MOUNT VERNON — Ever heard the recruiting story of the Steubenville star who climbed out of his bedroom window to avoid his mother’s wrath for reneging on Ohio State’s Woody Hayes?
How about the method Roger Staubach used to hide his color blindness and pass the physical to get into the Naval Academy?
Do you know where the character D.B. originated from in the famed comic strip Doonesbury?
Every one of these true stories can be found in Ohio’s Autumn Legends, Volume I & II, now available at Amazon.com for the football fan in your life.
Knox Pages managing editor Larry Phillips completed the work after a seven-year research project. Volume II comes as a sequel to Volume I, so popular Keith Publications asked him to finish it in time for this year’s Christmas season.
“Really, I just want these guys and some of the stories surrounding them to be remembered,” Phillips said. “I’m pretty active on the Ohio State message boards and when I read someone who thinks Troy Smith is the greatest QB in Ohio history, it just makes me cringe — it’s probably the same for anyone who saw Roger Staubach or Len Dawson.
“That’s not the younger generation’s fault that they didn’t get to see some of the great ones. But they should have an understanding and an appreciation for those guys who are a big reason this sport is so popular in Ohio. That’s the reason for the books.”
In Volume I, Phillips interviewed and/or profiled Roger Staubach, Archie Griffin, Paul Warfield, Marion Motley, Chris Spielman, Chic Harley, Vic Janowicz, Paul Brown, Charles Follis, and Mansfield’s Pete Henry — by far the best player and least known of the group — Ohio’s lone charter member of both the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame.
There are also stories about Ohio’s pro franchise in Portsmouth, numerous Woody Hayes anecdotes, and the state’s contribution to the forward pass via Knute Rockne on the beaches of Cedar Point all the way to the Four Horseman at Notre Dame.
In Volume II he tackles mini biographies of Bernie Kosar, Cris Carter, Robert Smith, Bill Willis, Bob Ferguson, Calvin Jones, Len Dawson, Dick Kazmaier, Frank Sinkwich and the controversial Art Schlichter.
“I interviewed Art Schlichter before he went to prison this last time,” Phillips said. “He is a very charming individual. I note in the chapter this isn’t a profile to sugarcoat his legacy, but I don’t dwell on his criminal history either. The focus is on his athletic exploits, and that’s somewhat lost over the years. He was easily the greatest high school quarterback in Ohio history.”
Phillips said the original color art by Jacksonville artist Oscar Hinojosa made the work come to life. Hinojosa is a native of Leipsic, Ohio, and has worked for the U.S. Olympic team, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the PGA. He was commissioned to turn this project over a period of years, with the subjects captured in their high school days, and wearing their high school uniforms.
“Obviously it’s rare if not impossible to find color art of Chic Harley or Pete Henry or Marion Motley,” Phillips said. “So I put a posting on an international jobs board and got bites from all over the world. We narrowed it down to three and Oscar’s work was the best of the bunch.
“Oscar’s artwork is worth buying both books all by itself.”
Phillips has been encouraged to write more volumes by his publisher — and a number of readers. He said he’s thought about personalities he would like to profile if he did take on another volume, including Dante Lavelli, Lou Groza, Alan Page, Larry Csonka, Jack Lambert, Randy Gradishar, John Hicks, Les Horvath, Howard Hopalong Cassady, Orlando Pace, Andy Katzenmoyer, Charles Woodson and Desmond Howard, among many others.
“These first two books were just so exhaustive, it’s hard to imagine finding the time … There’s certainly enough material for it though,” he said. “Ideally, I’d like to do two more, one for each quarter in a football game. But that’s probably pie-in-the-sky optimism.”
Philips said it was a fun project, and he hopes that translates to those who read the books, too. He also encouraged anyone who would like an autographed copy to stop by the Idea Works office at 40 W. Fourth St. in Mansfield.
