Auditing Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated published its list of the Top 10 Buckeye athletes
today. This is an ambitious effort considering
the legends that have played for Ohio State.
Whittling down a gigantic list of candidates to
only 10 and then ranking them is no small feat.
So for that, a tip of the cap to SI. In order to
save some of you some clicking, their selections
are as follows:
Yeah, so, that represents 5 Heisman Trophies, 7 Olympic Gold Medals and a Silver (Wilson). The selections are strong and Yes, I think Oden deserves to be on the list. Opinions vary. Maybe not at #8 (more like #10) but in twenty years from now, any list without Greg will look utterly ridiculous. Certainly cases can be made for others such as John Havlicek and Orlando Pace but there'll always be arguments for inclusion.
My chief argument is the ranking of Jesse Owens. It's felonious and shameful to rank him anywhere but at the top. Whereas others figured on the national scale, Owens impacted the World. The Buckeye Bullet won prestigious awards, set world records and broke through extreme pressures to win Gold - multiple times - in the face of hatred. Consider too, he won eight individual NCAA Championships at Ohio State and at a meet in Ann Arbor, set 3 world records (tied another) in less than an hour. We love Archie. He's beloved. But Jesse is the top and the next in line isn't even close.
| Rank | Buckeye Athlete | Sport |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Archie Griffin | Football |
| 2 | Jesse Owens | Track & Field |
| 3 | Hopalong Cassady | Football |
| 4 | Blaine Wilson | Gymnastics |
| 5 | Jerry Lucas | Basketball |
| 6 | Katie Smith | W.Basketball |
| 7 | Eddie George | Football |
| 8 | Greg Oden | Basketball |
| 9 | Jack Nicklaus | Golf |
| 10 | Troy Smith | Football |
Yeah, so, that represents 5 Heisman Trophies, 7 Olympic Gold Medals and a Silver (Wilson). The selections are strong and Yes, I think Oden deserves to be on the list. Opinions vary. Maybe not at #8 (more like #10) but in twenty years from now, any list without Greg will look utterly ridiculous. Certainly cases can be made for others such as John Havlicek and Orlando Pace but there'll always be arguments for inclusion.
My chief argument is the ranking of Jesse Owens. It's felonious and shameful to rank him anywhere but at the top. Whereas others figured on the national scale, Owens impacted the World. The Buckeye Bullet won prestigious awards, set world records and broke through extreme pressures to win Gold - multiple times - in the face of hatred. Consider too, he won eight individual NCAA Championships at Ohio State and at a meet in Ann Arbor, set 3 world records (tied another) in less than an hour. We love Archie. He's beloved. But Jesse is the top and the next in line isn't even close.
