The Ohio State Varsity "O" Hall of Fame is the athletic hall of fame for The

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

. Its purpose is to recognize individuals who have contributed to the honor and fame of the university in the field of

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

. An athlete must have earned at least one Varsity "O"

letter Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet. * Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...

to be eligible. An athlete is considered for recognition a minimum of five years after the graduation of his or her class. A coach or member of the athletic department must have served the Ohio State University for at least 15 years to be considered.

Charter members

The first 23 members of the Varsity "O" Hall of Fame were inducted in September, 1977. These are the names of those charter inductees: * Howard "Hopalong" Cassady — football, baseball * Paul Ebert — basketball, baseball *

Wes Fesler Wesley Eugene Fesler (June 29, 1908 – July 30, 1989) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach of football and basketball. He was a three-sport athlete at Ohio State University and a consensus first-team selection to ...

— football, basketball, baseball, football coach * Ernie Godfrey — football, basketball, football coach * Chic Harley — football, basketball, baseball, track & field *

John Havlicek John Joseph Havlicek ( ; April 8, 1940 – April 25, 2019) was an American professional basketball player who spent his entire career with the Boston Celtics, winning eight NBA championships, four of them coming in his first four seasons with ...

— basketball, baseball * Les Horvath — football *

Jimmy Hull James R. Hull (February 15, 1917 – November 2, 1991) was an American basketball forward who led the Ohio State Buckeyes to the championship game in the first-ever NCAA basketball tournament. The Buckeyes finished the season with a 16–7 recor ...

— basketball * Vic Janowicz — football *

Ford Konno Ford Hiroshi Konno (born January 1, 1933) is a Japanese–American former competition swimmer, two-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in three events. Konno was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. He attended McKinley High School in Ho ...

— swimming *

Jerry Lucas Jerry Ray Lucas (born March 30, 1940) is an American former basketball player. He was a nationally awarded high school player, national college star at Ohio State, and 1960 gold medal Olympian and international player before later starring as a p ...

— basketball * Johnny Miner — basketball * Jack Nicklaus — golf *

Jesse Owens James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games. Owens specialized in the sprints and the long jump and was recognized in his lifet ...

— track & field * Jim Parker — football * Al Patnik — diving * Mike Peppe — swimming/diving coach * George Simpson — track & field * Bill Smith — swimming * Larry Snyder — track * Lynn St. John — athletic director * John Wilce — football coach * Bill Willis — football, track & field

Notable members

Notable members include:

Men

Women

Coaches

Administration

Notes

References

External links

Official website

Full list of inductees
{{Ohio State University, traditions Ohio State University Varsity Halls of fame in Ohio College sports halls of fame in the United States