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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State, ready to overpower and defeat Michigan, kicked out his coach and stole a rising star.
It's a story worthy of modern times, but 84 years ago, when the Buckeyes kidnapped the TCU football coach.
Saturday night, Ohio State and TCU will meet for the first time since 1973, and the sixth time in total. The Buckeyes have a 4-1-1 lead in the series since coming to Fort Worth and an offensive genius.
In 1934, looking for a substitute for Sam Willaman, whose start was seen as a loss in advance by the time he lost to Michigan in 1933, when that was the only defeat of the Buckeyes, The Plain Dealer wrote down to 20 names. University football coaches in the race for work. The coaches of Purdue and the University of Chicago refused the Buckeyes. None of the others on the list got the green light.
"In an effort to recruit a well-known mentor from Ohio fans," writes Milton Yelsky in The Plain Dealer on March 11, 1934, "The Texas Texas coach has been overlooked in the early stages of the match. of research."
Yelsky also called Ohio State "skeptical at first to hire a" minor league "coach."
Finally, sports director Lynn St. John, who gave her name to the St. John Arena opposite Ohio Stadium, telephoned this Texas man and asked the New Zealand football coach to TCU to take a train. in Columbus.
"There is little doubt, but the work in the Ohio State is considered a progress," Bill Van Fleet wrote in the Galveston (Texas) Daily News at the end of February. Big Ten and 15,000 students behind them. Ohio State was considered one of the strongest teams in the country last fall, and the clashes with Michigan were our focus this weekend. "
On these same newspaper pages, Francis A. Schmidt is surprised that the Associated Press has heard of his discussions with the Buckeyes.
"I do not know what to say," said Schmidt. "I did not know that someone knew anything about it."
A week later, after a 1,000-mile trip to Columbus, Schmidt became the 14th football coach in Ohio's history. He would win more games than all his predecessors, except one, fueled by a diversified offense that served as a predecessor to the West Coast offense. The modern passing game draws a line between Schmidt and the legendary Bill Walsh. Sid Gillman, Schmidt's assistant at Ohio State, attributes to these two one of his greatest influences.
A few weeks after hiring Schmidt, OSU assistant Ernie Godfrey told John Dietrich of The Plain Dealer at a banquet in Cleveland that Schmidt's offensive "includes almost every imaginable formation – double wings and single backs, something new all the time. "
Schmidt "adds tips to his attack because he thinks of them," wrote Yelsky in his assessment, "and is primarily concerned with obtaining this elusive touch."
It was an offense developed in the smaller Southwest Conference School, with a membership of about 1,000 students at the time. But the Horned Frogs beat the big boys while Schmidt went 45-6-5 in five years. He still ranks fourth on TCU's list of wins, a list driven by the 160 wins of current coach Gary Patterson.
Dutch Meyer, a former Cleveland Indians ligorist, was promoted to assistant coach after Schmidt's departure and won 105 matches, and TCU claimed Meyer's 12-1 season national titles in 1935 and 11 -0 in 1938.
The Horned Frogs survived, even though they knew what they were losing at Schmidt, 48 years old. who has more than doubled his salary to $ 9,500 a year in his new job.
Weldon Hart, writing in The Austin Statesman, the city newspaper of the University of Texas, thanked the Ohio State for taking out Schmidt from the Southwest Conference, where he had won two titles in five years.
"This bird was getting too hard!" Hart opted for
In Ohio, Schmidt made it clear that he knew exactly what was expected of him. In his Texas twang, he explained his approach to his new rival with a phrase known until then in the Southwest. Legend has it that Schmidt unveiled the phrase to the world and, in so doing, put its stamp on the rivalry.
"Hell, they put their pants on one leg at a time, as we do," Schmidt said about Wolverines, quoted by The Plain Dealer and others. Grabbing the theme, Ohio State has adopted the tradition of awarding Gold Pants trinkets to Buckeyes who have defeated the Wolverines on the field.
In another nod to modernity, the editorial page of PD is asked why everyone was so agitated about a game and highlighted Schmidt's words.
"Schmidt, or someone else, should impress Ohio alumni by attaching such importance to one game," reads the editorial. "As strong as Michigan has been over the years, it makes no sense to believe and hope that a team from Ohio, year after year, can meet its greatest rival on equal terms.
"Schmidt says something about Michigan players putting their pants on one leg at a time.His problem will be to keep the shirts on the old Ohio."
Schmidt kept these elders at bay, winning his first four games against Michigan, with the Buckeyes excluding them in every game between 1934 and 1937.
He has never beaten Michigan again.
His career ended in a series of three consecutive wins, his last defeat against the Wolverines 40-0 in 1940. A few weeks later, the OSU Board of Directors met to discuss the status of Schmidt . with the Buckeyes 39-16-1. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1971.
"Francis A. Schmidt, the great grizzled Texan who made football a show with his very open play style, came out tonight as head coach at Ohio State University," Associated Press wrote on Dec. 16, 1940. .
Four years later, at the age of 58, Schmidt, in poor health, was dead.
He is surviving the offensive you are looking at today, and the Buckeyes gold pants are fighting for every November.
When you watch the Buckeyes and the Horned Frogs on Saturday night, you can thank TCU for it.
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