to locate the small towns that some of the greatest athletes of all time grew up in. I know can find Middletown, Ohio on a map - thanks to Jerry Lucas.

OH - IO.