Hello everyone, and welcome to a special edition of BrickBlog. You may recall a few years ago when the entire 1960 Ohio Football team was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame. That team was being honored for its perfect 10-0 season and the title of Small College National Champion, still the only National Championship in Ohio athletic history. I had a chance to talk with Roger Merb, a freshman on the 1960 team and three-sport athlete in his time at Ohio. But before we get into what Merb had to say, let’s look into more details of that perfect season.
Before 1960, Ohio had meager success in football. After joining the Mid American Conference in 1946 (and to this day remain the only continuous charter member in the conference), the Bobcats won the MAC in 1953 with a 5-0-1 record. In 1958, the team hired Bill Hess as its new head coach. In Hess’ first season, the team went 5- 4 with an upset win over Louisville. 1959 saw the ‘Cats go 7-2 finishing behind Bowling Green who won that season’s Small College National Championship.
It was the 1960 season that began the Hess era and cemented Ohio as a MAC powerhouse for the rest of the decade. The team opened the season with a 28-0 victory over Dayton, setting the defensive tone for the year. Opponents averaged just 3.4 points per game, and Ohio shut out 5 of its 10 opponents with no team scoring more than 8 on the defense all season. One such shutout was a 21-0 win over Miami, snapping a 15-year winless drought in the rivalry and beginning a run that saw Ohio win 8 of the next 12 match-ups.
The season wasn’t without its close calls, though. Roger Merb, a 73-year-old Portsmouth, Ohio native, recalls a torrential downpour in a 6-0 win over Xavier University. “We would punt on third down because we couldn’t hold on to the football,” said Merb. And in the team’s second to last game of the year, Ohio held off defending champs Bowling Green 14-7 to win the MAC for just the second time ever. Merb aid the celebration in the locker room after the BG victory was his best memory from the season. “We were celebrating, singing ‘Stand Up And Cheer’… [That game] was determined by a penalty or two and a late fumble, we didn’t understand it at the time but we liked getting rings.” After a 48-6 blowout win over Southern Illinois to close out the season, the Bobcats were named the Small College National Champions by both the United Press International and Associated Press polls.
Overall, Merb said that season was important not just for football success, but success for Ohio University overall. “It put OU on the map, and baseball and basketball were winning the conference too. The ’60’s were a great time for OU.” It was during this decade of athletic success that Ohio’s enrollment doubled, making the school what it is today. Coach Bill Hess compiled a 108-91-4 record, with 4 MAC Championships, 2 unbeaten seasons, and the 1960 National Championship. Merb had a successful career, too. He hit .412 for the baseball team his sophomore baseball season, played basketball for two years, and won all-Ohio honors for his time in football.
That 1960 football team won the only National Championship in Ohio athletic history. While the Small College National Championship is no longer awarded (the NCAA divided colleges into three divisions in 1975), it’s a championship that deserves to be remembered. Thanks for reading this special edition of BrickBlog, we’ll be back next week with a regularly scheduled Friday post.
For more on the 1960 championship Bobcats, check out some stats comparing that Ohio team to some other Small College National Champions here. We’re comparing Ohio’s 1960 championship to the 10-0 NIU Huskies of 1963 and the final team to win the honor, 1974’s Louisiana Tech team that went 11-1 (with a loss to runner up Central Michigan, oddly enough). Here’s total points scored in the season, total points allowed in the season, average points per game, average points allowed per game, and average margin of victory.
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