Many people associate legends Archie Griffin, Eddie George and Woody Hayes with the history encompassing Ohio State football. However, one lesser recognized Buckeye icon helped lay the groundwork for the world-renowned football program that the Scarlet and Gray represents today.
Photo Courtesy of Todd Wessell
Ohio State legend Chic Harley, left, stands with former OSU coach Woody Hayes following a 1957 game against Iowa."In 1916, Harley's sophomore year and first with the varsity squad, he led OSU to its first Big Ten Championship with an undefeated season. Harley ran the ball, passed the ball, caught the ball, intercepted the ball and even kicked the ball for the Buckeyes. His well-rounded play spoke volumes to his versatility, which was common for elite athletes of that era, said OSU commentator Jack Park.
"That was more the nature of the game back at that time," he said. "You played both ways and did everything. Usually your best athlete was your best runner or your best passer, and he was also your best punter. The game has become so specialized today that you've got specialists come in and handle all of that now."
The undefeated season placed OSU on the map in terms of rising athletic departments. Harley was honored as OSU's first consensus first-team All-American. His outstanding play on the field brought national exposure to the football program, Park said.
"As far as the people that have really been the driving forces behind Ohio State football, Harley's the guy that got it started," he said. "He brought national attention to Ohio State football."
For the first time, there was a buzz surrounding Buckeye athletics. The local kid from East High School in Columbus generated excitement that attracted more and more fans. By the end of the 1916 season, capacity crowds routinely filed into undersized Ohio Field to watch Harley and the Buckeyes.
"He created, with his play on the field and his personality, this euphoria about football," said Harley's great-nephew, Todd Wessell. "In 1916, they were drawing about 4,000 people per game. By the end of the year, they had no more room at old Ohio Field."
The surge in attendance triggered the idea for a new football stadium. The plans for Ohio Stadium, which would be constructed in 1922, demonstrated yet another way that Harley's Buckeyes revolutionized the OSU football program, Park said.
"[Before Harley played], they probably had more people attending some of the big high school games than they did attending Ohio State games," he said. "By the time Chic Harley was done at Ohio State, old Ohio Field wasn't big enough. Athletic director L.W. St. John saw this as a way to capitalize on that momentum, and eventually build a much bigger stadium."
Though the new stadium was built after Harley's college career ended, larger crowds continued to show up each Saturday. Harley led OSU to another undefeated season in 1917, at 8-0-1. After spending the next year fighting in World War I, he returned to OSU to lead the Buckeyes to a 6-1 record in 1919.
Despite its current elite status among the nation's football programs, OSU has rarely enjoyed the success it did during Harley's reign. However, he and his teammates are often overlooked among the Buckeye greats, Wessell said.
"Today's teams don't rank with what they did in those years," he said. "Yet, you don't hear about it now. The excitement and the euphoria that Chic was mainly responsible for got everyone so whipped up."
Harley used his celebrity-like status around Columbus to help raise money for the new stadium. He was a quiet, soft-spoken man, but his presence alone attracted people to contribute to the university's development, Wessel said.
"When people were asked to donate, they would gladly reach into their pockets," he said. "People would come out in large numbers, just because it was Chic Harley. He generated the euphoria so that people would enroll and give money to the university so they could hire better professors and have better athletic facilities. That was very important in developing Ohio State as it is today."
During Harley's time, professional football players weren't as highly regarded as today's multimillionaire, superstar athletes. George Halas had to beg Harley to join the Decatur Staleys, which later became the Chicago Bears.
Toward the end of the 1921 season, Harley began to suffer from a mental illness. The ailment derailed his career, and led to his admittance to the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Danville, Ill., where he would spend the majority of the rest of his life.
At certain times, he was healthy enough to visit with his family in Chicago, including nephew Richard Wessell, Todd's father. Despite his impairment, Harley never lost his personal charm, Todd said.
"There was something about him that attracted people to him that remained implanted in them for as long as they would live," he said. "It was his personality. That's what makes the story of Chic Harley such a great story. It's not just the football player; Ohio State has tons of great football players. There's only one Chic Harley. I want people to know the story of him, as a human being, and never to forget it."
After Harley passed away in 1974, it became nephew Richard's ambition to write a book detailing the story of his uncle, the former OSU icon. That way, as generations elapsed, he could help keep Harley's name entrenched in the endless history of OSU football, Todd said.
is a member of the 
