The One And Only

Of all the family memorabilia concerning Chic Harley currently in the possession of the Wessell, family, among the most revealing and treasured are a number of personal letters written to “The One And Only.”
In his day, it was well known that Chic was a man of few words. He was also a man of few written words despite strong encouragement from friends and family members that he pick up a pen now and then to let people know how he was doing.
Among many interesting and warm letters Chic received that the family still possesses are several from representatives of the nation’s military academies, namely West Point and the Naval Academy.
As word of Harley’s exploits on the college football field spread like wildfire in the fall of 1916, rumors about Chic’s future also spread. Many people believed that he was interested in transferring to a different university such as West Point or Annapolis. A report at the time that he had traveled to watch a football game at the University of Pittsburgh got everyone in Columbus hot and bothered fearing he would bolt for the “Steel City.” He did not and stayed at Ohio State.
There was no doubt at the time that Chic was very interested in pursuing a military career. His first love was aviation and in 1918 as World War I raged in Europe, he joined the ranks of the Army Air Corps and became a cadet.
Two years earlier, however, the Navy and Army were in hot pursuit of Harley, not because of his military ability but because of his athletic prowess.

“I’ve been informed that you have expressed a desire to enter the Naval Academy,” wrote H.K. Leventen of the Navy to Chic on Dec. 2, 1916. “If your intentions are such I should be very glad to give you all the information concerning the manner of getting an appointment, the entrance exams, and life at the academy in general.”
Another letter written on U.S, Military Academy stationary to Chic on Nov. 28, 1916, reads, “I would like to take up a few minutes of your time concerning whether you would consider coming East to play football. West Point offers a good opportunity for you….All of your expenses are paid while going here. You are paid over seven hundred dollars a year…you will not have to take the exams to enter as your credits attained will enter you. The Army Athletic Council will see that an appointment can be provided for you.”

Wow!

Another letter from a supporter of the Navy said, “I don’t think that you would regret coming to the Naval Academy. We think that we’ve got a pretty good school here. While going here you are a commissioned officer in the Navy and are paid a salary, which covers all your expenses. In athletics we have some pretty good schedules especially in football, which is our major sport. We end up the season with the Army-Navy game which is the big game of the year for us there being quite a rivalry between the schools of Annapolis and West Point.”
Said the writer, “If you do happen to be thinking of coming here, I shall be only too glad if I can in any way give you any help.”

And there was one other interesting card received by Chic that was postmarked Dec. 29, 1916. Chic’s address on the envelope at the time read, 218 Seventeenth Ave., Columbus.

“Wishing you a most happy and prosperous New Year.”
—Thomas Ewing French

Professor French is considered the grandfather of Ohio Stadium.

In the turbulent pre-World War II days, as the clouds of war were forming over Europe, Asia, the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, college football in America still had claim to the hearts of many sports-minded Americans.
The big names at that time included Tom Harmon of Michigan and Don Scott of Ohio State. Harmon, known as “Old 98”, was the first Wolverine Heisman Trophy winner and considered the greatest halfback of his era. People referred to him as one of those “not you see him, now you don’t” type of runners who was known for breakaway speed that resulted in long touchdown runs.
Harmon’s fame continued to spread well after his playing days due to the fact that he had a great radio voice that called many gridiron clashes.
Scott, not as flashy as Harmon, was considered by many to be just as good if not better because he was probably better all around. He could throw a football a mile, was a terrific punter, and a devastating blocker.
So, in October 1940, during the height of the college football season, an interesting discussion took place in Columbus—a discussion that was reported in the Columbus Citizen newspaper and included the thoughts of someone who had been around the Buckeye campus since 1913.
“There was only one football player,” snapped the veteran OSU faculty member. “Harmon and Scott are good, and as standouts are measured these days, probably great, but they don’t class with my man. I’m referring to Chic Harley, there was a football player for you.”
The man making those comments was Lynn St. John, Ohio State’s athletic director at the time. The man whom St. John Arena is named after.
Continued St. John, “No, Harley was the best. He could do anything that either Harmon or Scott can do and do it better. He was the biggest footballer that ever lived. He never weighed more than 164 pounds, yet I have seen him hit 200 pounders on defense and lay them out cold. You never hear Harley mentioned as a defensive player, yet he was one of the best.”
In further describing Harley, St. John said that one of the characteristics that made him so good was his “instantaneous speed. He generated maximum motion quicker than any man I ever saw. That’s what made him such a remarkable runner…”
To illustrate his point, St. John told the story of when the Ohio State track team was scheduled to compete against the University of Chicago in an indoor meet. It was just after the 1917 football season. One of the events was the 40-yard dash.
Said St. John, “Our coach wasn’t so sure of winning this one.”
“Why don’t you start Harley,” St. John suggested.
“Harley?” questioned the coach. “Why, I’ve got three guys who can beat him and they aren’t so hot either.”
St. John said he was sure Harley could beat anything on the squad in a short dash and equally sure he could beat the Chicago sprinters.
“Well,” said St. John, “to make it short, our coach started Harley and he won the event and all the training he had was a warm up just before the dash started. He beat everybody off the mark, that was quick reaction speed I was telling you about, and he was 10 yards in front at the half way mark. You can have Harmon and Scott. I’ll take Chic.”

As the newspaper account went on it told of Harley’s condition at the time…of being in the Veteran’s Administration hospital in Danville, IL. where he struggled with mental illness.
“He was the stimulus behind the building of the big gray stadium which seats 75,000—and which on the day it was opened saw 92,000 jammed into its sprawling arms.
“He’s been a sick man for 20 years, a mental case. His hair is snow white, his lucid moments few. They used to bring him to Columbus for the homecoming game, but that’s out now; too far gone’
Concluded the article, “Mr. St. John says Harley has been treated by the finest doctors in America. They found his case hopeless. No football injury brought about his condition. It proved to be hereditary.
“That’s small consolation,” said St. John. “But it’s the only one we have.”

While most every Ohio State sports fan who occasionally glances up toward the “Ring of Fame” at Ohio Stadium has some general knowledge of who Chic Harley was, it’s highly unlikely that they really know the depth of the God-given talent he really possessed.
The name Chic Harley rests alongside the seven Ohio State Heisman Trophy winners inside the stadium seen by more than 100,000 fans every time a game is played there during the fall gridiron season. Chic is the only one of the eight who never won a Heisman. It’s not because he wasn’t good enough. On the contrary, many believe he would have won at least one of the honors, while others have said he would likely have won two with a few even speculating he would have won three Heisman’s in his three years as a Buckeye player—1916, ’17 and ’19. Chic failed to win a Heisman because he played 20 years before the award was even created. The first recipient was Jay Berwanger from the University of Chicago in 1935.
Not only was Harley OSU’s first true football star being the school’s first consensus All American (he won it all three years), but he was the Buckeye’s first four-sport letterman—football, baseball, track and basketball.
What most people are not aware of, however, was that he excelled in every sport he played. He was a great golfer, an expert swimmer and as an account in the Columbus Journal reported on Nov. 9, 1916, a tremendous boxer.

Wrote the unnamed author,

“It was out at John Vory’s house on E. Town St. four years ago. (Vory’s later became a congressman). You know Johnny is playing center on Yale now. We kids had formed what we called the “Town Street Athletic Club. There was Johnny and “Hap” (Courtney) and “Blink” Courtney; Al Thurman, Joe Mulbarger, Paul Price, “Brud” Baker and a lot more of us. We used to do all sorts of athletic stunts.
“Well, finally somebody brought some gloves down and we sure had some hot bouts. We never could get Chic to put ‘em on, but the rest of us used to beat each other up regularly. Pricey was the best in the bunch and it finally got so we didn’t want to mix it up with him.
“The only fellow we could think of to go after him was Chic, but we couldn’t figure how to get him to put the gloves on. Finally one day we framed it up and Hap or one of the fellows told him that Pricey said he (Chic) was afraid to put them on with him.
“Gee, we didn’t have to coax Chic then. He was for going right down there. So we got them together, Say, you ought to have seen the fur fly! That is, it flew for three or four rounds. Then, there was no doubt about Chic being the champion. You ought to see that fellow box! I guess it comes natural with him just like all athletics. And after that Chic never would put on the gloves again.
“Yes sir, Chic never does much until it’s necessary, but when it is he sure steps ‘way out there.’ That is the secret of his success.”

Sixty years ago, a grand celebration took place, like none that had taken place before or since, on the famed horseshoe gridiron at Ohio State.
In those days, crowds of Buckeye faithful numbering around 80,000 would cram into the double deck seats of the concrete edifice on the banks of the Olentangy River.
On that cool fall day in Columbus, 82,328 fans packed the arena stands in celebration of the man who did as much if not more to help develop Ohio State into one of the most famous and respected universities in the world. Today, only a handful of people are alive who may have remembered that day. Beyond that, only the yellowed pages of newspapers remain to remind us of what occurred at that moment.
It was halftime of the Ohio State-Michigan game that the Spartans would go on to win, 28-13. At that moment, however, no one really cared about the score of the game. What everyone focused on was the honor that was about to be bestowed on Ohio State’s greatest football player: Chic Harley.
Chic was about to become a charter member of the College Football Hall of Fame. In those days, induction ceremonies took place at halftime ceremonies of a game that the college of the inductee chose.
Chic’s coach in his playing years of 1916, ’17 and ’19, John Wilce, led him to the center of the football field where a court of honor of Chic’s teammates waited. Then the moving ceremony began as the bashful Harley, who then weighed a mere 137-lbs. quietly stood by.

We’ll let the words of two of Chic’s admirers tell the story…

“There have been many builders of this university and there will be many more,” said university president Dr. Howard Bevis.
“Among the names of the builders in the realm of inter-collegiate athletics, stand out: those of former President George W. Rightmire, who presented the argument which got Ohio State admitted to the Western Conference (now the Big Ten); of Professor Thomas E. French, generally regarded as the “daddy” of the stadium; of L.W. St. John, director of athletics during the period of major building; and of Chic Harley whom we honor today.
“It is no exaggeration to say that in his way Chic Harley was one of the builders of the university, and as such he will always be remembered…”

Then Coach Wilce took the microphone and said that Chic “was the answer to a coach’s prayer, as an athlete and as a personality…He was a rare sportsman and an honestly clean player. I do not think that I try to exaggerate when I say that I do not remember his committing a single personal foul in spite of a great legitimate fighting spirit. He led to victory at times over obstacles and opposition, which have defeated one of lesser talents or smaller spirit. It is sometimes forgotten that he was also excellent in track, basketball and particularly in baseball. He had the honest affection of his teammates and quickly earned the admiration and respect of his opponents. Characteristic of his personality was real modesty as to his own ability and achievements. While he was the true individual star of his great teams, to him it was the team that counted.”

Then the famed school band and dozens of students performed a show depicting highlights of Chic’s years at OSU culminated by the forming of the word O-H-I-O and then disconnecting the Cs to form the name “C-H-I-C”.
Never before has such an honor been bestowed on anyone from Ohio State University.

Today, professional football mirrors baseball and basketball as staples in the American world of sport. What would America be like if teams like the New York Giants, Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears didn’t exist?
For football fans, the answer is, “pretty empty.”
There was a time not too long ago when the attitude toward pro football was not reverence, but disdain. In fact, 90 years ago, a strong move was afoot, promoted by some of the most well-known and respected college football coaches, to torpedo pro football because of their collective belief that it was bad for the youth of America.
On Wednesday, Dec. 28, 1921, newspapers across the nation carried an article in their Sports sections that reported the organization of the American Football Coaches Association. Coaches representing colleges from every corner of he country converged on New York City to discuss the sport and to mainly focus on efforts to put pro football in its place. Among the attendees at the meeting were Ohio State’s Jack Wilce, Fielding Yost of Michigan, Glenn “Pop” Warner of Pittsburgh, and Dr. H.L. Williams of Minnesota as well as representatives from Stanford, Harvard, Texas, Rutgers, Cornell and Columbia.
“One of the most important recommendations was that of a definite stand in the matter of professional football,” newspapers reported. “After a discussion, Wilce of Ohio State moved that it be accepted as the sense of the meeting that professional football was detrimental to the best interests of American football and American youth, and that the football coaches lend their influence to discourage the professional game.” The resolution put forth by Wilce was agreed to unanimously. As we all know, however, the American public paid no mind to the resolution.
The belief by Coach Wilce that pro football was detrimental to the game must have played a role in the attitude Chic Harley had at the time. While Chic played one year of pro ball with the Decatur Staleys, he was extremely reluctant to do so. Only after hours of badgering by his brother Bill, George Halas and Dutch Sternaman, did he give in to their strong urgings to go pro.
In 1921, Chic played well, but about two-thirds into the season broke three ribs after being repeatedly gang tackled in an important game at Cubs Park in Chicago. Chic and others believed Halas and Sternaman had it in for him and allowed the offensive line to collapse when Chic had the ball leading to the injuries that eventually drove him out of the game and into the insane asylum.

Whenever the month of December and the name Chic Harley come together, a single thought quickly enters this writer’s mind.
That thought concerns Chic’s last football game as a professional for the Decatur Staleys, a team that in January 1922 would be renamed the Chicago Bears.
Chic’s last game as a professional was played on the frozen tundra of Cubs Park on Dec. 18, 1921. The regular season for the Staleys had just finished and the owners of the team—Chic and Bill Harley, George Halas and Dutch Sternaman,—wanted to make a few extra bucks before the team disbanded. So, off they went, along with their teammates, to play in what would become the long standing tradition of pitting the Staleys (now the Bears) against the Chicago Cardinals, a team that remained in Chicago until 1960 before moving to St. Louis and today calls Arizona home.
On that day 90 years ago almost to the day, Chic performed well even though evidence was clearly beginning to show that he was suffering from near mental collapse. Hopes for a record crowd that would fill Cubs Park’s 14,000 seats, failed to materialize as freezing, unfriendly weather set in. Only about 3,000 people attended the game that ended 0 to 0.
Chic threw a few completed passes that day in a game that attracted minimal local press attention. The significance of the game is that not only was it Chic’s last one, but it marked the beginning of what would become a lifelong struggle with mental illness. Within a few short weeks, suffering from the shame he experienced at the championship game of the fledgling American Football Assn., in which he was deliberately embarrassed by teammates, Chic found himself in a sanitarium. He was suffering terribly from a mental breakdown that over time became increasingly worse. Finally, in October 1938, the Harley family felt it had no choice but to commit their beloved Chic to the Veterans Administration hospital in Danville, IL. for treatment and care. He remained a permanent resident there until the day he died in 1974.

As I sat with seven members of my immediate family at our Thanksgiving Day dinner table last Thursday, Nov. 24 in Mt. Prospect, IL. I couldn’t help but remember Thanksgiving of past years.
Back in those days of the 1960s and 70s, on every Thanksgiving we would sit around the large table first at my grandparents, Ruth and Sig’s, home down the road in Des Plaines, IL., and later at my parents, Richard and Mary Jane Wessell’s house also in Des Plaines.
What came to mind last week, as we discussed the prospects of playing a table game later that evening, were several Thanksgivings we spent with our Uncle Chic, whom many know as Charles W. “Chic” Harley.
Uncle Chic, by then in his 70s who donned bright white hair and glasses, was a man of very few words. That, however, doesn’t mean he didn’t have a sense of humor. He did, and it glowed when we played one of his favorite games at the Thanksgiving dinner table as we all filled up on turkey, dressing and pumpkin pie.
The game I’m speaking of was “Telephone”. We’ve all heard of “Telephone” where the first person thinks of a phrase and whispers that same phrase in the ear of the person sitting next to him or her. By the time the phrase wraps itself around the table in and out of a dozen or so ears, it’s amazing what it finally ends up being. We loved placing Uncle Chic at the end of the line. When he would finally hear what the phrase was and then tells everyone what it was, it was nothing like the original version. At that point, we all would hoot and howl our delight and Chic would join in, flashing a grin form ear-to-ear.
Those were warm wonderful times with our Uncle Chic. They’ve never left my reservoir of good memories.

It was being billed as a classic pitting Ohio State’s famed halfback, Chic Harley, against Northwestern’s talented running back Paddy Driscoll. Buckeye fans said Chic would run all over the Purple team from Evanston, Ill. Northwestern faithful said Driscoll would get the best of Chic.
At stake was the Western Conference championship of 1916. Ohio had never won a league title.
In the end, on Nov. 16, 95 years ago, Harley and the Buckeyes prevailed sailing past Northwestern 23-3. It was Ohio State’s first conference title and it capped an unbelievable year for Chic and his teammates.
A year later, Ohio State won its second Big Ten title. Following the war year of 1918, the Bucks were within seconds of a third title when Illinois managed a field goal to send the Buckeyes to a second place finish. It was the only loss Chic played in during three years on varsity. It was also his last football game for Ohio State. He was later selected to his third straight season as an All American.

So when you start thinking about the recent troubles of the Ohio State football program, remember back to those simpler years of Chic Harley, the bashful phenom who started it all for Ohio State.

For as long as we’ve been a nation, the election of the people who represent us in Washington, state capitals and city halls remains a cornerstone of our democracy.
And so it was when on Nov. 7, 1916, 50,000 people jammed shoulder-to-shoulder at the corner of Gay and High streets in downtown Columbus in front of the Dispatch newspaper office to watch the presidential returns roll in. In the end, Woodrow Wilson and his running mate James Cox catapulted to victory.
An account in the next day’s newspaper told how the crowd cheered as the returns slowly filed in leading to the Wilson/Cox victory. However, it wasn’t the picture of a politician or any specific return that sparked the biggest and loudest reaction from the throng. What most ignited the emotions of the 50,000 people who had lined the street corner was the face of football hero Chic Harley that illuminated the vast landscape of humanity.

As the Dispatch reported…

“That the scene was Columbus, Ohio, where the people are very proud of their State university and its football team was evidenced in the fact that “Chick” Harley, hero of the last two Western Conference games, which have boosted Ohio State up the ladder and made it a factor in the Middle West, got more cheers when his picture went on the screen than did any of the political candidates.”

Presidents and vice presidents come and go.
There’s only one Chic Harley.

If you think this past Saturday’s Ohio State last-second victory over Wisconsin was a site to behold, think back.
In 1916, one of Chic Harley’s greatest games as a Buckeye panned out on the old Ohio Field gridiron one October Saturday morning. In that game, Chic accounted for all of Ohio State’s points in a thrilling 14 to 13 win that included an 80-yard punt return by “The One And Only” as his friends often called him. Not only did Chic provide all the offense, he did all the punting, kick offs and played safety on defense. A week earlier, he scored OSU’s only touchdown—with two minutes left to play—to defeat Illinois 7 to 6 in a game many people believe was the start of Ohio State’s greatness that lasts to this day. That day, Chic kicked the extra point after touchdown to give the Buckeyes the 1 point margin of victory.
Like anything and everything, there is a beginning. Ohio State’s start to gridiron magic began in 1916 on a small field with grandstands that could hold only about 15,000 fans.

Almost 95 years ago to the day, college football coaches were talking about some of the great performers of the season which still had a couple of weeks remaining.
As Ohio State was preparing to face one of its interstate rivals, Case University, its coach, Wesley Engelhorn, couldn’t help himself in talking about Chic.
As he told Columbus Citizen reporter Clyde Tuttle,

“I hope Harley doesn’t play here Saturday,” said Engelhorn. “Harley is the greatest little man I ever saw. He is a brilliant side-stepper, has a change of pace and likewise possesses almost uncanny skill in breaking tackles. He is one of the greatest players in America and certainly merits an All American place on the first team.”
As it turned out, Chic was named a consensus All American, Ohio State’s first. A note of interest: Collier’s Weekly Magazine, one of the country’s premiere periodicals of the time, named Chic to the first All American team, but not as a halfback. He was named as an end. The many other All American selectors tapped Harley as a halfback.

Ninety-five years ago this month, an interesting item appeared in a Columbus, Ohio area publication that was a preview of great things to come for Ohio State University, its football program and the man who was chiefly instrumental in propelling the school to  prominence. 

With an artist’s rendering of the horseshoe football stadium and old Ohio Field inserted into the short story, it read, “Remember when this grandstand held the entire crowd that went into the football games at Ohio Field—today this is the most expensive building on the entire university grounds—it doesn’t pay for the space it takes up—yesterday twenty-five thousand peopel would have been on hand if there had been room for them—all Ohio woudl turn out for the big games if there was a seat for everybody. Ohio Field could use a big stadium.”

The date of the article was Nov. 26, 1916. Ohio State had just defeated Northwestern University to win its first Big Ten title. Chic Harley was set to become the school’s first consensus football All American. 

People at the university and in Columbus knew as early as 1916 that a new fotball stadium was needed. Chic Harley, who had just burst onto the collegiate scene that year, was a major reason for the euphoria. He was the hero of the game against Northwestern and for the entire 1916 season. In eight years, Ohio Stadium with a seating capacity at that time of 62,000, opened.There was no looking back. 

No one has contributed more to the Ohio State football program than Chic Harley!

Came across a real find recently: A program for the Nov. 25, 1916 game pitting Ohio State against Northwestern. This is the game won by the Buckeyes that sealed their first ever conference championship. In the program are numerous advertisements promoting everything from dancing to dry cleaning.
Listed in the line-up for that game was Chic Harley at right halfback, wearing jersey no. 15; quarterback Howard Yerges, number 11; Swede Sorensen, number 14 at fullback; and Shifty Bolen, number 1 at left end. The average weight of OSU players was 175 pounds and for Northwestern 170.

Sept. 15, 2011 marked the 117th birthday of Chic Harley, Ohio State’s greatest athlete. Yet, did anyone really notice? If they did, very little was mentioned, at least outside of a few people in the Columbus area.
When I was a kid growing up in Chicago’s suburbs, friends of Chic in Columbus and around the country would remember his birthday. They never let Sept. 15 go by without some sort of celebration for Chic. Many times Chic would travel to Columbus with his sister, Ruth, or my dad, Richard, to attend a football game and meet with friends for a low-key celebration. Chic never initiated the gatherings. His friends or Ruth and Dick always did. He enjoyed them very much. I know because I was there for many of the gatherings. His eyes would always glow at the site of seeing an old buddy.
The people of Columbus and Ohio State seemed to have forgotten this great man who set the stage for the community and the hundreds of thousands of people who call OSU and central Ohio their home. Yet, do they remember? A few do, but not enough. It’s a real shame.

September 15—a significant date among Chic Harley fans—came and went with little fanfare and little notice.
Wednesday, September 15 marked the 116th birthday of Charles William Harley. He born in Chicago around the time of the Columbian World’s Fair in the Windy City. The Harley family remained in Chicago until about 1907 when they moved to Columbus so Charles, Sr. could take on a new job. Chic, the youngest of the family, tagged along and he remained there through his years at East High School and Ohio State. He moved back to Chicago in 1921 to star for the Decatur Staleys, which today are called the Chicago Bears.
Every year, we’re told, a fan of Chic’s visits Union Cemetery in Columbus where he was laid to rest in 1974. They leave one red rose at the foot of his headstone in reverence to this wonderful man. Whether a rose was left this year, I do not know. If it was, pass that fact along to everyone you know that not everyone has forgotten Chic.
And finally, as I was cleaning out my office where I wrote “Chic Harley - The One and Only: America’s Great Athlete” I came upon a small, yellowed newspaper clipping from around 1920. The headline read: “Chic Harley Greatest Big Ten Halfback,” Wolves Coach Says”
That Wolves coach at the time was Harry Kipke of the University of Michigan