We’ve been going through a series here at Buckeyes Wire. It’s a debate on which Ohio State football player is the best to wear specific jersey numbers, and we’re cruising along, now up to jersey No. 18 as we count down towards the hopeful start of college football in 2020.
Before we get into all the fun, here’s an update on where we stand with the jersey numbers we’ve debated to date:
Jersey No. 1 | Jersey No. 2 | Jersey No. 3 | Jersey No. 4 | Jersey No. 5 | Jersey No. 6 | Jersey No. 7 | Jersey No. 8 | Jersey No. 9 | Jersey No. 10 | Jersey No. 11 | Jersey No. 12 | Jersey No. 13 | Jersey No. 14 | Jersey No. 15 | Jersey No. 16 | Jersey No. 17
We’re all a little stir crazy from being locked down because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but as things begin to open, it’s still fun to debate Buckeye football history. In the long, illustrious history of Ohio State football, there is sure to be some disagreement, but that only makes it more fun.
We will continue to keep going along his journey through the summer and will have the results of all of these surveys further down the road. As usual, help us out by voting below.
Next … Mark’s starts the conversation
Contact/Follow Mark Russell
With a limited pool to choose from, I really wanted to go with the first two-way player I remember playing in the Scarlet and Gray, Tom Tupa. Tupa was a punter by trade (and a pretty good one at that) but took snaps under center as well. He would be the top QB for the Buckeyes in 1987.
Although Tupa went on to have an exceptional career punting the ball in the NFL, he just didn’t quite have the stats for me to give him the best ever to wear No. 18 for Ohio State.
Instead, I had to do some digging and found a player by the name of Merle Wendt who played for the Buckeyes from 1934-1936. Well before most of us can remember, Wendt had a stellar time in Columbus.
Wendt played on both sides of the ball at the ends, one catching, one tackling. And he was pretty good at both. Wendt was named a three-time All-American as well as three-time All-Conference selection and was named captain for his senior year.
Maybe Merle Wendt’s most impressive stat… beating Michigan all three years by a combined score of 93-0!
Next … Phil responds
Contact/Follow Phil Harrison
Mark stole my thunder. Often times we go with the most recent names we can remember that were outstanding players. To that end, it might even be a stretch to pick Tom Tupa, but he was a swiss-army-knife player for Ohio State in 1987. It was a little unfair to have a quarterback back there on 4th down as the punter. Imagine preparing for that as a defensive coordinator.
Another player worth mentioning is current defensive end Jonathon Cooper who will have one more go at it as a likely starter on the edge this fall.
However, as Mark states, nobody really compares to Merle Wendt for many of the reasons he points out. He’s the only Buckeye to wear No. 18 that was a multiple-time All-American, captain, and All-Conference performer. As an interesting note, Wendt has the opportunity to play in the NFL, but instead went the route of chemical engineering, spending many years as the Director of Chemical Engineering at Goodyear.
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