On this day in 1921, Oberlin College accomplished something that no other Ohio school has accomplished in 102 years—they defeated The Ohio State University by a score of 7-6. As you can imagine if we’re talking about this over a century later, it’s one of the few things ever accomplished by my alma mater in football, so take a moment, sit back, and enjoy.
You may have never heard of Oberlin College. Oberlin is a liberal arts college which is about 45 minutes southwest of Cleveland. We have several famous alumni in the media: Lena Dunham went here (and HBO’s “Girls” is basically every Obie’s post-college experience) and we have countless public radio personalities as alumni (RadioLab’s Jad Abumrad & Robert Krulwich, Gimlet Media’s and This American Life’s Alex Blumberg, This American Life’s Ben Calhoun & Alix Spiegel, 99% Invisible’s Roman Mars, NPR’s Jon Hamilton, and the BBC’s Aleks Krotoski).
Perhaps you also know us for our history: we are the first college to admit women, the first college to admit students “irregardless of color.” Co-ed dorms? You have us to thank for that, as one of the first colleges to have them, and the college to best represent that cause, with a cover article in Life Magazine about the subject in 1970. We also have the second oldest conservatory of music and oldest continually operating conservatory in the United States.
But what we’re not known for is football—or, perhaps, I should correct that statement. We’re not known for good football. The Oberlin Yeoman lost more games from 1990-2001 than any other team in college football. Any other team. From 1990-2000, we won 3 games. 3. Games. In. 10. Years. For a record of 3-105. During that time we nursed two—count ‘em, two—40+ game losing streams.
Perhaps the most ignoble part of this is that Oberlin once was a shining light of college football. On campus stands the John W. Heisman Club Field House, named after, yes, that John Heisman. We were the first school he ever coached and he lead us to an undefeated season in 1892. In that year we defeated both The Ohio State University and Michigan (although that Michigan game itself is controversial—after our final score, going up 24-22 with 1 minute left, the ref declared time had expired on the game since the team captains had agreed to a 4:50 PM end time. Apparently in those years each team brought their own refs, and the Oberlin ref declared 4:50 had been reached and the game was over. Oberlin left the field. Then the Michigan ref declared that the game wasn’t over and Michigan walked the ball down the field and scored. Both teams count it as a win).
Basically from the inception of the program until 1929 we were good. We had winning records, beat The Ohio State University more than once, had a couple of undefeated seasons—although that, itself, was not without misery, like in 1916 when The Ohio State University dealt us a shutout of 128 - 0.
But let’s return to 102 years ago today, when we accomplished the greatest thing that we have accomplished on the football field, becoming the last in-state team to defeat The Ohio State University.
The Oberlin Review’s full page headline announcing the win was “Oberlin Invasion Topples State 7 to 6.” Newspaper accounts of the day indicate that the night before brought a soaking rain, leaving the field sloppy and wet. Ohio State scored once in that game, when sometime in the first quarter a special teamer named Huffman blocked Oberlin’s punt and returned it for a touchdown. But—in what turned out to be a decisive moment in the game—their kicker, Pixley, missed the field goal leaving The Ohio State University up 6-0.
It was apparently a defensive struggle. The stats of the game give only 5 first downs to Ohio State, with The Review stating that “too much praise cannot be given the Oberlin element for its gallant stand in the first half and its irresistible rush in that great third quarter. State was outclassed at every point, finding it almost impossible to penetrate the Oberlin line for any appreciable gain.” State only saw 1 completed pass (to Oberlin’s 2—although apparently Ohio State got 14 yards on that one pass), and, as was more the case in these days, 76 yards in rushing (to Oberlin’s 136).
“The Crimson and Gold linemen,” The Oberlin Review writes, “plunged through again and again, hurling back State’s runners for losses…Bowen, Withrow, Parkhill, and McPhee also repeatedly got behind the line and drove State’s backfield stars back for for big retrogressions.”
Oberlin’s points came at the beginning of the second half. Showing “plenty of pep and confidence” and “urged on by ‘Mickey’s’ war whoop, ‘They aren’t invisible,’” Oberlin received the ball off of a punt at their 16 yard line. They then “started a march down the field, the like of which had not been seen by state fans for five years.” First play after the punt was from Oberlin’s right half Wood, who made an impressive 28 yard gain. After a few short runs, the quarterback broke free for 10 yards, putting the ball on Ohio State’s 42 yard line. Oberlin used “plunges, sneaks, passes, and end runs,” finally ending up on Ohio State’s 7 yard line.
With the Oberlin War Cry of “the bigger they are, the harder they fall” ringing out from the supporters in the stadium, Oberlin’s quarterback, Wheeler, dropped back and hit a 20 yarder to the fullback Parkhill in the end zone for 6. Parkhill—apparently also serving as Oberlin’s placekicker—then put the ball through the uprights, sending Oberlin ahead 7-6. “The 10,000 state rooters were left dazed and silent by this unbelievable drive, which culminated in their team’s defeat.”
At that point, the game was surprisingly out of hand. The Oberlin defense intercepted 2 passes in the 4th quarter, stalling The Ohio State University in both of their possessions. Despite that, at the end of the game, Ohio State’s supporters gave their team “a great ovation” as it trotted off the field.
Oberlin went on to win every other game of that season, except for a tie with Case Tech. 2 Oberlin men were appointed to the All Ohio Team that year, and 4 were appointed to the second team. “The Championship Song” was sung at the Football Banquet on 11/21/1921:
“Oberlin, the champions of Ohio, Oberlin, the leaders of the state, Oberlin has good old Parkhill— Oberlin has good old Parkhill— Parkhill—Parkhill—O—ber—lin— O—Oberlin, the champions of Ohio.”
Alas the tune, as far as I can tell, is lost to memory.
And so that is the story of the last time an in-state team beat The Ohio State University.
This year, the Oberlin Albino Squirrels (our official unofficial mascot) sits 1-4, with one victory being 37-35 over Concordia University Chicago.
Hey, at least we aren’t nursing a 40 game losing streak.