The One And Only

Just recently we received a request for a copy of the wonderful poem written by James Thurber called “When Chic Harley Got Away.” Thurber, a native of Columbus, Ohio, was a classmate of Chic’s when they both attended Ohio State University.
For your enjoyment, we thought we would provide you with that inspiring poem written more than 90 years ago by one of America’s most famous literary giants.
Taking nothing away from Archie, Woody and the other OSU greats, but there never was a poem of this calibre and emotional connection written about any of them. Chic Harley was in a class by himself. When will Ohio State, Columbus and Ohio recognize that?

WHEN CHIC HARLEY GOT AWAY

The years of football playing reach back a long, long way,
And the heroes are a hundred who have worn the red and gray;
You can name the brilliant players from the year the game began,
You can say that someone’s plunging was the best you ever saw -
You can claim the boys now playing stage a game without a flaw -
But admit there was no splendor in all the bright array
Like the glory of the going when Chic Harley got away.

You can tell the tale of Gibson who ran for eighty yards,
Bowling Michiganders over like a row of paper cards;
You can sing the song of Barrington, whose deadly tow oft sent
The hurtling ball to victory when his men were all but spent.
There’s a thousand other stories of the games of other years,
But one from the thousand like a flash of light appears,
And there’s nothing half so thrilling from the first year to today,
Like the glory of the going when Chic Harley got away.

Declaim accounts of smashing lines and plunging backs and then
Shout a little louder and declaim them once again,
“There never was another time like in the good old days
When they used to play a man’s game with the mass formation plays.”
You can laud the Powells and Dunlaps as the mountains in the line
That made the game of football something superman and fine,
But still there’s nothing in it all, when you have had your say,
Liek the glory of the going when Chic Harley got away.

Old grads can mention how they fought when Kenyon came to town,
And how they used to up and knock the bleeding foemen down,
And we’ll admit the good old days were red and raw and rough,
And the men that wore the moleskin surely had the oldtime stuff.
Or you can land the recent days and name a field of stars
As scintillant as Jupiter and as militant as Mars -
But they’ll never be another thing can light up all the day
Like the glory of the going when Chic Harley got away.

Grassroots efforts to create and build a statue of Ohio State Buckeye great Chic Harley continue to pick up speed even though OSU officials remain mum and non-committal at this point.
The studio of Rotblatt-Amrany of Fort Sheridan, Illinois north of Chicago, in collaboration with Portraits/Chicago, Inc. have indicated their desire to move ahead with a statue project honoring Harley.
Rotblatt-Amrany and Portraits Chicago, Inc. have worked on some of the most endearing sports statues found in America. Among their creations is the famed Michael Jordan dunk shot statue in front of Chicago’s United Center and the 17-ft. tall statue of Magic Johnson bursting onto the scene at Michigan State University. Just recently, the collaborative team inked a deal with the Chicago Cubs to create a 7-ft. tall statue of Hall of Fame slugger Billy Williams which in a year or two will adorn the confines of Wrigley Field alongside statues of Ernie Banks and Harry Caray. Allowing a Chicago company to create a Harley statue is highly appropriate because Chic was born in the Windy City in 1894 and spent much of his life there with his parents, brother, sister, nephew and extended family.
More and more universities, colleges and professional sports teams are moving forward with plans to enshrine their greats through bronze statues that will last for decades and even centuries. Last year, the University of Illinois unveiled a statue of its greatest football player, Red Grange, who played just a few years after Chic Harley. People who saw both Harley and Grange play agree that Harley was better. A few months ago, the University of Florida announced that it had commissioned the creation of three statues of three of its gridiron greats, one of whom is Tim Tebow who just graduated after a stellar football career.
What about Chic Harley, who most people who know his story would agree, set the stage for what has become one of the greatest sports and scholastic programs in the world? The Buckdeye Grove next to Ohio Stadium where its many All Americas are honored is nice, but it’s not enough. The process of honoring the school’s football legends the right and honorable way must begin now. It must start with Chic Harley, OSU’s first consensus All America, first three-time All America, four-sport letterman, and the man who, through his never-before-seen athletic abilities and magnetic personality capitvated a community state and nation from 1916-1919.
People need to know the fascinating story of Chic. Once they do, they will leap onto the statue bandwagon. We can’t waste another minute.
Call OSU President Gordon Gee to voice your opinion. Reply to this entry. Write letters to the editor. Let the people speak!

Grassroots efforts to create and build a statue of Ohio State Buckeye great Chic Harley continue to pick up speed even though OSU officials remain mum and non-committal at this point.
The studio of Rotblatt-Amrany of Fort Sheridan, Illinois north of Chicago, in collaboration with Portraits/Chicago, Inc. have indicated their desire to move ahead with a statue project honoring Harley.
Rotblatt-Amrany and Portraits Chicago, Inc. have worked on some of the most endearing sports statues found in America. Among their creations is the famed Michael Jordan dunk shot statue in front of Chicago’s United Center and the 17-ft. tall statue of Magic Johnson bursting onto the scene at Michigan State University. Just recently, the collaborative team inked a deal with the Chicago Cubs to create a 7-ft. tall statue of Hall of Fame slugger Billy Williams which in a year or two will adorn the confines of Wrigley Field alongside statues of Ernie Banks and Harry Caray. Allowing a Chicago company to create a Harley statue is highly appropriate because Chic was born in the Windy City in 1894 and spent much of his life there with his parents, brother, sister, nephew and extended family.
More and more universities, colleges and professional sports teams are moving forward with plans to enshrine their greats through bronze statues that will last for decades and even centuries. Last year, the University of Illinois unveiled a statue of its greatest football player, Red Grange, who played just a few years after Chic Harley. People who saw both Harley and Grange play agree that Harley was better. A few months ago, the University of Florida announced that it had commissioned the creation of three statues of three of its gridiron greatest, one of whom is Tim Tebow who just graduated after a stellar football career.
What about Chic Harley, who most people who know his story would agree, set the stage for what has become one of the greatest sports and scholastic programs in the world? The Buckdeye Grove next to Ohio Stadium where its many All Americas are honored is nice, but it’s not enough. The process of honoring the school’s football legends the right and honorable way must begin now. It must start with Chic Harley, OSU’s first consensus All America, first three-time All America, four-sport letterman, and the man who, through his never-before-seen athletic abilities and magnetic personality capitvated a community state and nation from 1916-1919.
People need to know the fascinating story of Chic. Once they do, they will leap onto the statue bandwagon. We can’t waste another minute.
Call OSU President Gordon Gee to voice your opinion. Reply to this entry. Write letters to the editor. Let the people speak!