TEAMMATE BONDS REMAIN STRONG BETWEEN MEMBERS OF OHIO STATE'S 1968 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP FOOTBALL TEAM
During Woody Hayes’ tenure as Ohio State’s head football coach, the Buckeyes’ longtime leader would tell his incoming freshmen each year that the bonds they would build with their teammates would last long beyond their time suiting up for the Scarlet and Gray.
The members of Ohio State’s 1968 football team say those words still remain true more than 49 years removed from when they won a national championship together.
"Woody said that your best friends in life are sitting in this room with you right now, you just don’t know it," said former Buckeyes running back John Brockington, who was a sophomore on the 1968 team. "And it kind of worked out that way. We’re very close."
Those bonds were on display on Saturday at the Midwest Sports Spectacular in Columbus, when more than two dozen players and several assistant coaches from the 1968 Buckeyes reunited to participate in an autograph signing, but also to attend a team banquet and for plenty of opportunity to catch up with one another and reminisce on old times in between.
From starting quarterback Rex Kern, leading rusher Jim Otis and leading receiver Bruce Jankowski to team MVP linebacker Mark Stier and unanimous All-American offensive tackle Dave Foley, many of the 1968 team’s most prominent players were in Columbus to participate in Saturday’s event, along with three assistant coaches: George Chaump, Rudy Hubbard and Bill Mallory.
To have all of those players back together in one place nearly 50 years later could be considered special in itself, but offensive lineman and kicker Jim Roman said that number – which will likely increase when the Buckeyes hold their official 50th anniversary reunion this fall – actually paled in comparison to the turnout the Buckeyes had for their 45th anniversary reunion in 2013.
"One of the things that Woody told us early on, and I guess he told it to every freshman class he ever sat down with: 'Look around this room. These guys will be the ones that will be the friends that will last forever.' He said, 'Friends and even family will drift, but these guys won’t.' We have a 45-year reunion, there was an 80-man roster, and they get 65 guys to show up," Roman said.
All of that speaks to the brotherhood that many members of Ohio State’s 1968 football team have maintained over the past five decades, which was also what helped the Buckeyes finish the 1968 season with a 10-0 record – capping that season with a 50-14 victory over Michigan and a 27-16 Rose Bowl win over USC – to finish the season as the No. 1 team in college football.
"The chemistry of the ‘68 team was just exceptional," Stier said. "I think coaches underestimate the significance of chemistry on a team, and there’s not a whole heck of a lot you can do sometimes to correct it one way or the other. But it was certainly a hallmark of a team."
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