There is a room full of football history at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center that’s open to the public. But most Buckeye fans have never been inside.
Some programs have trophy cases. The massive and soaring lobby of the Ohio State football team’s practice facility is filled, literally from floor to ceiling with more than a century worth of trophies.
Everything the Buckeyes have earned is all there in one room, an all-encompassing museum of football greatness.
You can see each of the school’s Heisman Trophies, from Les Horvath’s to Troy Smith’s.
Every one of the school’s national championship trophies is on display, too, starting with one from 1942, and ranging up to the 2014 College Football Playoff trophy.
High up in one corner are trophies won for the school’s 1916 championship in the Western Conference, the precursor to the Big Ten. Right next to it is the very first conference championship trophy ever awarded from the newly-christened Big Ten in 1917.
There are cases displaying championship rings as well, ranging from relatively plain ones from more than half a century ago to much bigger and shinier modern rings, all the way up to the one given to the 2018 Big Ten and Rose Bowl champions.
There are trophies from bowls big (Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, Orange, Cotton) and small (Liberty, Holiday, Alamo).
One of the more unusual trophies in the room is the 2012 Leaders Division championship earned by the 12-0 Buckeyes. They weren’t allowed to play for the conference title that season due to NCAA violations, but the Big Ten still recognizes them as divisional champions.
You may notice a few additional coaches’ trophies with the now-familiar crystal football top that that school had made retroactively for past national titles.
There is also a wall covered in the framed NFL jerseys of former Buckeyes now playing professionally.
A few of the most-recent trophies don’t yet appear to be on display, including the 2018 and 2019 Big Ten championships, and the 2019 Rose Bowl trophy.
The gallery goes more or less chronologically through history.
When you get to the 1970 national championship trophy from the National Football Foundation, take a look at how the school has listed its win over Michigan on the platform holding the trophy.
The gallery concludes with a couple shots from inside the WHAC, showing some of the updated signage reflecting the Buckeyes’ 2019 Big Ten championship.
Nice work and thanks so much for sharing this incredible collection. Go Bucks!