In 27 days, Ohio State will play Oregon State to start the 2018 season. Below, you will find a list with the 27 players who wore the No. 27 for Ohio State since 1931. Today's featured players are Sid Gillman, Ray Ellis and Eddie George.
Today's Trivia Question
Can you name the last player to be issued No. 27 for Ohio State?
Who was the last player to wear No. 27 for Ohio State?
| PLAYER | WORN | HEISMAN | NO. RETIRED | B1G MVP | TEAM MVP | AA | CAPT. | 1R NFL | ALL B1G | AC AA | NFL DRAFT | AC B1G | LETTER |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sid Gillman | 1931-33 | 1932 | 1933 | 1932 | 1931-33 | ||||||||
| Frank Cumiskey | 1934-36 | 1934-36 | |||||||||||
| Jeremiah Spears | 1938-39 | 1938-39 | |||||||||||
| Emil Slovak | 1943 | ||||||||||||
| Richard Flanagan | 1944 | 1944 | 1944 | ||||||||||
| Paul Priday* | 1945 | 1945 | 1945 | ||||||||||
| Dan Stevenson | 1951 | ||||||||||||
| Robert Lilienthal | 1954-55 | ||||||||||||
| Larry Marmie | 1961 | ||||||||||||
| Ronald Kaylor | 1964 | 1964 | |||||||||||
| Tim Holycross | 1972-74 | 1972-74 | |||||||||||
| Ard Brown | 1975-76 | ||||||||||||
| Ray Ellis | 1977-80 | 1980 | 1980 | 1981 | 1977-80 | ||||||||
| Douglas Hill | 1981-83 | 1981-83 | |||||||||||
| Emmett Keith Jones* | 1983 | ||||||||||||
| Michael Wood* | 1984 | 1984 | |||||||||||
| David Brown | 1986-89 | 1989 | 1986-89 | ||||||||||
| Steve Kozel | 1988 | ||||||||||||
| John Dawson | 1988 | ||||||||||||
| Dave Hallway | 1989 | ||||||||||||
| Joey Galloway* | 1990 | ||||||||||||
| Troy Lopes | 1991 | ||||||||||||
| Girmar Johnson | 1991 | ||||||||||||
| Eddie George# | 1992-95 | 1995 | 2001 | 1995 | 1995 | 1995 | 1995 | 1995 | 1995 | 1992-95 | |||
| Clarence Royal | 1994 | ||||||||||||
| Jerry Westbrooks | 1996-2000 | 1999-2000 | |||||||||||
| Michael Willis | 1999 |
*Wore another number at Ohio State
#The No. 27 was retired in his honor
Did not earn a varsity letter while wearing No. 27
Sid Gillman, End (1931-33)
Born: 1911 (Minneapolis, MN)
Died: 2003 (Carlsbad, CA)
Ohio State
The Buckeyes were 17-5-3 with Gillman on the team.
1938-1940 was an assistant coach at Ohio State.
Honors
1933 Team Captain.
1932 All-American.
1932 All-B1G.
1981 Inducted into the Varsity O Hall of Fame.
1983 Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
1985 Inducted into the San Diego Chargers Hall of Fame.
1989 Inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Gillman's Ohio State and NFL career per ohiostatebuckeyes.com:
Sid Gillman is considered one of the finest offensive football minds in football history. In 1933, Gillman was captain of the football team and earned all-Big Ten and honorable mention All-America honors. He coached at the University of Cincinnati for several years before moving to the professional ranks with the Los Angeles Rams, San Diego Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles. He is a member of the National Football Hall of Fame.
Gillman's impact on football per Wikipedia:
(Gillman) was an American football player, coach, executive, and innovator. Gillman's insistence on stretching the football field by throwing deep down-field passes, instead of short passes to running backs or wide receivers at the sides of the line of scrimmage, was instrumental in making football into the modern game that it is today.
Gillman's influence on football coaches:
- Al LoCasale, an Oakland Raiders executive
- Al Davis, former owner of the Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders
- Chuck Noll, coached the Pittsburgh Steelers to four Super Bowl titles
- Ara Parseghian, former coach at the University of Notre Dame
- Bo Schembechler, former coach at the University of Michigan
- Bill Walsh, who coached the San Francisco 49ers to three Super Bowl titles
- Chuck Knox, former coach of several NFL teams
- Dick Vermeil, coached the St. Louis Rams to a Super Bowl title and the Philadelphia Eaglesto the Super Bowl
- George Allen, coach of the Rams and Washington Redskins
- Bum Phillips coached for Gillman at San Diego, and was Gillman's selected successor at Houston after Gillman stepped down from the daunting task of rebuilding a two time 1-13 team.
Gillman's pro football career per profootballhof.com:
Sidney Gillman...Innovative coach, dynamic administrator...Recognized as leading authority on passing theories, tactics...18-year pro record: 123-104-7...First to win divisional titles in both NFL, AFL... Won 1963 league, five division crowns in AFL's first six years...Major factor in developing AFL's image, impetus, respect...AFC Coach of the Year, 1974...Played in first College All-Star game, 1934.
Ray Ellis, CB (1977-80)
High School: Canton McKinley
Born: 1959 (Canton)
Ohio State
The Buckeyes were 36-11-1 with Ellis on the team.
1977 Big Ten Title.
1979 Big Ten Title.
Honors
1980 Captain.
1980 All-Big Ten.
Ellis' senior bio Ohio State per The Ohio State Team Guide:
6-2, 196...from Canton, Ohio...voted defensive co-captain of the 1980 Buckeye team...this is his third year as a regular in the secondary...equally strong defending against the pass or the run...a hard, sure tackler..started in all 12 games in 1979 and played 319.5 minutes, tops among returnees.
Was an all-Ohio back at McKinley High, where he captained the football and basketball teams...hobby is music...communications major in college...will be one of the top defensive backs in the Big Ten.
In 2013, Ray Ellis joined the Ed O'Bannon lawsuit per The Dispatch:
The injustice appeared on Ray Ellis’ feet as he prepared to take the field with his Ohio State teammates for the 1980 Fiesta Bowl against Penn State.
Ellis, the Buckeyes’ starting right cornerback, wanted to wear the Converse cleats he preferred for grass fields, but the team was told it had to wear Nikes, which Ellis only wore on synthetic surfaces.
“That (contractual) deal had to do with something other than football,” Ellis said. “It didn’t benefit me, but put me at a disadvantage. I would never want a player to be compromised.”
Ellis already was scratching his head over the seeming contradiction he had witnessed throughout bowl week. While Ohio State coaches and athletic department administrators enjoyed Arizona with their families, Ellis’ loved ones were left behind in Canton.
“For us, it was sad, and I recall thinking at the time it was a little unfair,” said Ellis, who is one of more than a dozen plaintiffs listed in a lawsuit, Ed O’Bannon vs. NCAA, that seeks to grant former, current and future college athletes (O’Bannon played basketball at UCLA) financial compensation for the use of their likenesses on television and video games.
“That’s when I began thinking about the business model of it,” Ellis said yesterday from his home near Phoenix, where he is sports channel director for web-based VoiceAmerica radio. “That was my first time thinking about revenue and how it was dispersed.” To read the rest of the article, go here.
Eddie George, RB (1992-95)
Born: 1973 (Philadelphia)
High School: Fork Union Military Academy
Ohio State
The Buckeyes were 38-10-2 with George on the team.
1993 Big Ten Title.
1993 Defeated BYU in the Holiday Bowl.
Honors
1995 Heisman Trophy Winner.
1995 Doak Walker Award.
1995 Maxwell Award.
1995 Walter Camp Player of the Year Award.
1995 Big Ten MVP.
1995 Captain.
1995 Team MVP
2001 No. 27 was retired in his honor.
2006 Inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame.
2012 Inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
George's senior bio per The Ohio State Team Guide:
6-3, 227...from Philadelphia, PA...Should be one of the top running backs in the Big Ten this year...started for the first time last year and responded with 1,442 yards and 12 touchdowns on 276 carries...won honorable mention all-Big Ten honors and was a finalist for the Doak Walker Running Back Award.
His yardage total is the fifth best one-season effort in Ohio State history and is the best showing by a Buckeye since Keith Byers blazed his way into the OSU records book with 1,764 yards in 1984...additionally, his number of rushing attempts is second only to Byars' 336 in '84.
Saw only limited action (usually in short-yardage situations) prior to last year.
Prepped at Fork Union and ran for 2,572 yards and 37 touchdowns his last two years...graduated from FUMA in 1991, but spent an additional football season there before enrolling at OSU the following spring...also ran track in high school and won the state hurdles title.
Eddie George's Ohio State career per The Ohio State Team Guide:
At the start of the 1995 season, Eddie George was, at best, a long-shot contender for the Heisman Trophy. By season’s end, he was a runaway choice, easily outdistancing runner-up Tommy Frazier of Nebraska for college football’s most coveted award.
As Ohio State’s sixth Heisman recipient, George rushed for a school-record 1,927 yards and 24 touchdowns. Included in that yardage total were three 200-yard games, one of which was an Ohio State record 314 yards against Illinois Nov. 11, 1995.
George’s other honors in 1995 included the Doak Walker Award, the Maxwell Award, the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award and Big Ten MVP. He also was a team co-captain.
George, who attended Abington (Pa.) High School and then Fork Union Military Academy, played only sparingly his first two years at Ohio State. Given the chance to start, he rushed for 1,442 yards as a junior and completed his career as the second leading rusher in Ohio State history with 3,668 yards.
Selected by the Houston Oilers in the first round of the NFL Draft, he was the 1996 NFL Rookie of the Year and played nine years of professional football, earning four Pro Bowl berths. He currently holds a number of business interests and hosts the “Big Ten Quad” on the Big Ten Network.
In June of 2001, Eddie earned a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture from Ohio State. He was a 2006 inductee into the Ohio State University Athletics Hall of Fame.
His jersey number “27” was retired Nov. 10, 2001. In July 2012 he was inducted into the NFF and College FB Hall of Fame. The Big Ten’s top offensive player receives the Graham-George Offensive Player of the Year award.
Today's Trivia Quesiton
Who was the last player to be issued 27 for Ohio State?
Answer: Michaell Willis, he only wore it in 1999.
Who was the last player to wear No. 27 for Ohio State?
Answer: Jerry Westbrooks, he wore it from 1996-2000.
| NAME | YEAR | ROUND | PICK | POSITION | TEAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RICHARD FLANAGAN | 1944 | 8 | 83 | LB | BEARS |
| PAUL PRIDAY | 1945 | 31 | 324 | RB | PACKERS |
| RAY ELLIS | 1981 | 12 | 331 | DB | EAGLES |
| JOEY GALLOWAY* | 1995 | 1 | 8 | WR | SEAHAWKS |
| EDDIE GEORGE | 1996 | 1 | 14 | RB | TITANS |
*Wore No. 7 when drafted
Side Story:
Westbrooks was the player that Penn State's Adam Taliaferro was trying to tackle when Taliaferro broke his neck on Setember 23, 2000 in Columbus.
Side Story per Wikipedia:
George's mother changed her schedule as a flight attendant (at the request of Eddie's agent, Lamont Smith) to be in San Antonio for Eddie's signing of his first NFL contract on July 19, 1996. If she hadn't, she would have been aboard TWA Flight 800, which crashed shortly after takeoff two days earlier.
| 99 | 98 | 97 | 96 | 95 | 94 | 93 | 92 | 91 | 90 |
| 89 | 88 | 87 | 86 | 85 | 84 | 83 | 82 | 81 | 80 |
| 79 | 78 | 77 | 76 | 75 | 74 | 73 | 72 | 71 | 70 |
| 69 | 68 | 67 | 66 | 65 | 64 | 63 | 62 | 61 | 60 |
| 59 | 58 | 57 | 56 | 55 | 54 | 53 | 52 | 51 | 50 |
| 49 | 48 | 47 | 46 | 45 | 44 | 43 | 42 | 41 | 40 |
| 39 | 38 | 37 | 36 | 35 | 34 | 33 | 32 | 31 | 30 |
| 29 | 28 | 27 |
110 days until The Game.
