Willard's favorite son was a true Ohio State football captain
By JON SPENCER ? News Journal ? December 11, 2008
WILLARD ? Frank Chapman has been around long enough to call Willard legend Jim Langhurst "kid." But it meant more to be able to call him an honorable man and friend.
Chapman's friend was laid to rest Tuesday, leaving a gaping hole in the heart of his Huron County hometown and Ohio State football historians scrambling to find Langhurst's successor as the Buckeyes' oldest living captain.
It was a distinction -- his captaincy, not his longevity -- that meant the world to him.
"I have an obsession when it comes to that," Langhurst once told me during the two or three times we would talk during each OSU football season. "If any publication writes up a boy or girl, and he or she is a captain of their team, it should be so announced.
"It's the greatest honor a guy or girl can have."
Langhurst would have turned 90 in February. Chapman, who remembers Langhurst's exploits before he became an Ohio State MVP, celebrates his 91st birthday on Jan. 9.
"I was a year ahead of Jim in school," Chapman said. "He went to Willard, I went to New Haven (which later consolidated with Willard). He was one of the greatest athletes around. He held a lot of records, just about everything you could think of."
Langhurst's grandson, the one who bears his first and last name, stood toe-to-toe and point-for-point with all-time Ohio scoring leader Jon Diebler in a basketball shootout three seasons back. They had matching 55s as Willard prevailed 101-98 in a district tournament game for the ages.
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