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Chic: The Extraordinary Rise of Ohio State Football and the Tragic Schoolboy Athlete Who Made It Happen
Bob Hunter's Chic is the untold story of the unassuming schoolboy who laid the groundwork for Ohio stadium, as well as the story of the building of America's greatest athletic institution, the OSU program.
It's a near cinematic tale of how it all began, how mighty Michigan was first put in its place by the Buckeye upstarts. It is a story of the game itself creating its first modern identity, and into it all is woven the story of a boy whose prowess matched the vibrant passage of a city and a university reaching for their own potential.
Finally, it is a love story. In all its odd and mysterious turnings, neither the city nor the university ever forgot the schoolboy. Almost half a century afterward, Chic Harley returned to Columbus and a third of the city lined the downtown streets in the rain to cheer him.
Chic Harley is the ghost in the program, a tragic figure who through the life of Ohio Stadium gave as much sustained pleasure to as many people as any athlete of all time.
It's a near cinematic tale of how it all began, how mighty Michigan was first put in its place by the Buckeye upstarts. It is a story of the game itself creating its first modern identity, and into it all is woven the story of a boy whose prowess matched the vibrant passage of a city and a university reaching for their own potential.
Finally, it is a love story. In all its odd and mysterious turnings, neither the city nor the university ever forgot the schoolboy. Almost half a century afterward, Chic Harley returned to Columbus and a third of the city lined the downtown streets in the rain to cheer him.
Chic Harley is the ghost in the program, a tragic figure who through the life of Ohio Stadium gave as much sustained pleasure to as many people as any athlete of all time.
- GenresSports
252 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 25, 2022
A great book detailing Ohio State’s first football superstar. This book serves as an excellent complement to Robert J. Roman’s The Forgotten Dawn. While that book emphasizes the incipiency of Ohio State University as an academic institution along with his main football focus, this book chooses to chronicle the developmental rise of Columbus as a turn of the century Midwestern boomtown.
My only chief complaint of the book is that it can feel really hagiographic. I don’t believe that Ohio State would be a second rate football program in modern times if there never was a Chic Harley. That really subtracts from the accomplishments from a lot of OSU greats. Bob Hunter doesn’t directly say this, but he heavily infers it and accredits too much of the program’s dedicated fandom and OSU’s overall football success to Chic only in lieu of the collaborative efforts of many honorable individuals throughout many different generations.
My only chief complaint of the book is that it can feel really hagiographic. I don’t believe that Ohio State would be a second rate football program in modern times if there never was a Chic Harley. That really subtracts from the accomplishments from a lot of OSU greats. Bob Hunter doesn’t directly say this, but he heavily infers it and accredits too much of the program’s dedicated fandom and OSU’s overall football success to Chic only in lieu of the collaborative efforts of many honorable individuals throughout many different generations.
August 16, 2023
As an Ohio State grad and football fan, I didn’t know the remarkable story of the young man who put football on the map at OSU. Fascinating, thrilling and sad, the book also details some interesting Columbus history around World War 1 and after. Without Chic Harley, there would not be a Horseshoe stadium today!
August 25, 2018
Remarkable story.
December 26, 2008
A great historical look at the tragic character who was responsible for the obsession with Ohio State football. Very well written by Bob Hunter, a columnist from the Columbus Dispatch, it details the story of Chic Harley, his amazing successes on the field, and his sad spiral into dementia praecox. It can be well-argued that French's dream of a large concrete and steel stadium came to fruition almost singlehandedly through Chic's incredible athletics. Wilce, the coach of that era, is given adequate credit also, as well as all the other actors who led to the creation of the OSU football program as we know it today -- even Thurber is given his due.
Sadly, Chic slipped into 'insanity' during the end of his college career. He lived the rest of his life (until 78) at a VA hospital in Danville, Ill. Toward the middle of his life, he was treated with insulin shock therapy and regained some degree of sanity, even returning to Columbus at various times - once, in the 50's as a 'conquering hero' - to a flock of 100,000+ plus.
Had he died in that time, Ohio Stadium would have almost certainly been named "Harley Stadium". But as time has passed, memory has faded, and thankfully Hunter has renewed it. Truly, the Horseshoe is the "House that Chic built."
There is one especially poignant note (to me at least). Across the street from Ohio Field, where Harley played, drawing up to 20,000 fans even at the relative infancy of football everywhere, Leo Yassonof built a theater. Its facade featured a striking relief of Chic, drop-kicking a ball, no doubt right through the goal. As a freshman here, I remember the theater and its larger-than-life rendition of the campus icon. I'd get food at the McDonalds next door and sit in the remnants of Ohio Field across the street from the theater, feeding the amazingly tame squirrels.
The theater is long gone, replaced by a variety of restaurants and very good record stores over the years.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&h...
It's half covered by an awning now. At least its scarlet.
Sadly, Chic slipped into 'insanity' during the end of his college career. He lived the rest of his life (until 78) at a VA hospital in Danville, Ill. Toward the middle of his life, he was treated with insulin shock therapy and regained some degree of sanity, even returning to Columbus at various times - once, in the 50's as a 'conquering hero' - to a flock of 100,000+ plus.
Had he died in that time, Ohio Stadium would have almost certainly been named "Harley Stadium". But as time has passed, memory has faded, and thankfully Hunter has renewed it. Truly, the Horseshoe is the "House that Chic built."
There is one especially poignant note (to me at least). Across the street from Ohio Field, where Harley played, drawing up to 20,000 fans even at the relative infancy of football everywhere, Leo Yassonof built a theater. Its facade featured a striking relief of Chic, drop-kicking a ball, no doubt right through the goal. As a freshman here, I remember the theater and its larger-than-life rendition of the campus icon. I'd get food at the McDonalds next door and sit in the remnants of Ohio Field across the street from the theater, feeding the amazingly tame squirrels.
The theater is long gone, replaced by a variety of restaurants and very good record stores over the years.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&h...
It's half covered by an awning now. At least its scarlet.
February 6, 2009
Some books you just can't put down. I read a good portion of this book on an airplane and was unhappy we landed.
Whether you are an Ohio State fan or a Michigan fan, you'll want to read this story of OSU's first football star and his life after college.
I could see this becoming a box office hit. It's that good.
Whether you are an Ohio State fan or a Michigan fan, you'll want to read this story of OSU's first football star and his life after college.
I could see this becoming a box office hit. It's that good.
July 15, 2009
read it as a Buckeye football fan to learn more about Ohio State's first great player, but it is an interesting biography on its own to anyone who enjoys history
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews