The Ohio State University 's intercollegiate sports teams and players are called the "Buckeyes" (after the state tree, the
Buckeye ), and participate in the
NCAA 's
Division I in all sports and the
Big Ten Conference in most sports. (The men's
Hockey program competes in the
Central Collegiate Hockey Association , and its women's hockey program competes in the
Western Collegiate Hockey Association ). The school colors are
Scarlet and
Gray ''(see trivia note below)''. The mascot of OSU is
Brutus Buckeye .
Ohio State is one of only three universities (
Michigan and
Cal being the others) to have won an NCAA national championship in
Baseball ,
Basketball and
Football . Ohio State has also won national championships in men's swimming & diving, men's outdoor track & field, men's golf, men's gymnastics, men's fencing, co-ed fencing, and synchronized swimming.
1 Since the inception of the
Athletic Director's Cup , Ohio State has finished in the top 25 each year, including top 6 finishes in three of the last five years.
2 During the 2005-2006 school year Ohio State became this first Big Ten team to win conference championships in football, men's basketball and women's basketball in the same season. They repeated this feat in the 2006-2007 season.
Outstanding sports figures that were student athletes at Ohio State include
Jesse Owens (“The Buckeye Bullet”; track and field),
John Havlicek ,
Jerry Lucas , and
Katie Smith (basketball),
Frank Howard (baseball),
Jack Nicklaus (golf); and
Chic Harley (three-time All-American football running back). Hall of Fame coaches at Ohio State have included
Paul Brown and
Woody Hayes in football,
Fred Taylor in basketball,
Larry Snyder in track and field, and
Mike Peppe in swimming and diving. Notable sports figures in Ohio State history may be inducted into the
Ohio State Varsity O Hall Of Fame .
See Also: Ohio State Buckeyes football
See Also: 2006 Ohio State Buckeyes football team
The Ohio State football team, which plays at
Ohio Stadium (a.k.a. the Horseshoe or simply the 'Shoe'), won the
2002 College Football national championship at the
2003 Fiesta Bowl . It was the seventh national championship for Ohio State, which also topped the nation in
1942 ,
1954 ,
1957 ,
1961 , and
1968 . Although The Ohio State University does not recognize championships won in
1933 ,
1944 ,
1969 ,
1973 ,
1974 ,
1975 , and
1998 , various organizations awarded it the national championship, reaching a total of 14 titles.
Five former Ohio State ,
John Wilce ,
Francis Schmidt ,
Woody Hayes , and
Earle Bruce . The coach perhaps most strongly associated with Ohio State football was the colorful and legendary
Woody Hayes (1913-1987), who passionately taught players and students that a person succeeds in life through "outworking" the opposition.
The Buckeye's newest coach is Jim Tressel. Coach Tressel has helped lead the buckeyes to a bowl game in every season during his tenure including two National Title games.
The Buckeye football team boasts six Heisman trophy winners, including the only two-time winner
Archie Griffin (in 1974 and 1975),
Les Horvath (1944),
Vic Janowicz (1950),
Howard “Hopalong” Cassady (1955),
Eddie George (1995), and
Troy Smith (2006).
Ohio State is a part of the intense athletic
Ohio State-Michigan Rivalry (particularly in football). The
University Of Michigan leads the historical series 57-40-6, but Ohio State is 5-1 in the game since
Jim Tressel became its coach in
2001 . The OSU/UM game has been called the greatest rivalry in sports by
ESPN .
3
Five Ohio State football players were drafted in the first round of the
2006 NFL Draft . Three of them were defensive players, including two outside linebackers (
A. J. Hawk and
Bobby Carpenter ). Other Ohio State players drafted in the first round were strong safety
Donte Whitner , wide receiver
Santonio Holmes , and center
Nick Mangold . Cornerback
Ashton Youboty and inside linebacker
Anthony Schlegel were drafted in the third round. Safety
Nate Salley and offensive guard
Rob Sims were selected in the fourth round.
On January 8, 2007, the #1 Ohio State Buckeyes were defeated by the Florida Gators, 41-14, in the BCS Championship game. Despite winning the Heisman Trophy a month earlier, quarterback Troy Smith managed only 35 yds passing and had -29 rushing yards (accounting for only six total yards).
Ohio State players entered in the NFL Draft, but not selected, include defensive end
Mike Kudla and placekicker
Josh Huston . Mike Kudla was signed as a free agent by the
Pittsburgh Steelers and released in August.
4Where is Huston though? Nobody knows.
The Daily Oklahoman ranked Ohio State the number one school for
Running Backs in the nation in a
July 10 ,
2006 sports section article.
See Also: Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball
See Also: 2006-07 Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball team
The Ohio State men's basketball team has played in Ten NCAA
Final Fours , winning the championship in 1960, when they were led by
Basketball Hall Of Fame rs
Jerry Lucas ,
John Havlicek , and
Bob Knight off the bench. Twenty-three times a Buckeye has been named first team
All American including five two-time All Americans and one three-time All American. Between 1960 and 1964 Ohio State won five consecutive Big Ten championships, an achievement that has yet to be matched.
In 2004, Ohio State University fired men's basketball coach
Jim O’Brien for recruiting violations and self-imposed a one year penalty, including a ban on post-season play and reduction of scholarships. In light of these University self-imposed penalties, the NCAA Division I Committee on infractions merely placed Ohio State University on three years probation for the violations, and gave heavier penalties to Coach O’Brien and a former assistant coach.
5 The lightness of this judgment was seen as encouragement for schools to be proactive in responding to violations. Nevertheless, O’Brien successfully sued Ohio State for improper termination. Thad Matta, the current coach of the Buckeyes, took over O'Brien's spot three years ago. Ohio State recruited such talents as
Greg Oden , and
Mike Conley, Jr. to start the 2006-2007 year. The Buckeyes finished the season with a 27-3 record; won the Big Ten tournament, and earned a number 1 seed for the NCAA tournament. After a very close game with state rival Xavier, and a thrilling 20 point come from behind victory against the
Tennessee Volunteers , the Buckeyes managed to hold off
Georgetown Hoyas 67-60 to reach the
Championship Game for the first time since 1962, which they lost to defending NCAA champions
Florida Gators , 84-75. The Buckeyes ended the 2006-2007 season with a record of 35-4.
Ohio State's two golf courses, the Scarlet and the Gray, were completed in 1938. in
1951 , Rick Jones in
1956 ,
Jack Nicklaus in
1961 and Clark Burroughs in
1985 .
Ohio State has been the best program in the first 30 years of national collegiate synchronized swimming competition. In the team event, Ohio State won 24 collegiate championships between 1977, the first year of the collegiate national championships, and 2004. Head coach Mary Jo Ruggieri (Olympic Coach,) led the team to 17 wins between 1977 and 1995, and Linda Lichter-Witter added seven more since 1996. Ohio State also has taken 61 individual honors in that span, including 11 by Karen and Sarah Josephson.
Ohio State has produced over two hundred Olympic athletes, most notably
Jesse Owens who won four Olympic gold medals at the
1936 Berlin Olympics and is often considered the greatest Olympian in history. In all, 48 Ohio State athletes have combined for a total of 77 Olympic medals which includes 33 gold, 28 silver and 16 bronze medals. Were Ohio State to be considered as a separate nation, it would rank 31st for all time medalists and 26th for all time gold medalists.See
Total Olympics Medal Count
The Ohio State school colors of scarlet and gray were chosen by a committee of three students (Curtis C. Howard, Harwood R. Pool, and Alice Townshend) prior to the school's first graduation ceremony in 1878. The committee's original recommendation was to be orange and black. The committee soon discovered that Princeton already used the colors, however, and changed their recommendation.J. H. Galbraith, "Choosing the University Colors," The Ohio State University Monthly, Dec. 1914-Jan. 1915, pp. 11-13 For this reason some references claim that Ohio State's original school colors were orange and black. This claim is not quite accurate, in that the committee never filed the original report with that recommendation.
During the 2005 - 2006 academic year Ohio State became the first school in the Big Ten to be the conference champions in football, men's basketball, and women's basketball. This was repeated during the 2006 - 2007 academic year on February 25, 2007 when the men's basketball team defeated Wisconsin in the Big Ten's first 1 versus 2 basketball game.
:
Scarlet and
Gray
:
Across The Field ,
Buckeye Battle Cry (
Hang On Sloopy also popular)
:
Buckeyes , “The Bucks”
:
Brutus Buckeye
:
The Ohio State University Marching Band , known as TBDBITL, or The Best Damn Band In The Land. Famous for "
Script Ohio " and the "
Ramp Entrance ". The dotting of the "i" in "Script Ohio" by a sousaphone (tuba) player who high-kicks out and does a giant bow to the crowd was voted the #1 greatest sports tradition ever, in
Athlon Sports ,
ESPN , and ''
Sports Illustrated .''
:
The Ohio State Buckeyes Radio Network ;
WBNS (AM) 1460 The Fan
:
Paul Keels (Play By Play),
Jim Lachey (Color), and
Marty Bannister (Sideline)
