Don’t forget Ohio State’s surprise 2-way player under Woody Hayes
Have more comments, questions? Reach out to me at bwhite1@dispatch.com. Letters are lightly edited for clarity.
On Ohio State football
To Brian: Good article on OSU’S two-way players. You missed a great player who I think falls between the cracks, as he doesn’t have the name recognition of the others. But in 1973 our star fullback, Champ Henson, was hurt during a game and out for the season. Woody put in the middle linebacker, Bruce Elia, to play as he felt freshman Pete Johnson wasn’t ready. By end of the season, on a team that had the firepower of Archie, Corny Green, Brian Baschnagel and Neal Colzie, Elia led the team in scoring.
Denny Mahle
On Aidan Morris not being able to play in the Olympics
To the editor: This was expected. European clubs don’t ever release firstteam players for the Olympics. Reserves and youth team players will infrequently be released. But if the player goes, they are typically ostracized by the club and their progression to the first team is cut off. So the Olympics men’s tournament is sort of weird. Many countries send their U21 players to avoid the above scenario.
The controversial U.S. issue is the necessity of including overage players (Robinson, Zimmerman and Mihailovic). The fact is that the necessity no longer exists. As a result, quality young players are excluded because of the overage inclusion (for example, Diego Luna).
Patrick Ward
To Patrick: Yes, it’s expected. But I’d love to know how Morris feels about his Olympic dreams, if he had any, being washed away. Would he have delayed moving to England? Our wonderful beat writer Brianna Mac Kay will continue to find out.
On soccer stadiums
To the editor: I read an article where attendance at the World Cup is a concern. The Copa tournament is being played in U.S. football stadiums. Only the U.S. team and possibly Mexico and Canada can fill such stadiums. Watching the Euro in Germany with full stadiums is because of the logistics. With the World Cup in North America, it is an expensive trip for people to come to. The stadiums being called for will be half empty. They should use American soccer-only stadiums. I remember when the Crew stadium was a homefield advantage. Now it seems bigger is better. Seems like a disservice to cities that have the right stadiums for soccer.
Dave Waller, Grove City