USD Football 1992

BLUE STEEL AND

Best Buckeyes: The national championship team of 1942.

BY JACK CLARY Ohio State celebrates the 50th anniversary of its first major national championship this year, and in contin– uing a quintennial tradition, the members of that first title team gathered to celebrate what at the time was considered an astounding feat. Who can blame them? For most of the first half of the century, the Bucks had played in the shadow of Big Ten powers Michigan, Minnesota and Illinois, plus Pitt and Notre Dame. They had flitted with fame, but always seemed to fall shon. But that all began to ---------~– "We laid the groundwork for our national championship during that 1941 season." Paul Brown low coaches tired of L,_________~ __, being beaten by him, but they had become woefully disenchanted with Francis Schmidt's declining foot- ball program at Ohio State. The last straw was a 40-0 trouncing by Michigan in 1940, a third straight loss to the Wolverines. The coaches finally threatened 10 send their players elsewhere if Brown did not replace Schmidt. change in 1941 when Paul Brown became head coach. Brown, who passed away in 199I, was hired at the insistence of the Ohio High School Coaches Association after an 80-8-2 record at Washington High School in Massillon, Ohio, including 68- 1-1 from 1935-40. Not only were his fel-

BROWN METTLE It was 1942 when a coach named Paul Brown awoke the sleeping giant known as the Ohio State Buckeyes,

and led them to the national title.

Jack Clary is a regular contributor to Touchdown Illustrated and author ofsome 45 books on sports.

TOUCHDOWN ILLUSTRATED